In recent years the business place has changed almost beyond recognition.

Many economic changes have taken place but, retrofitting business solutions to the problems created by fast -moving technology is not always simple and, quite often, sound planning isn’t possible due to the current speed of technological advances. Even relatively simple businesses such as plumbers, architects, accountants and web design agencies find it difficult to keep up with the pace of change.

Simply put: Technology has surged beyond our wildest dreams.

Years ago windmills of wood and metal powered the well to bring up enough water for the cattle, Saturday night radio programs, and occasionally the family had electric light, if they had an electric lamp.

Now, a wind powered generator standing two hundred feet above the surface of the earth pulls enough to power an entire community.

Four of them provide power for our town. More wind generators are being positioned south of town, on the hill.

Enough wind generators to keep us cool all winter long – I’m afraid – if the wind blows from the south. Stulp farms, home of John Stulp, former Prowers County Commissioner is placing 50 of the gigantic towers on his place, just south of the Lamar city limits.

They will be visible from Spreading Antler Golf Course, from Lamar Community College, and various other land marks across southeastern Colorado.Located on the highway between Springfield and Lamar, Colorado, Emick Ranch is home to a hundred of the towering wind absorbing giants.

The prairies have long been renowned as a great place for raising rattlesnakes, cattle, wheat, and sagebrush, now our fame is growing, over two hundred feet tall to include Wind Powered General Electric Generators. I love it. The new wave of the nation, cartwheeling three armed giants facing the sunset, whipping the prairies dry, and capturing the energy long been lost as the winds blow across Colorado.Turbines the size of a semi-truck sit atop the towers, spinning blades the length of four cars, and collecting energy. If you ever get a chance to see the new giants of the prairie – you won’t be disappointed.

Nowadays global warming and the scarcity of fossil fuels are rarely out of the media Some people carry on hoping that government will come up with some sort of solution, others don’t really care and then a few people are wondering, “how can I help reduce global warming?”

Well, solar and wind power solutions can not only save you a great deal of money on your energy bills but can also help in the effort to save the environment.

With the way the energy crisis is growing, soon the fossil fuels that we rely on will be gone or so overpriced, that very few people will be able to afford it. Researchers have been creating new and innovating ways to create energy out of the natural resources that Mother Nature provides.

Even though the wind has been a source of power for hundreds of years, it is not until recent decades that it was considered on a large scale. There are many different types of natural resources that researchers have found promising, however, wind power is the most promising and least expensive renewable power source.

-What other technical reason besides money making exist for the SABS praxis to only test “Systems” and not components?

It is not international praxis. It gives not the Efficiency and heat loss of the collector for international comparing.

The Q- factor only shows the performance under certain circumstances but gives no possibility to valued a system of the performance in practice and compare it with other collectors (pipe length, installation angle, installation direction, system heat loss).

It is as good as to ask a plumber to register every house installation again as soon as there is an other make taps or shower heads or geyser in this installation and he have to pay $4000 every time.

-Why is the testing report valid only for one year when no technical changes are made? Please keep in mind, a test cost about R40000 and after a year you have to register with mark approval- R60000. Lots of mark approval systems are on the weaker side of the marked (have a look at the rebates some of them get).

-Why are internationally recognized test results only applicable for commercial installation but not for domestic users.

The only “harsher” circumstance in SA than in other countries is the higher radiation. This higher radiation is not brought into consideration for most registered systems (recommended collector sizes are identical with international recommended sizes. This lead to some danger configurations especially by registered EVT systems-without any concern from SABS side.

-How can it be that registered companies recommend and install systems with a capacity

up to 150l per person and get a rebate. This is a waste of money of the client . On the other hand it is not energy efficient at all! Water saving showerheads are much more efficient and cheaper.

-Why is parallel installation applicable as it is much less efficient and energy wasting configuration?

-Why are there no minimum requirements for installation angle and -direction?

The systems are tested at latitude plus 10. If these systems are installed at 23 degrees in Cape Town (latitude-10), and most systems are, the thermal output in winter will be only about 80% of the tested results and will be an additional, none usable surplus in summer. For what is the rebate? What for the systems are tested?

-You even can find installations in south direction and/ or under latitude –10!

Kwikot even recommend   “The solar vacuum tubes should be installed on a roof pitch greater than 8°and less than 30°” on there web site! This is a very danger installation and should be not allow if the heat output of a system in the summer months (30Mj + per m2 per d radiation) is higher than the normal demand of the system ( most of the installed systems). The power output of a latitude plus 10 installed system in summer is about 130% of the winter output (16Mj +  per m2 per d radiation). On the other hand, the power output of latitude minus 10-installed system in summer is about 200% of the winter output. That means 50% of the rebate for such systems are paid to warm up the environment and not to save energy.

-Why are low-pressure EVT- systems allow for low cost housing under SA

Circumstances? It is very dangers! Only flat plate systems with safety components should be aloud!

-Why are freeze protection valves allow if they not working properly?

-Why become rebate applicable for oversized systems? If system produce enough KWh

by 16Mj radiation it will produce un-useable surplus at 30Mj. Why can I register such systems without any heat dump facility? (esp. Tubes)

– How is it possible to register systems without tempering valve in houses where there is not even mixing taps. Are the SABS experts not aware of what happening if somebody open a tap and 90deg or hotter water comes out?

-The age of a retrofit geyser might be not an issue anymore (???), but a 2 year old solar geyser  from the same company (Kwikot) can not receive a rebate for a retrofit geyser system – why?

– Why are not retrofitted systems on gravity geysers allow? We installed a

lot of them (pumped and thermosyphonic) and they working very well. We can install them from R6500 (without any rebate!) and a lot of people can effort this, but not R12000 ore more

-How on earth can SA install 1mio systems (about 17 installations per week per registered Company) until 2013 if we stand after 3 years on 55000 (about 1 installation per week per registered Company)?

May be by involving more interested installers? As far as I know is the majority of the SWH installations still done by installers out-side the Eskom Rebate Program.

If the rebates disappear today, most of the so-called bigger role-players will disappear with it.

Renewable power sources contribute roughly about 29% of energy used worldwide. Using sustainable resources for mass production of electricity is now more commonplace, due to the environmental consequences usage of fossil fuel derivate energy brings. To expand usage of clean energy technologies, it is promoted by countries and organizations worldwide through tax incentives and subsidies.

Our most powerful energy resource is the sun. Most forms of sustainable energy is in some way produced by the sun, e.g. its heat contributes to the growth of plants and trees that are used in production of biomass energy and it also plays an important role in producing wind which we can utilize with help of wind power technology. By using solar power technology to capture radiation with photovoltaic panels, we can create electricity; sunlight is also a large contributor in making hydropower possible.

Another great energy resource is geothermal energy that is acquired by using heat from inside the earth itself. This energy derives from the radioactive decay in the core of earth, which heats the earth from inside out.

Ocean Power

The ocean supplies us with several sustainable energy resources, and each one is driven by different forces. Not comparatively cost-effective at the present but as ocean power technology evolves the ocean could become a big player in the energy game by bringing us electricity from the waves, tides and the heat stored in sea water which can also be converted to electricity. This makes the ocean an important potential energy source for the future.

Ocean power is often divided into two classes, wave power that uses floats to extract mechanical energy from the motion of the waves and tidal power that uses dams to draw energy from the changes in water height due to the tides.

Hydrogen

This source has an enormous potential, both as a fuel and energy resource. Hydrogen power is not ready for full commercialization as the technology to bring to fruition the extraordinary potential is still in its early stages. Hydrogen is the most common element on earth, e.g. water consists of two-thirds hydrogen. The process of separating it out is very complex.

Largest Green Association

A wide variety of different renewable energy associations exist throughout the world. The German Wind Energy Association (BWE) is the biggest renewable power association in the world; they claim their wind energy installations to be the most successful of all the renewals. Argument instead of polemic convincing through facts, this is the credo of the BWE.