This Environmental news network talks about more beautifully relevant topics. First of all the wonderful presenter Jason sole talks about solar power and how it is sweeping the world which is great news as the masses are turning towards green energy sources and moving away from the old idea that you must burn things to create energy.
Until a few years ago solar panels were a rare sight in South Africa, largely limited to the roofs of a few affluent households. This is changing rapidly, driven by three factors: the worldwide drive towards renewable energy, a highly strained local electricity supply, and a steady drop in solar panel prices.
Taking the lead from other countries, South Africa committed to an energy generation infrastructure development plan for 2010 to 2030, known as the Integrated Resource Plan.
Under the plan the country aims to achieve 9600 MW of solar power capacity by 2030. When the plan was drawn up in 2010, solar was limited to a few isolated panels on domestic rooftops, and until recently contributed nothing to the national power grid operated by the state-owned utility Eskom.
Luckily for South Africa the price of photo voltaic light has massively decreased which is great news. With cheaper prices in the green energy sector it makes the devices far more accessible.
In the last ten years the defining development in solar energy has been the sharp drop in the prices of photovoltaic panels. There have also been modest technological advances in other solar technologies and in power storage. One example of a massive sola plant is in the Northern Cape Province. KaXu Solar One, located near the town of Pofadder in the Northern Cape Province, is the first STE plant to operate commercially in South Africa. The plant started operating in early 2015. Atlantica Yield has 51 % participation.
In places like America ion California there is now a law iun place that states every new building must have a solar panel. This is a wonderful sign for the way the world is moving.
Conversely there has been news about the level of antibiotics that are given to cattle. There is a study that’s been done to determine what the impacts of the antibiotics and what happens to it after it goes through the cows system. What’s been discovered is that there is a massive level of antibiotics in the cow dung and that has an interesting effect on methane. Now this is an issue because when cows are pooping there is a lot of methane trapped in their faeces.
If you can reduce the level of antibiotics that are given to cows then you can reduce the amount if methane that the cows emit. We know that’s a good thing as methane is a harmful gas. These crucial steps in science are helping again with the co2 reduction aim.
However there are also catalysts in science that are bad for the environment, such as the fact that chemicals combine in the environment into potentially dangerous compounds. This is an issue because the compounds can then get into the water system and be passed around. Literally 80% of all household chemicals end up in the sea, that’s a massive amount. To have the beautiful sea become the climax for so many different damaging chemicals is a disaster.
In addition there is now a new superbug in the world. The superbug itself is completely immune to any cure. This is a massive issue if it spreads around the world. Now depressing this may be it is definitely relevant and scary. Moreover Australia has asked to have its country’s name removed from any document concerning climate change as they think it affects tourism. This was a purely monetary reason without the real concern of climate change being at heart.
The attitude towards the warming of the planet needs to be improved for sure.
Links: http://theconversation.com/explainer-south-africas-developing-solar-energy-landscape-50537 , http://www.abengoasolar.com/web/en/plantas_solares/plantas_propias/sudafrica/
By Alex Mitchison
