SA must put its own energy house in order first before criticising others

ACCORDING to the BBC Climate Change programmes, electricity from coal produces more CO² than any other form of fuel, 35 per cent more than energy from oil and 72% more than from natural gas. The BBC also televised a programme about Norway and the Sahara Desert that have installed plants that remove the CO² from natural gas and the remaining residue is pumped deep into the earth.

Now there is engineering that can do the same for coal where the CO² is removed and pumped underground leaving the clean coal to be used for energy. This is an expensive process and one that we South Africans, as signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, should look at.

Incentives for clean electricity and fuel will have to be put in place world wide and eventually countries that do not conform will have to pay massive fines that would exceed the cost of using clean fuel.

But all countries will have to look at renewable energy such as wind, solar and nuclear power. New nuclear power stations, if correctly managed and if the waste is properly stored, would be an option.

Governments will have to change their attitudes, and businesses will have to understand that the climate is more important than their profits.

In South Africa, Eskom, instead of increasing their power supply from coal and exporting it, should start to look at ways to remove the CO² from coal and gas. But more important is for Eskom to stop encouraging overseas countries to bring their energy gobbling industry here.

Instead they should keep their pollutant industries at home. Let these countries deal with climate change themselves and not pass the buck to someone else.

Now we have chlorine and desalination plants – another power gobbler. The government has gone crazy with pollutant industries that are going to ruin our beautiful coastline, destroy our wildlife and kill our people.

In the final analogy we should not worry about what everyone else is doing. We should put our own house in order. Think globally and act locally.

Love our planet and save our world.

Ann Knight, Port Elizabeth