Renewable energy to the rescue. Is renewable energy the answer to South Africa’s energy crisis? South Africa’s energy crisis gets worse with Eskom losing close to half of its 30211MW capacity that is available. Eskom losing its capacity was caused by unplanned and some planned outages and this could result to Eskom’s availability of energy to reduce to 60%. As a result of cheap low grade coal, South Africa had been producing the cheapest electricity. Renewable energy is easily made available and it is not expensive therefore one could strongly believe that South Africa should move to renewable energy. The transition to renewable energy could also create a cleaner and a much more secured future.
Renewable energy sources are sources that can be used over again, environmentally friendly, abundant and sustainable. Unlike fossil fuels, renewable resources are not going to run out or expire soon. South Africa would be a better country if a large quantity of people would try considering renewable energy which creates jobs and decreases high unemployment rates in the country as compared to fossil fuels which are not environmentally friendly.
Renewable energy has substantial benefits for the climate and also economy. Renewable energy is clean which results in little greenhouse emissions. The less greenhouse emissions there are the better it is for our climate as greenhouse emissions result in global warming. Global warming is the rising of the Earth’s temperature due to an excessive amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Renewable energy is not as expensive as fossil fuels. It being cheap is more economically beneficial to South Africa. The sustainability of renewable energy is far better than that of fossil fuels as fossil fuels are vulnerable to certain factors and renewable energy on the other hand never runs out. Human activities that involve fossil fuels are overloading the atmosphere with too much Carbon Dioxide. A lot of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can lead to global warming which causes climate changes such as high temperatures. High temperatures cause serious illness like heat cramps and heat strokes which can lead to death.
Electricity that was formed from renewable energy resources has significant benefits related to health as compared to fossil fuels. Some of the emissions by coal and natural gas plants are some of the causes of health attacks, breathing problems and cancer. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy could also help with the reduction of health problems and the money used for treatment. Renewable energy could result to opportunities of job creations as renewable energy resources create jobs such as designing, manufacturing, constructing, operating renewable energy and energy related technologies that are efficient, updating of the nation’s electric grid and the constructing of new green buildings that are high in performance. Job employment could be the end of unemployment and it could also help with the development of South Africa.
Opponents of renewable energy say that renewable energy is highly reliable on the weather and state that almost all renewable energy sources are dependent on the weather. For example, wind to create wind energy and sunlight to create solar energy. This has caused South Africa’s dependence onto fossil fuels to increase over the past few decades. In their defence, it might be said that the levels of difficulty concerning generating energy may increase because of the weather being unpredictable. Our national security is threatened because of a lot of people depending on fossil fuels which are highly vulnerable and the usage of fossil fuels can lead to economical instabilities and high prices. This has a far worse impact on our energy policy as compared to renewable energy being reliable on the weather. If there is always sunlight and the wind is always blowing then renewable energy resources are far more reliable than fossil fuels
South Africa moving to renewable energy could also mean that there would be steady prices of energy. Due to the renewable energy cost being dependent on the initial money that was invested and not on the decreasing or the increasing or even the inflated cost of the natural resource, the government will make a small payment. Load shedding occurs as a result of wet coal or short supplies. If South Africa moves to renewable energy sources there would be less load shedding as compared to load shedding now that we are using fossil fuels to generate electricity.
South Africa changing from fossil fuels to renewable energy can help change not only South Africa but also the world to a place with a secured future. South Africa would be a much better place with more job opportunities and less death rates caused by health problems which are caused because of Global Warming. Fewer people would suffer with breathing problems and South Africa would have a clean ad not polluted environment. Amongst all the amazing benefits that come with changing to renewable energy, renewable energy could also be the solution to making South Africa an independent country by reducing South Africa’s dependence on fuels and energy from other countries. When South Africa has moved from fossil fuels to renewable energy there will be less load shedding experienced which will be that our energy crisis would have been sloved.