Two Bits – 12 June 2015

The great rollers thundering along our coastline are music to my ears. We are lucky to live very close to the ocean and at times like this, one can feel the vibrations as the waves slam onto the beach.

A combination of spring tides and a high wind out at sea were the cause of the present high seas, luckily though nothing like the waves of 2007 that left our beaches stripped and bare like Zimbabwean supermarket shelves. I noticed one large stormwater pipe along our beach had been dislodged by the waves, but that seemed to be the only damage.

At times like this, the enormous power of the sea is plain for all to see, and the waves in KZN aren’t a patch on those along the Cape coasts. Why has no serious effort been made to generate electricity from the sea?

It’s not a new idea. The first patent to generate electricity from wave power was lodged in 1799. There are electricity “farms” of various types around the world, notably the UK and Australia. Those countries have poured millions into development of alternative energy sources – while we poured millions into the development of soccer in the Caribbean! Go figure, as the Yanks say.

Then there’s water. While we scramble for fresh water, 98 percent of the world’s water is in the oceans. Between droughts, natural disasters and the large-scale redistribution of moisture threatened by climate change, the need for new sources of potable water grows with each passing day. Each year, the global population swells by another 85 million people, but worldwide demand for fresh water increases at twice the rate of population growth, doubling every 20 years or so.

Within 15 years, almost 2 billion people globally will live in areas confronting water scarcity, and, according to most model scenarios, such shortfalls will only worsen under climate change.

Due to relatively high energy consumption, the costs of desalinating sea water are generally higher than the alternatives. Quoting Christopher Gasson of Global Water Intelligence, “At the moment, around 1% of the world’s population are dependent on desalinated water to meet their daily needs, but by 2025, the UN expects 14% of the world’s population to be encountering water scarcity. Unless people get radically better at water conservation, the desalination industry has a very strong future indeed.”

In this country, Plettenberg Bay and Sedgefield also have desalination plants, with a capacity of two million litres and 1.5 million litres a day, respectively.

Umgeni Water has reportedly been working on the feasibility of building a 150-million litres a day plant for Durban for some years now, but the cost – estimated upwards of R3 billion – is prohibitive. And don’t forget the eishkom factor!

Of this we can be certain. If the Dolphin Coast wants to keep up the steady growth it has managed over the last decade, and meet the needs of an ever-northwards expanding Durban, government and business needs to work hand-in-hand to ensure a smooth path to prosperity.

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Want to hear a word I just made up?

Plagiarism.