In South Africa, Those Who Can Rush To Buy Generators - Sales Up 400%, Months-Long Order Backlogs

[hatrack]

Good thing those generators don't need gasoline or diesel to run, so that this won't . . . Oh, never mind. Sorry!

ALTERNATIVE power suppliers have reported a rise in demand for alternative power sources – some merchants who sell generators reporting increases in sales of up to 400 per cent.

Game Stores managing director Jan Potgieter said: “There has been a huge increase in the sale of generators since October last year. “But January has been exceptional – our sales increased by 409% on just generators. There has also been an increase on gas-operated equipment and candles.”

Talisman Plant and Tool Hire product and services manager Magda Swanepoel said: “There has been a big demand for generators and as a result we are sold out nationwide. The demand has increased drastically in the last two weeks – we have a backlog of three months.” She said people who placed orders for generators now would only be able to get them in April.

EDIT

Meanwhile, sales of candles and gas have also seen an increase lately. “The demand for candles has risen, especially since last week, because electricity has not been dependable,” said Zamo Nzuza, owner of O‘Khule Candles in Johannesburg. Easigas marketing manager Peter Kolarik said: “There has been a turnaround. Many people buy big industrial cylinders and buy more than they need, so there has been a shortage of cylinders.” Kolarik said his company was bringing in more cylinders in anticipation of an even bigger increase in the demand for gas in winter.

EDIT

http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/news/n09_24012008.htm

[NNadir]

1. Well let's look at the bright side...

...it's distributed energy.

[hatrack]

2. True dat!

:rofl:

[bananas]

4. So their nuclear energy isn't doing shit for them?

[NNadir]

5. Um...it's a coal problem....

Regrettably there is an anti-nuke cult that operates out of complete ignorance and moral indifference that is trying to make the world more dependent on coal.

Now. There is no point in producing numbers here, but South Africa only gets a small part of its electricity from nuclear.

There real losers in this game will be the fundie anti-nuke Germans, who have been hoping to buy South African coal.

[bananas]

6. The South African Diesel Generators run on coal?

Somebody let me know if NNadir stops posting NNonsense.

[NickB79]

7. Actually, yes they do

Google "Sasol South Africa". They use the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis pathway to produce the a large amount of South Africa's diesel fuel from coal:

"Sasol in South Africa uses coal and natural gas as a feedstock, and produces a variety of synthetic petroleum products. Sasol produces most of the country's diesel fuel."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer-Tropsch_synthesis#Utilization

[bananas]

9. Thanks. nt

[NNadir]

8. One reads these things and one really doesn't believe it.

One wonders if the anti-nuke cult is trying to be ill-informed or whether the tenets of the cult follow from a lack of knowledge, insight and rationality.

It actually doesn't matter either way, but South Africa is the world's expert on producing diesel energy from coal.

Nuclear power provides about 8% of South Africa's electricity from two reactors.

In 2004 the reactors set a record for power production.

I note with contempt for the coal apologetics of the paid (off) anti-nuke industry that no one, least of all me, is trying to prevent South Africans from buying solar cells, just like no one prevented the citizens of California from buying solar cells when Amory Lovins' pals over at Enron were shutting the power off to make money.

Even so, California still claimed to need another dopey "Brazillion solar roofs" bill to generate sales of solar cells in California, and in fact, the brazillion solar roofs bill has done nothing to wean California off of dangerous fossil fuel dependency and dangerous fossil fuel waste dumping.

The fundie anti-nuke industry couldn't care less that their "solar will save us" bill has proved useless. There are zero posts from anti-nuke fundies on this bill.

There are also zero fundie anti-nukes who give a rat's ass about Africa.

Every year, for a length of time now approaching a decade, anti-nuke fundies come here with "world's largest solar installation" threads, and every year solar electricity fails to produce an exajoule. In fact, it would seem that the solar electricity industry remains incapable of producing the equivalent of one medium sized gas plant per year.

And this is with endless cheering for the solar industry too. Imagine if the industry had critics.

Now we have Africans sitting in the darkness, and the fundie industry comes here to blame what?

The nuclear industry?

Um, how come we aren't hearing all about the great way the solar industry stepped up to the plate.

[diane in sf]

3. Not really, they're buying centrally supplied fossil fuels.