OPINION - I went to Makro in Springfield Park the other day and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was using green energy to produce electricity. The entire parking area was covered with solar panels.
Makro could have put the solar panels on the roof of the store, but decided to use the parking area.
The solar panels serve a dual purpose. Not only do they supply free, clean energy to the shop, but they also provide shade for the cars. It was a clever idea.
Car parks in shopping centres are the worst places to be on a hot summer’s day. They literally bake. Hopefully this green energy revolution will spread and other shopping centres will emulate Makro and get off the Eskom grid, not only making substantial savings in the electricity bill, but also freeing themselves from being at the mercy of an unreliable, unprofitable power producer which needs billions in taxpayers’ money to keep it going.
All over the world people are dumping dirty black coal and turning to wind and solar power.
Our country, with so much wind and sun, is lagging far behind a growing, worldwide trend towards green energy. Why, I wonder?
Could it be that Eskom has been stalling the green energy movement, fearing it could lose its position as the country’s national power producer, and that the fat cats who have crippled the state-owned entity could lose their lucrative jobs and crooked deals? As electricity prices keep rising, it will force people to get off the Eskom grid and turn to cheap, green energy.
T Markandan Silverglen
Daily News