Thin Film PV

I'm haven't generally been a thin-film PV fan, but this video of Nanosolar's new production facility is amazing!

They also came up in TIME magazine recently, in this article.

Response to Business Report Article on Biofuels

In response to this article, I wrote the following:


Dear Editor


In response to the article “State is blamed for biofuels fizzle” (Business Report, Tues 17th June) I would like to say “Good for the State!” Biofuels have some serious issues, none of which have been addressed by the SA Biofuels Association.

These issues include:
• Food security – Food prices are increasing dramatically, and biofuels can only make the problem worse. “The grain required to fill an SUV tank could feed one person for one year" (Washington Post, December 10, 2006). Internationally, Nestlé’s CEO is quoted as saying “If, as predicted, we look to use bio-fuels to satisfy 20% of the growing demand for oil products, there will be nothing left to eat” (http://www.gympietimes.com.au/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3767737). India’s Finance minister, Chidambaram, recently directly blamed the US corn (food) to ethanol policy for the spurt in grain prices, calling it “outrageous” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7315308.stm).
• Land-use change and carbon emission impacts - To create space to grow biofuels crops, farmers can plow up what was forest or grassland, or they can convert land that was previously used for other agricultural purposes to bio-fuel crops, requiring other land to be plowed up for food crops. Forests and grasslands act as carbon stores, and when they are destroyed, a tremendous amount of carbon gasses is released into the atmosphere, creating a “carbon debt” that needs to be repaid. This means that biofuels start off with a tremendous carbon-positive release even before the crops are grown. If this carbon debt is factored into the carbon arguments for biofuels, it would take approximately 167 years for US corn ethanol to pay it back. Biomass ethanol in the US comes in at a 138 years carbon payback. That is just to get carbon NEUTRAL. (Reports available on request)

Currently carbon stores, such a forests and wetlands, are not economically valued according to their real ecological value, and the ethical value of human life is not considered when large corporations, who own most of the agricultural land, drive a commercial agenda that appears to be driving up food prices. It is disingenuous to appeal to job creation when the such strategies undermine our food supplies which supports our economy.

The rush to biofuels has happened without a sound scientific appraisal, and can be considered an inappropriate switch from crude oil. If we wish to have sustainable resource consumption with regards to energy, the current methodologies with regards to biofuels are problematic. Buyelwa Sonjica has been wise in her approach to biofuels, excluding maize and not overdoing rebates.

Without a shadow of a doubt more energy that we could every use that could easily be harvested from proper renewable energy resources in ecologically friendly ways. Solar alone could easily meet this need. Just looking at transport, an analysis of PV versus biofuels reveals some startling results (Podewills, “Organised Wastefulness”, Photon International, Apr 2007). It looked at the distance that a car could travel based on the energy production of one hectare of land in one year. If the energy production on that one hectare is from biofuels, at best a traditional car could travel is 22’500km. If Photovoltaics (PV) are used and coupled to a hybrid car, a distance of 3’250’000 km! That is a factor of 144 times further!

There is much more I could write on this topic, but I hope that the above is found to be helpful.


Yours sincerely


Frank Spencer MSc(Eng)

Renewable Energy Engineer / Regional Manager - South Africa
Alt-e Technologies

The Harvester

Yesterday I had a surreal experience. I stood beneath a giant harvester, amazed that I had taken so long to go see them, and inspired by their beauty. Not only aesthetic beauty, but the beautiful manner by which they can create electricity.

I am, of course, talking about the wind turbine sup at Klipheuwel north of Cape Town, ESKOM's little test farm. I was there to help commission a much smaller little wind turbine, but it was beautiful to hear the blades of the monster 1.2MW machine rustling in the wind.

Much better than biofuels! And that is what I am going to write my case study on, I have finally decided. At last I have finished my literature review, and that convinced me that biofuels will be the best item to write on.

I wont inflict the whole assignment on you, but watch this space for a synopsis!

Is a more sustainable world possible? Can we decouple economic growth from resource consumption?

That is the title of the assignment I have been trying to wrap my head around for the last three weeks. It is my first assignment due as part of my MPhil in Renewable and Sustainable Energy. I have probably been doing too much reading in trying to grapple with the issue, but it is indeed fascinating.

Maybe the question can otherwise be phrased as: Can be increase GDP while reducing inputs and outputs? This has become one of the core questions of Sustainable Development.

As part of answering the question, I have to do two things: a literature review and a case study. Easy, I first thought, but boy have I been struggling to choose a topic! This is my list of ideas to date, in order of preference:

1) China & the Circular Economy
2) Biofuels & the SA biofuels strategy
3) Spirituality and Christianity -> social / economics
4) Oil, peak oil, and the oil end game
5) ESKOM & the SA Energy Crisis
6) Energy and Food
7) Global Sustainability – success of multilateral agreements
8) Climate Change
9) Woodstock – the suburb I live in
10) Stellenbosch housing requirements
11) South Africa and the looming water crisis

Biofuels, of course, is my personal bugbear, but not completely sure how to relate it to the question being asked. So I guess I might need to go with a look at China's national policy as it relates to their idea of the Circular Economy - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Which would you have chosen? Give me your thoughts!


BTW, you might enjoy Jeffery Sachs article on "Common Wealth"...

TIME and biofuels

Seems TIME magazine thinks the same way I do: "But several new studies show the biofuel boom is doing exactly the opposite of what its proponents intended: it's dramatically accelerating global warming, imperiling the planet in the name of saving it."

Hope to publish something new soon! :)

What can YOU do about Global Warming?

Thanks to the Sustainability Institute for this image:

A rant on bio-fuels

One of the things that has worried me for sometime is the whole concept of “biofuels”. In its most simple form it means turning organic materials, such as sugar cane or wheat, into fuels such as ethanol or bio-diesel.

Or even more simply, you are turning food into petrol.

What a horrific idea. We have close to a billion people who don’t have enough food to eat, and “filling the tank of an SUV with ethanol requires enough corn to feed a person for a year”.

No wonder the price of food, even in SA, is going through the roof!

What is happening here is that you are linking the price of oil with the price of food, or another way to look at it is that you are linking the value of agricultural land with that of energy.

And if you make energy / fuel with your agricultural land, you will make more money. Finish and klaar. So then, why grow food for people? Much better to grow food for fuel. And even in SA, this is being promoted by the bio-fuels strategy.

This is a major problem, for as we run out of oil, there will be a strong move to bio-fuels, which will drive up the food price. UNLESS we can move away from energy based on fossil fuels and biofuels from agricultural land.

So think of this next time you fill your car. Because you are using that petrol, someone elsewhere is making bio-fuel to replace it, and some else will starve.

Plug into Sustainability

Last week I was plugged into the Matrix.

Or that is what the experience felt like. I was in a place absolutely focused on thinking about HOW we look after this planet, how we help poorer countries to develop without destroying our ecosystems completely, how to get developed countries to cut back before they REALLY destroy our environment!? What do we do when OIL begins to run out (and it has, in all likelihood, begun to run out)? How do we deal with cities that may soon have 50% of the worlds population, consume 80% of our resources, and allow millions (if not billions) to live in most awful slums?

The place I was at last week was the Sustainability Institute, just near Spier. I started my MPhil in "Renewable and Sustainable Energy", with the 1st module - Sustainable Development. It was such an information download and challenge to our conventional resource usage paradigm that I felt like I was in another world. A world where my eyes were (further) opened to the damage we, as humankind, are doing to the planet, and where I could imagine that maybe, just maybe, if we did what God mandated us to do, to care for this planet, that we might not destroy ourselves this century.

Got me thinking about my own input and output patterns when it comes to resource usage and waste. It is not often that I have stopped to think about WHERE all the stuff that goes into my life each day comes from. My "ecological footprint" (go do this assessment!) is probably around 17 hectares - the amount of land required to support all the STUFF I consume (average in SA is around 1.7). If everyone lived like me, we would need a whole lot more Earths - NINE of them! And all the garbage that comes out of my life? Where does that all go? What is the environmental cost? More than I would like to imagine.

Have you ever stopped to think about it?

The way we price environmental resources are all skew. Their intrinsic value as a God created resource is left out. So the cost of so many things - electricity, fuel, waste disposal, is way too CHEAP! It needs to be priced properly. And we need to cut back. And we need to start doing it soon, else all of a sudden, as resources run out (such as oil), supply and demand will cause those resources to become so expensive so fast that we might not be able to adapt fast enough.

But there is hope...

One of the most delightful things of last week was the Group Project that I was involved in. Getting COMPLETELY out my comfort zone, I decided to join the Early Childhood Development group, where we did a study of how one can do interventions into young childrens lives that help them develop in a sustainable way. It was amazing to see how, in a rural community that suffers from a legacy of abuse, both physical and with alcohol, how positive interventions CAN make a difference in the life of a child. It only takes a few to make a big difference.

If you would like to see the videos or photos I took, let me know!


Today was another change - I started my new job at at Alt-e Technologies! How exciting to be given an opportunity to be involved in practically applying Renewable Energy technology solutions in our city of Cape Town. Watch this space, and send me all your leads if you know anyone wanting to improve their energy footprint!

And if you could like to do something, then, at the very least, install a solar water heater, and start recycling your waste!

Or if you are VERY brave, unplug completely - ditch the car and find another way.

Chain Reaction

Decided to call my List of Links (which I will post every now and again) "Chain Reaction" - you can work out why.

Those who know me know I love hybrid cars, and have had my eye set on a Prius for sometime. Here are a few other interesting ones:
1) Honda Researching Advanced Hybrid Drive with Rankine Cycle Co-Generation
2) BMW X5 Hybrid (a way to make yourself feel better about having an SUV???...)

Oil is a MASSIVE issue in the US (and worldwide). By all accounts, it has peaked, but that debate is being nicely obscured. See who is getting the oil money in the US presidential race.

Thinking of getting into property? Building a new home? Check this link sent through from my friend Rykie: Home is where the hearth isn't. Why, oh why, don't our architects think like this? Rumour has it our proposed new Cape Town Convention Center number TWO will consume at a rate of THREEEE MEGAWATTS (at peak). Insane.

Sustainable LEGO

What does power look like?

What does it mean to own something?

What is an equitable and just distribution of "bumps"?

This is a fascinating article that my good friend Kevin sent through to me yesterday. Not only is the story it tells a compelling commentary on social behaviour of children, but also on how dynamic learning can be.

This has strong parallels to Sustainable Development. Many of these concepts (Power, Resource Ownership, Social Justice) are key to an understanding of the various approaches to sustainability. Depending on the world view that one enters the debate, the definition of sustainability can be quite different. Is development sustainable as long as the power balance between North and South remains the same, or is some form of balanced power a prerequisite? Do resources take their value purely from market forces, or do they have some other intrinsic value that must be factored in? Is Sustainability about uplifting the poor primarily, or about protecting Nature?

These are key questions to be asked, and I hope to comment more on this as time goes by, but from a biblical point of view, our meta-narrative is to steward the earth. All humans are created equal in the eyes of God, therefore equality is a pre-requisite. The earth has value because God valued it and called it "good", but not as much value as humankind, who is to "rule" over it. Not rule as in dominate, but rule as in care. So mans needs do come first, but this needs to be done in such a way that Nature is cherished.

Engineering Challenges for the Future

If there was one Engineering Challenge you would like to solve during the 21st century, what would it be?

For me it would probably be to make engineering sustainable, ie to close the loop between inputs and outputs that machines use and create.

The National Academy of Engineering has put together a list of what they consider to be Grand Challenges for Engineers. Of the 14 listed, the one I chose as top was "Provide access to clean water", as this is, to me, a building block before we can focus on energy. We need to meet the primary needs of the poor before we can focus on such things as Carbon Sequestration or Economical Solar Energy.

Or, we do them all together - a multi-disciplinarian approach! Now THAT's really Sustainable Development!

Big Adventure, US Politics, 7MW & 31.25%

One week left before the Big Adventure...

Speaking of Big Adventures, it is that time of the year(s) when the US politicians slug it out, first amongst their own parties, then against each other, to take control of the presidency of the Oil Industry, whoops, sorry, United States. Want to know how much each is getting for their Presidential Race from Oil Companies? Check out the link.

Funny thing - the Republicans seems to be getting most of it.

Speaking of Big... now about 7MW of Big? Largest wind turbine EVER: check this puppy out!

And speaking of records broken, how about super efficient solar reflectors, using a Sterling Engine, achieving a 31.25% conversion efficiency:

Hmm, guess I need a pretty large piece of land in Woodstock to erect either of these eco-friendly techs. And my neighbours might object...

Renewed Energy - It's been a long time coming

2007 wrapped up on a note of uncertainty. Despite the pleasures of hooking up with good friends who had motorcycled ¼ way round the world (if you consider going N -> S as going round), and closing the year with champagne and swimming pools, the stress remained – what would the changes of 2008 be? There were bound to be many...

Work (or the lack thereof) was frustrating. Despite the great people I worked with, it became very clear that I did not want to be a software project manager. The energy crisis I had been waiting for since the mid-90s had hit South Africa, and my mind was caught up with concepts of “stewardship”, “renewable energy”, “sustainability”, “climate change” and “carbon trading”. I knew that’s where I ought to be, but in the Lord’s timing, how would I end up there? What work would I be doing in 2008? Would I be studying too? (I had registered for an MSc(Eng) in Sustainable Energy Engineering at UCT, but they seemed to be focused on anything but actually putting the course together!) How would I balance work, studies, community commitments, church, family, finances and loving my wife?

It was such a pleasure for the first two weeks of January to be in Lesotho. Nada and I went there on a mission trip with our church, Holy Trinity. How good it was to see that God had long gone before us, and up there in the beautiful, rugged, rural mountains, God had planted his church. At 3300m, it was breath-taking. Despite the hard-ships of such rural living (for us townies anyway!), it was a time of rest and reflection, and we returned invigorated to face a new year, trusting the Lord to provide (how hard that is to do!)

Within the first week of being back, my plans changed. It started with lunch.

The gentlemen who run the Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies at Stellenbosch were kind enough to buy it. And to twist my arm. The Sustainability Institute, they said, is where I needed to be. Run under the auspices of Stellenbosch University, and with strong links to a number of faculties and departments in the university (particularly the Department of Public Management and Planning and the Centre for Sustainable and Renewable Energy Studies), they offer a B.Phil and M.Phil programme in Sustainable Development Planning and Management. The streams of studies include Sustainable Development, Development Planning, Sustainable Agriculture and, last but not least, Renewable and Sustainable Energy. You can guess which one I registered for, and I said bye bye to UCT.

The week gone by has been spent on Orientation with the Institute. What an amazing place, and amazing people. It is difficult to describe the feeling of being in a place where they have sought to optimise in all areas their use of energy, light and other resources. Their approach is to integrate thinking from multiple disciplines (Economics, Sociology, Finance, Engineering, Politics, Agriculture, etc) to produce a space to think about Sustainability.

And to me, Sustainability is about Stewardship, looking after this Earth that God has given to us, to the best of our ability.

So this year I will be doing six, week-long, intensive modules, and will be hoping to complete either the BPhil in 2 years or the MPhil in 3, on a part-time basis. Not only is it an intellectual exercise, it also is practical - I will spend some of my morning time working on the nearby organic farm, simply called after its owner, “Eric’s Farm”.

Which left me wondering what I might be doing with the rest of my time?

The same day as I Lunched, I had Drinks with the MD of Alt-E technologies, a Renewable Energy (RE) company that seeks to supply RE solutions to industry and government. They also have a strategy to move into the Energy Services and Independent Power Producer. They wanted me on board to head up the Western Cape area. How could I say no to that? I am now in the process of jumping ship, starting there from the beginning of March.

So I covet your best wishes and prayers, as I embark on this new adventure! I hope to have this blog kept up to date - which will not only assist me in keeping a journal (a requirement of the course), but allow you to see how things progress!