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! :)