Kuyasa power

Let’s not think about Eskom as it’s shocking,... although simply unavoidable with the current state of South Africa’s electricity grid. But let’s think about nice energy saving projects. Like this one I got into my inbox yesterday.

It’s happening in Kuyasa, a part of the ever-growing Kayelitsha township near Cape Town. Around 2000 poor families here have turned to the sun to cut their power bills with more than a third. And on top of that they are doing it in a fashionable green way.

It’s all about solar water heaters. It’s an ongoing project funded by the national environment department, as well as the Western Cape Province. Nice one!

And on a larger, world scale this project got the approval stamp from the United Nations. As Kuyasa residents save money on their electricity bills, they also pollute less and thus get green credits. So called Certified Emission Reductions credits. And these green carbon credits can be ‘traded’. Already the City of Cape Town, which owns this Kuyasa project, has sold carbon credits to the United Kingdom. It’s the modern face of global trade. The money from this sale goes back into the further development and expansion of the project.

So in fact the Kuyasa township dwellers are the green counter-balance for the polluters in England. Tell that to the super-rich in London’s Chelsea district!