Together with Activist! and Urban Sprout we are calling on South Africans to sign a petition calling on Government to buy 4 million Solar water heaters instead of investing in business as usual – coal. South Africa is one of the world’s biggest coal burning economies. Relative to our size, we contribute far more than most developing countries to climate change. But South Africa is, as we know, is also one of the world’s sunniest countries and we still have a great many households not on the national electrical grid – and a great many people who are unemployed.

Taken together, all these factors make for an incredible opportunity. Instead of building more coal burning power capacity, we believe South Africa can and should dramatically expand the number of installed domestic solar water heaters.

Please join our campaign and sign the petition!

This petition calls for a tax payer-driven solar water heater supply programme.

According to our calculations, backed up by local expert assessments, the South African government could buy 4 million free solar water heaters for R60 billion, instead of continuing to invest in dirty energy supply.

This is half the cost of Eskom’s Medupi coal power station. According to our calculations, backed up by expert assessments, the South African government could buy four million free solar water heaters for R60 billion. Four million solar water heaters would displace 12  million MW hours of electricity per year. Investment in clean energy can cut out the need for Kusile!   

Over twenty years 5600 MW from solar water heating would avoid 240 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, as well as reducing other coal-based pollution, strains on our water supply, reducing energy inflation, and creating many more jobs. We are currently in the process of building two gigantic coal powered stations. Each of these will make a greater contribution to dangerous climate change than many smaller African countries put together. It may be too late to stop the building of Medupi, but there is still time to avoid further investment in Kusile and spend the money in a sustainable way instead – the provision of 4 million free domestic solar water heating systems.  Read more…