Forget the coppers, its the independent power producers who should be applauded.
I ate a supper cooked using methane gas generated by human excrement this weekend.
Tasted fine.
While the Cop-17 clan met at Durban’s international conference centre, I was standing near a large pool built into a hillside in Westville, indulging in a spit braai and playing music with my band for a 21 year-old called Luke. At the same time as the coppers furrowed their little brows down below in Durban, only a stone’s throw away at Moses Mabhida stadium, Orlando Pirates beat Wits 3-1 to seize the Telkom Football cup final.
Machines and people at work.
What was ironic was the spectacular fireworks display at the end of the Telkom football match. The smell of cordite would have drifted into the air-conditioned Cop-17 meeting where I imagined a slew of cotton flannels seethed while tugging on goatees wondering what to say as hundreds of kilogrammes of gunpowder exploded in the thick Durban air leaving a trail of smoke and flame.
But to return to the Westville home. Our client/host has converted his dwelling into a representation of everything the coppers were trying to do and failing, and everything the Telkom Super 8 wasn’t doing. Looking after the energy needs of the broader environment.
From the large power generating propellor on his roof, to the array of photo-voltaic cells above our heads, to the brown water filter and the reservoir collecting rainwater, to the methane gas producing sewer he had designed, Hayden is just light years ahead of Eskom. He is one of those rare environmentalists. A spit-braaing boytjie who realized that cutting reliance of the useless infrastructure of South Africa was a smart thing to do. While he has not achieved 100% self-sufficiency, he is far ahead of most world governments and if tomorrow we lose all electrical power, a bunch of neighbours will show up at Hayden’s house for a hot bath and a methane-powered cup of rooibos.
What was even more fascinating was that he had built his home on the exact dimensions of the golden mean. Perhaps he knows something us mortals don’t.
Tags: #cop, #cop-17, #cop17, #Durban, #westville