WHILE Leon Louw is correct in noting that Eskom’s celebrations are misplaced, his assertion that there is "a near-perfect correlation between economic growth and electricity consumption" is obsolete and false (Stagnation no reason for Eskom to celebrate, August 17).
A country’s economy and its energy use are linked, with short-term changes in electricity use often being positively correlated with changes in economic output. But the relationship has been changing for some decades, and economic growth now outpaces electricity growth. In the US, the rate of projected growth in electricity use is now less than half the rate of economic growth. Causes for this include improved efficiency of equipment and appliances, and technological change such as new types of lighting and improved motor and process efficiency, and a shift in the economy towards less energy-intensive industry. This last point is relevant to SA given the decline in energy-intensive mining.
Understanding this reality is of importance to SA, where the debate about an expensive future nuclear build rages — a debate that is misinformed and distorted in the public eye by the wrong interpretation of the need for electricity in the future based on economic growth projections.
In commenting on whether Eskom should be unbundled, Louw suggests the politicians "perpetuated the dinosaur inherited from apartheid". Well, that dinosaur produced a surplus of reliable electricity at very low cost. What a pity the dinosaurs died out 60-million years ago!
Dr Roger B Silberberg
Marina da Gama
Electricity pylons at an Eskom coal-burning power station near Sasolburg. Picture: REUTERS/SIPHIWE SIBEKO
WHILE Leon Louw is correct in noting that Eskom’s celebrations are misplaced, his assertion that there is "a near-perfect correlation between economic growth and electricity consumption" is obsolete and false (Stagnation no reason for Eskom to celebrate, August 17).
A country’s economy and its energy use are linked, with short-term changes in electricity use often being positively correlated with changes in economic output. But the relationship has been changing for some decades, and economic growth now outpaces electricity growth. In the US, the rate of projected growth in electricity use is now less than half the rate of economic growth. Causes for this include improved efficiency of equipment and appliances, and technological change such as new types of lighting and improved motor and process efficiency, and a shift in the economy towards less energy-intensive industry. This last point is relevant to SA given the decline in energy-intensive mining.
Understanding this reality is of importance to SA, where the debate about an expensive future nuclear build rages — a debate that is misinformed and distorted in the public eye by the wrong interpretation of the need for electricity in the future based on economic growth projections.
In commenting on whether Eskom should be unbundled, Louw suggests the politicians "perpetuated the dinosaur inherited from apartheid". Well, that dinosaur produced a surplus of reliable electricity at very low cost. What a pity the dinosaurs died out 60-million years ago!
Dr Roger B Silberberg
Marina da Gama
