ShareThisRunning On Empty
The smell of an exceptional bolognese sauce filled the kitchen of the house we were renting for the Christmas holidays. We had all descended on Cape Town to visit my mother. My sister, Tessa, bent over the pot to give the dish a taste as my wife popped a few loaves of garlic bread into the oven.
We all heard the low siren sound. My wife and I were visiting from Oregon and my sister from New Zealand. The three of us immediately thought it was the house alarm; home invasion almost being a national sport in South Africa. Tamar, my sister who lived in Cape Town, smiled and said, "We're running low on electricity credits."
The house we rented sits in Wedderwil Estates— a mountain top development overlooking the blue waters of False Bay. The six-bedroom house has beautiful gardens, a groomed driveway, and a pool for crisp dips first thing in the morning. Point being, we weren't in a government issued block of apartments with coin fed electric meters.
We all followed Tamar into the scullery to view this eccentric piece of apparatus. Sure enough the red light was blinking at us. We were on the 100 unit mark the ECON unit informed us. She took a recently purchased credit slip and keyed in the 20 digit credit code for 500 units at $0.11c per credit.
Relieved, we watched the display click back up to 600 units. "All homes in SA have these now," my mother told us. I immediately dispatched my kids around the house to kill anything that was being powered unnecessarily. My son was dialed in on this exercise. There was no way he was going to watch juice trickle away and jeopardize his Halo 3 gaming experience tomorrow.
As an industry professional in the energy efficiency and sustainability field, I consider myself aware of our resources. I have installed CFLs throughout our home in Portland, Oregon, drive a hybrid, upgraded our furnace, have custom high performance windows, and use smart strips to power our appliances. But, this experience of almost running on empty in terms of electricity supply was very powerful. I thought, "What if all homes in the U.S. had the same type of meters installed?" Without a single other upgrade, energy awareness and consumption would be profoundly affected.
South Africa pioneered the pay-as-you-go cell phone system. This allowed almost every single South African high quality GSM cellular phone access without having to rely on Telkom, our land line provider. When I arrived in Cape Town a few days ago, I purchased a $80 cell airtime voucher for my phone. This familiar habit certainly guides my cell usage. Why shouldn't it apply to electricity use too? Clearly, the SA utility saw the rationale.
I just checked the ECON unit. We are down to 499 units. I just adjusted the fridge temperature dial up a few notches. Time to pick up another credit voucher.
About the Author
