By Tarryn Le Chat
30 September 2006
South Africa should be split into two time zones to stagger peak hour demand on Eskom. This is according to Eskom council member and electrical engineer Professor Christo Viljoen.
Viljoen has urged the government to seriously consider his proposal.
According to the Weekend Argus, there has long been a strong lobby for daylight saving in Durban, because the sun in South Africa's most easterly city rises and sets about 50 minutes earlier than in Cape Town.
Viljoen, however, emphasised that he was not talking about daylight saving, but just one hour's difference would have a major impact on the electricity supply in this country. The time zones would be permanent.
Different time zones worked well in other countries, thus Viljoen says if his proposal is implemented, it would go a long way to alleviating the current electricity crisis until another power station is built.
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2 comments:
I think this is great step forward. Daylight savings time is an adcancement in all countries that have it, and if it seen that Africa has the needs to use daylight savings time. Proceed forward!!
Different time zones... I find my self reminded of the song "Manyana" – meaning ‘tomorrow’, my tongue-in-cheek anthem for Africa's sense of time --> Question: Just how on earth are you going to get everyone to understand (11 different languages) ... and then get everyone to adhere to it? The economy will have to be prepared to "go with the flow" for a while, however long that may be. It will be really cool for Eskom because it will get them out of their jam for not doing their planning, but what about the other cogs in this wheel of SA Economy i.e. banks, transportation? What about the countries north of us whose dependencies on SA are not as clear as “daylight”? (pardon the pun) The 80/20 principles should be applied. Can we (all the citizens of South Africa) afford to expend the amount of money (time included) to bail Eskom out of its hole “until another power station is built.”? If it was up to me, I say “Dare to get a little further out of the box and start thinking!” Your wonderful solution is going to cost SA more than putting up another power station! - Anon fed-up to the teeth with corporate ineptitude!
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