Who are the alternative energy suppliers globally?

Question

A company in South Africa requires an affordable product that will be integrated with a low cost housing scheme. Specifications must be of a renewable energy source and adaptable to a small to medium household.

Answer 1

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Answer 2

Give the sun a try

Answer 3

BP is in Cape Town,  and Siemens in Midrand.

Answer 4

solar power i heard

Answer 5

If anyone has a good solution for this one they are on a real winner.

Here are some thoughts, smallish solar panels with battery/inverter packs, several companies supply these. One per house, not for all energy needs but to power LED lighting and electronic devices.  (a small wind turbine in windy areas would do as well)

Add a bio fuel generator, to convert waste vegetation to useable fuel gas for cooking. There are some excellent Indian and Chinese designs for cheap bio digesters, (also 'Western designs', bit more hightech, using rubber/polymer gas containers). But they all need suitable waste products to digest and human waste from the average family is usually not enough, works in a community with a few farm animals though.

Gasifiers may be more effective, these heat wood and other organic wastes in a zero oxygen atmosphere to produce a mixture of gases that have a modest fuel value and produce charcoal as a by product. (these exist at all scales from toen sized down to individual consumer sized.) (related examples are the old coal gas plants and the gasifiers used in Germany during the war firewood was converted to gas in a drum on the car, the gas powered the engine!) Nothing very high tech, cheap to build and with modern understanding and materials reasonable efficiency can be obtained. (it is possible to get higher value gas by adding water and reacting under pressure or with suitable catalysts to produce methane in the mix.)

Solar water heaters need not be expensive, in high sunshine areas you don't need to use exotic materials or coatings. Simple designs perform very satisfactorily. (I installed commercial 2x solar panel and stainless steel tank set for less than $1000,(no subsidy) but keep being told that in Australia the average installation is far more.) I have built low cost versions working on mains pressure for under $300. I have sen designs far cheaper than that.

So a combination of these simple technologies may do what no one will do on its own.

Answer 6

Well, there is always Solar Power, and although it is VERY expensive to set up, after that it basically works through the sun...which we can get for free. It's brilliant for countries who get a lot of sun during the day...not so great for places like England, which very rarely see's a full day of sun. Plus, Solar power is renewable. It can be used again.

Hydro-Electricity is good too. It uses water to create electricity. And we all know water is renewable. Not such a good idea if there is hardly any water in that area though. Quite cheap.

Wind power. Wind is a good source of power, especially if you are in a very windy place. (like Chicago lol.) Its quite cheap...although you would have to build several wind turbines just to power one small town.

Biomass. Burning trees and leaves to create energy...not exactly sure how this one works, but it isn't great for the environment. And the only way this is renewable is if you replant the tree after you have burned it.