Once you start researching this subject, you realize that every city in every country basically has the same challenges when it comes to electricity. Either there isn't enough electricity, or it's very expensive, or use of energy is completely inefficient. Most seem to be interested in cheaper electricity but not all give a thought to side effects like generating CO2 and what that does to the environment and are often not aware of- or concerned enough to look for alternatives.

Here are a few energy problems that big cities face, and how they deal with these problems.

Regulating time-of-use
As consumers become more sophisticated, they use more electricity than ever before. This is to be expected with our constantly growing global population, so the problem has to do with economies of scale. The use of electricity isn't spread evenly throughout the day. We have peak times when there is a lot of demand on the electricity grid, and off-peak times when there is less demand. This means that an electricity provider needs to have infrastructure in place to supply the maximum demand at the peak of the day, but when it's not peak time, that extended infrastructure stands idle. To regulate this phenomenon cities often switch to time-of-use tariffs. It is a way to "reward" off-peak consumers with cheaper electricity and “punish” peak hour consumers with more expensive electricity.

Outdated technology
Conventional items like electrical stoves & geysers, aluminum cooking pots, incandescent lamps and heater elements all have one thing in common... low efficiency. There is a lot of room for improvement here, and the improvement not only lies in making appliances like heaters more efficient but how about making them unnecessary?

In South Africa for example, most homes are built using river sand & cement for screed; and plaster sand & cement for plastering. From an energy consumption point of view, the materials are not only inefficient but are also expensive to cool in summer and heat in winter. If we used more efficient materials we could come to a point where we hardly need any heating or cooling. Ever hear of volcanic glass fibre?

Developments in LED technology for example could have us all switching to lamps that use 1/10th or less electricity, while doing the same job.

Questionable alternatives
While the computer age has seem tremendous technological advancements, we seem to be more complacent with technological developments in energy. Microwave ovens came into being using much less electricity, but many health gurus are not convinced that food is still the same after being micro waved and it seems they may have reason to be concerned. If you’d like to read up on the origins and hazards of microwave ovens.

Island Heating Effect
Experts call it the island heating effect and it affects big cities. So apart from needing to find new sources of energy and much more energy, a very real challenge is what the energy that we generate do to the areas we live and work in. And so had to discover that our buildings are not necessarily energy efficient, and that huge amounts of electricity goes into heating and cooling these buildings that have a very poor thermal conductivity curve. Bear in mind that when they were designed 50 years ago very few developers thought about this. It is just amazing what we took for granted for so many decades, but then we have the privilege of hind sight, don`t we?

Renewable energy developments
It is fascinating to see what engineers in Australia managed to do with wind generators and a unique combined flywheel technology. Hydrogen as a fuel for cars and airplanes is a technology which was hidden for years but is definitely going to be huge in the next 50 years. The use of permanent magnets to generate huge amounts of electricity is already being done, although expensive to build it’s relatively cheap to maintain. And it does not generate any CO2.

Efficient Electrical Energy Management is geared to help our clients to use electricity much more efficiently and more effectively in an ongoing manner as and when new technology arrives. We also advise clients on alternative alternative solutions to energy needs.

It all starts with measuring; understanding what it means, then control it in order to improve it.

Many electronic devices, distort the electricity sine wave. Electricity alternates at 50 cycles per second, however, it is possible to distort it so much that additional “waves” can start running inside this 50 cycle wave, with frequencies varying from 100 to approximately 2500 cycles per second.

Why is this a problem you ask?

This phenomenon of these additional frequencies is called Harmonics. Here are a few ways in which it can affect your operation.

It can destroy or damage expensive electronic equipment because capacitors draw more power as the frequency increases and keeps failing due to the heat caused by the higher current.

Supply cables overheat, which damages them

It causes nuisance tripping for no apparent or obvious reason

Only some equipment can measure the presence of the additional frequencies (harmonics), therefore it does not seem to be there at all

It reduces the capacity of our cables and transformers, due to heat, therfore less electricity is available for doing real work

And the situation is getting worse and we end up paying for repairs and replacements that seem to have no apparent cause

What causes harmonics?
One of the causes are found in energy saving equipment such as low energy lamps. They do save electricity, but they also give us a problem. Harmonics, and there are only two ways around it.

Government intervention which governs any equipment that adds harmonics to the national grid, but as we all know this can take time

Another solution comes in the form of harmonic filters which isolates harmonic frequencies and lets only "clean electricity" through to our equipment

Efficient Electrical Energy Management installs logging and monitoring equipment can report on the quality of your power and where harmonic threats come from, whether it is your own equipment or your neighboring factory or business.

What action can you take?

With enough solid data available you can identify the source of the problem and take action. Depending on whether the source of the problem is your equipment or the grid, preventative action can be taken.

The old adage says that prevention is better than cure. It is also cheaper. We can also help you with purchasing decisions on new equipment. Will it live up to the stated harmonic distortion absence or very low levels claimed. You can find out before purchasing, and know the effect that it will have on the rest of your equipment.

If these are the concerns that you are facing, contact Cobus Verster to discuss your power quality needs & risks, and how to address them.

In Europe legislation is very firm about harmonics. No manufacturer is allowed to sell equipment which generates harmonics above a predetermined safe level and every user is responsible and accountable to make sure no harmonic contamination is added to the grid as a result of their equipment and practices.

South Africa seems to have the legislation in place but not the application. The penalty will either hit us in the very near future or our children will have pay for it.

Why do I send you this article?

Before buying machines or equipment with some electronic control, contact Efficient Electrical Energy Management and let`s discuss the harmonic distortion potential

The supplier of that equipment is obliged to give you the specifications which shows the harmonic distortion levels

You may have losses and problems with repairs and maintenance which is costing a lot in terms of profit lost and expenses, not knowing that harmonics is the culprit

Harmonics filtering is very expensive and in many cases, Efficient Electrical Energy Management can mostly solve the problem without using harmonic filters and at a much lower cost as well

Start measuring power quality parameters such as harmonics, all 3 phases volts amps kvar, kw and log it, so that you have the information at hand for expert analysis. The cost of measuring by external experts is huge and it does not solve the problem because machines and equipment changes all the time and since you also receive harmonic contamination from the neighboring factories or businesses

Make power quality monthly reporting, part of your management report. This is something which management can use and understand once they are informed, you do not need to be an electrician or engineer to understand and use this information

Contact Cobus Verster to discuss your power quality needs and risks and how to address the risks.

Yours sincerely,

Cobus Verster.
(Managing Member)