One house in Buffalo City Metro (BCM) has not drawn a single unit of electricity from the metro in three years.
Many of the metro’s 157000 customers are looking at bills for electricity which only seem to climb and there is general consternation over the accuracy and consistency of the billing system.
But Chris le Roux, who hails from a well-known local boxing family, has been boxing clever since 2010 when he got his brother, Bertie, also a champion boxer in his youth, to use only one source of energy for his Seaspray Terrace home in Gonubie – the sun.
In an adjacent scullery is a washing machine, tumble drier and plugs used as a cellphone docking station.
There is a bar with a sound system and ceiling fan and a TV lounge with a large television with external speakers.
There is modern ceiling and downlighting throughout, including two chandeliers with 30 lights.
Yet nothing distinguishes the home from other upmarket East London homesteads.
But in two small rooms in the back is were much of the human-created magic happens. In one room, half of the floor space is taken with the “batteries”, all connected to form one power pack, and next door, the six intelligent machines make all the decisions to control the flow of energy.
In six years, Le Roux, a lover of mathematics, calculates the system has saved the owner R100000 in electricity charges.
Le Roux said he gave up working for Eskom to go it alone.
The former Cambridge High schoolboy, who grew up enjoying rock and roll and occasional bouts of creative writing, in between boxing training and fights, said he only discovered his love and aptitude for maths when he left school.
He is a government-appointed GMR2 compliance officer for wind farms.
But his love of design comes through a process of auditing or logging.
He studied home and factory usage and then applied his mind on how to save “100% energy use”.
He said: “The cost of a green system, which can be as little as R10000 for lights, up to R300000 for full independence, is a worthwhile investment for the future. Businesses using the system for production can legally write off the capital outlay of the system over a few years.” — mikel@dispatch.co.za
No nasty bills with fully sun-powered home
Many of the metro’s 157000 customers are looking at bills for electricity which only seem to climb and there is general consternation over the accuracy and consistency of the billing system.
But Chris le Roux, who hails from a well-known local boxing family, has been boxing clever since 2010 when he got his brother, Bertie, also a champion boxer in his youth, to use only one source of energy for his Seaspray Terrace home in Gonubie – the sun.
In an adjacent scullery is a washing machine, tumble drier and plugs used as a cellphone docking station.
There is a bar with a sound system and ceiling fan and a TV lounge with a large television with external speakers.
There is modern ceiling and downlighting throughout, including two chandeliers with 30 lights.
Yet nothing distinguishes the home from other upmarket East London homesteads.
But in two small rooms in the back is were much of the human-created magic happens. In one room, half of the floor space is taken with the “batteries”, all connected to form one power pack, and next door, the six intelligent machines make all the decisions to control the flow of energy.
In six years, Le Roux, a lover of mathematics, calculates the system has saved the owner R100000 in electricity charges.
Le Roux said he gave up working for Eskom to go it alone.
The former Cambridge High schoolboy, who grew up enjoying rock and roll and occasional bouts of creative writing, in between boxing training and fights, said he only discovered his love and aptitude for maths when he left school.
He is a government-appointed GMR2 compliance officer for wind farms.
But his love of design comes through a process of auditing or logging.
He studied home and factory usage and then applied his mind on how to save “100% energy use”.
He said: “The cost of a green system, which can be as little as R10000 for lights, up to R300000 for full independence, is a worthwhile investment for the future. Businesses using the system for production can legally write off the capital outlay of the system over a few years.” — mikel@dispatch.co.za
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