Rainwater Harvesting
It is now viable to harvest rainwater for your whole household. This includes rainwater harvesting, storing and pumping rainwater for bathing, showering, toilet flushing, pool, laundry and irrigation. Rainwater harvesting together with other Water Rhapsody products can save up to 90% of your water bill.
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Author Archives: Ansie
Water a commodity or a resource?
This is all about water, the stuff we drink, wash in, use it as a medium to carry away our urine and fecal matter, and irrigate our gardens. Furthermore industry and commerce use evaporation of water for cooling in air conditioning plants, and a whole host of other uses. When referring to water do we know the difference between water as a commodity and resource?
No vision in Karoo fracking plans
A well written article from the Green Times: What is it going to take to stop the plans to threaten our sensitive Karoo region from being destroyed by Shell’s plans to blow it apart in search of natural gas? A controversial application by oil giant Shell to explore for gas in an area of the Karoo should be put on hold, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday.
Posted in Climate Change, Dam Levels, Rainwater Harvesting, Renewable Energy, Water Conservation, Weather
Tagged Dam Levels, Department of Water and Environmental Affairs, drought disaster area, Fracking, Indigenous Plants, Karoo, Natural Resources, Water Conservation, Water Rhapsody, Water tanks, Yes Solar
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Water Restrictions 2012
Read this interesting views and motivation for the Water Rhapsody Systems by Jeremy Westgarth-Taylor. Most of the facts are also applicable to the situation in the Eastern Cape. “Does it take a genius to predict drought? While the fear of water restrictions work in favour of those of us who are involved in water conservation, it would be preferable for all of us to have smoothed restrictions rather than an all or nothing scenario. All of us mean the population at large, the municipality, the Department of Environmental Affairs as well as Water Rhapsody. Please let me explain?
Posted in Dam Levels, Rainwater Harvesting, Water Conservation, Weather
Tagged Dam Levels, Department of Water and Environmental Affairs, Desalination Plant, Drought, Eastern Cape, Jeremy Taylor, Water Conservation, Water Restrictions, Water Rhapsody, Water shortage, Water sources, Water Stress, Water tanks, Water Tariffs, Yes Solar
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Radio Interview with Water Rhapsody’s Founder
We are proud to share this interview with Jeremy Westgarth-Taylor on SAFM with everybody. After reading through this, we hope the necessity of harvesting rainwater, specially through the Water Rhapsody System, will become not only a consideration to you, but a must-have to all households and businesses. Try to make use of natural water supply to help keep you going during the times when water is scarce. Radio Interview on SAFM 104 – 107 with Karabo 14hr30. 18 January 2011 TRANSCRIPT NOT VERBATIM Are we doing enough to control flooding? On the line we have Jeremy the founder of Water Rhapsody. Welcome Jeremy, are we doing enough to control flooding? J Flooding should not be seen as a bad thing. Water that reaches the sea from rivers is not wasted water. Estuaries need floods to be able to function as estuaries. Rivers need to have the mouths to the sea scoured from flooding which makes a flood a good thing. Estuaries are places where sea fish swim during floods to breed and spawn to procreate more, and because of over extraction of water from rivers, there is between three and four percent of fish left in the sea that there … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Dam Levels, Green, Rainwater Harvesting, Water Conservation, Water Tanks, Weather
Tagged Augment Supply, Dam Levels, Drought, Eastern Cape, Flood Control, Flooding, Natural Resources, Rain fall, Rainwater Harvesting, Saving water, Water Rhapsody, Water tanks
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What is Climate Change?
Outline of the potential problem of climate change and its cause as understood by the South African Weather Service The climate of the world varies from one decade to another, and a changing climate is natural and expected. However, there is a concern that the human industrial and development activities of the past two centuries have caused changes over and above natural variation… What is climate change? Climate change is the natural cycle through which the earth and its atmosphere are going to accommodate the change in the amount of energy received from the sun. The climate goes through warm and cold periods, taking hundreds of years to complete one cycle. Changes in temperature also influence the rainfall, but the biosphere is able to adapt to a changing climate if these changes take place over centuries. Unfortunately, human intervention is currently causing the climate to change too fast. (Climate models predict that the mean air temperature over South Africa will increase by an estimated 2°C over the next century.) Plants and animals may not be able to adapt as quickly to this rapid climate change as humans can, and therefore the whole ecosystem is in danger. What causes climate change? … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Dam Levels, Green, Grey Water Recycling, Rainwater Harvesting, Renewable Energy, safe water, Solar Energy, Water Conservation, Water Tanks
Tagged Climate Change, Dam Levels, Global Concern, Rainwater Harvesting, Saving water, Water Conservation, Water Rhapsody, Yes Solar
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Grahamstown: Limited Water
“Serious water shortage in Grahamstown causes some areas to have access to water only one hour per day. It is especially rural settlement Vukani that are being hit by this the worst. During a public meeting earlier this week held by The Movement for Unemployed People, it became clear that the only hour water would be available is during the middle of the night. Around 50 people, mostly woman, from the Vukani Location attended the meeting. Prof. Denis Hughes, the Director for Water Research at Rhodes University acted as chairperson for the meeting. Both the Makana Municipality’s municipal manager, Me. Ntombi Baart and Mr. Dabula Njilo, director of Technical and Infrastructural Services were expected to attend the meeting to explain to the public what the state of the situation is, but none showed up.” Die Burger, 26 Nov’10 – Anna-Karien Otto Let this not be said from your town one of these days. Try to start changing your lifestyle and think different about water and the usage thereof. Contact Water Rhapsody to give you a quote on greywater re-use, recycling your pool’s backwash water, saving the amount of toilet flushing-water, being prepared to harvest rainwater etc. Do what you can … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Green, Grey Water Recycling, Rainwater Harvesting, safe water, Solar Energy, Solar Geysers, Water Conservation, Water Tanks, Weather
Tagged drought disaster area, Grahamstown, Greywater re-use, Natural Resources, Rainwater Harvesting, Saving water, Solar geysers, Vukani Location, Water Conservation, Water Restrictions, water safe, Water Stress, Water tanks, Yes Solar
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Interesting Facts about Electricity
A spark of static electricity can measure up to three thousand (3,000) volts. A bolt of lightning can measure up to three million (3,000,000) volts – and it lasts less than one second! Electricity always tries to find the easiest path to the ground. Electricity can be made from wind, water, the sun and even animal manure. Burning coal is the most common way electricity is made in the United States. The first power plant – owned by Thomas Edison – opened in New York City in 1882. Thomas Edison invented more than 2,000 new products, including almost everything needed for us to use electricity in our homes: switches, fuses, sockets and meters. Benjamin Franklin didn’t discover electricity – but he did prove that lightning is a form of electrical energy. One power plant can produce enough electricity for 180,000 homes. Alternative Energy The bicycle is the most efficient form of transportation known. It uses five times less energy than walking. B.C.’s forest industry obtains 25% of its electricity from biomass — in this case, the waste material from their own industry. A system of distribution and transmission lines brings electricity to southern Manitoba through 70,000 km of lines. That’s … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Saving, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Solar Geysers, Solar Power, Solar Water Heating, Water Conservation, Water Tanks
Tagged Alternative Energy, going green, Saving Electricity, Solar geysers, Solar panels, Solar power, Static Elecrisity Spark, Wind Tubine, Wind Tunnels, Yes Solar
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Fascinating Facts about Energy
Science Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be converted from one form to another. Find an elastic band, and stretch it out. The stretched rubber band has potential energy. If you let it go, it moves and has kinetic energy. Have you ever wondered how you might get a hot air balloon to float up and down? How would you launch it? How would you get it back to earth? The balloon rises by warming up the air inside it. It descends by letting the air inside it cool down. It all works because of heat energy. Electricity travels at 300,000 km/sec. If you travelled that fast, you could travel around the world eight times in the time it takes to turn on a light switch. The energy produced by the atom-splitting of one kilogram of uranium is equivalent to the burning of 1.3 million kilograms of coal or 1.35 million litres of oil. People run on energy too, and food is our fuel. The unit we use to measure expended heat energy is the calorie. Calorie expenditures comparison: Lying at ease – 1.5 cal/min Tennis – 7 cal/min Playing drums – 4–6 cal/min Golfing – 6 … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Saving, Green, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Solar Power, Solar Water Heating, Water Tanks
Tagged Electricity, Energy, going green, Hot Air Balloon, Hydrogen Nuclei, Interesting Facts about Energy, Natural Resources, Saving Electricity, Saving water, Water tanks, Yes Solar
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Interesting Facts about Electricity
History The first windmills were developed in Persia in about 600 B.C. About 200 years ago, Alessandro Volta discovered that when two strips of different metals were put in a sulphuric acid solution and connected with a wire, electricity began to flow. Voila! The first electric battery was developed! Think of him the next time you pick up your battery-operated CD player or Game Boy. In 1879, just over 100 years ago, Thomas Edison invented the first light bulb. (Thomas Edison didn’t invent the first light bulb – but he did invent one that stayed lit for more than a few seconds. Think of the incredible changes it has brought to our current world! The first windmill to produce electricity was in Denmark in 1890. In the past, frightened sailors voyaging at night saw ghostly phantoms of bluish light dancing on the masts of ships. Called Saint Elmo’s fire, the light is actually a form of static electricity. In 1986, an accident at Chernobyl, USSR, sent radioactive material into the atmosphere and raised concerns about the production and storage of radioactive waste. What is a kilowatt hour? When we buy petrol, we’re charged per litre. When we buy electricity, we’re … Continue reading
Posted in Green, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Solar Water Heating, Water Tanks
Tagged Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs, Green Power, Interesting Facts about Electricity, Kilowatt Hour, Light bulbs, Natural Resources, Saving Electricity, Solar geysers, Solar power, Thomas Edison, Water Rhapsody, Yes Solar
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