By Wezi Tjaronda WINDHOEK Consumers are turning to solar technologies and other energy-saving technologies in their numbers in a bid to save costs with ever rising electricity bills. While private households are converting their conventional electric geysers to solar water heating ones, public institutions in education and health have also come on board. Companies dealing in these technologies have seen a tremendous increase in their sales since early 2006, when power shortages especially in South Africa, which supplies Namibia with most of its electricity, became prominent. Although some companies have been selling these technologies for the past decade or so, sales began to pick up once consumers got to know how much they could save on solar water heaters and energy-saving bulbs. On the one hand, an electric geyser accounts for 40 percent of a household’s electricity, which if converted drastically cuts down the usage, while on the other an energy-saving bulb, which uses 11 watts gives electricity equivalent to that of a 60-watt bulb. The Director of Namibia Engineering Corporation, Niko Brueckner told New Era yesterday solar water heaters’ sales received a boost with the energy crisis as well as financial assistance that is being given to finance the technologies. Since going into a partnership with the Ministry of Mines and Energy to finance solar technologies, Bank Windhoek received 73 applications of which 51 were approved from October to December. “The demand has tripled since beginning 2006,” he said. Since June last year, the company is bringing in about 30 SWH per month and at present the company has converted some 250 private households and bigger projects at Unam, the Polytechnic, Windhoek Vocational Training College and Engela Hospital. Unam converted its water-heating system to solar in December 2006, with Gordon McGregor saying it should substantially cut down the electricity bill the institution was incurring every month. He could however not tell by how much the bill has been reduced because hostel dwellers are only expected on campus in February. “Although I don’t have details, the cut in electricity should be substantial. It has been successful. The hostels have hot water every time,” he added. Namibia gets its five brands of solar water heaters from South Africa, Israel and Turkey. Due to lack of economies of scale and the climate in the country, Brueckner said it would not be viable to manufacture them locally. Heaters in Namibia last about 25 years due to the country’s climate which means that consumers would only need to change after that period. He added that a company would need to manufacture 10 000 storage tanks to be cost effective, but there would be no market for that amount at present. Energy-saving bulbs have also been on the market since 10 years ago, but traders say they have also been popular since last year. “We are selling about 100 per day and we are not the only ones,” said Fritz Jakob, Manager of DB Electrical Distributors, adding: “It’s only now with the increase in electricity that people are buying new fittings.” Last year, government and private-sector representatives from 11 Southern African countries met in South Africa and agreed to explore in cooperation with Philips the feasibility of producing energy-saving light bulbs in the region. The meeting, held in July 2006 in Pretoria by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in partnership with Philips and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), was a continuation of discussions on establishing a viable electrical and electronics industry in Southern Africa. Participants felt that a pilot project that could result in price-competitive production of energy-saving bulbs and in winning market access for them overseas could be a first stage in helping countries to expand from simple electronics assembly operations to more advanced manufacturing. In a related development, the Ministry of Mines and Energy is formulating a policy that will compel all institutions to heat their water with solar energy and not conventional electricity, as is the case at the moment.