MELTING GLACIERS – A GRIM REALITY

I saw an interview on CNN over the weekend featuring Sean Burch, the American extreme adventure athlete, on his latest record breaking mountain climb. I was attracted to the news piece when I heard his claims about melting glaciers high up in the mountains- a stark testimony to the grim reality of climate change that he witnessed firsthand and shared with the world.  Yes, it is true that glaciers (ice packs) that capped the very high mountains are melting and it is a direct result of global warming. Sean Burch was bold to say it and it is imperative we take him serious.

His declaration is a fresh wake up to cynics of climate change, those men and women in places of power who either pay lip service to the green cause or those who are outright critics of the climate change agenda. We should rise to the care of planet earth for our children’s children to enjoy and this is no mere wishful thinking. Efforts must be concretized that fosters planting of trees, conservation of endangered species, elimination of TFC from the world and pertinently, preparation for acts of God that is ever constant nowadays. We must all sacrifice a bit of comfort to save for the coming generation to use- that is our idea of negawatt revolution at Zeus Energy Limited.

Believe me green people, year 2017 holds a lot of promise for the green planet. In the US, we’d be ushering out an historic era of President Barack Obama who made indelible prints in climate change crusade and would never be forgotten and usher in the presidency of Mr. Donald Trump who does not hide his disdain for climate change. Personally, his brags notwithstanding, I look forward to the new thinking that President Trump would introduce to the green world agenda as he is a seasoned estate management mogul with cognate international experience and initiatives he would have been waiting for the opportunity to turn into policy. Now elected as the Sacred Eagle, he should do well to care for his nest and planet earth.

With this I will take a bow for the year, wishing you green people a fabulous xmas and a prosperous New Year.

Cheers!!!

WSO

Power Quality In Electricity - How It Affects Us

Hello Friends. A ku ipalemo odun (Compliments of the season). 

My post today is to share knowledge about a concept that affects everyone as users of electricity- power quality. 

The issue of power quality is quite familiar, especially if you live in Nigeria, as it constitutes one of the problems Discos, and in turn their customers, grapple with, resulting from poor power infrastructure. 

Power quality is the ability of distribution companies (NEPA in local parlance) to distribute standard electric current to their customers. By this I mean supply of electric current that is neither too full nor too low for the consumption of their customers. It results directly from efficient planning, investment on and distribution of power infrastructure by Discos such as transformers, distribution lines, buffer/shock system and others that adds quality to the supply offered to customers.

Whenever you experience low current in your house, it is the result of low power quality supplied by the transformer attached to your area which is an indication that the transformer is either faulty or overloaded. The loss at such times cannot be captured in real economic times because electrical appliances with high power demand like air conditioner, iron, washing machine, micro wave machine and others will not work efficiently. Aside the redundancy it promotes, low current have adverse effect on the life span of electrical appliances, reducing it by half. 

I look forward to the time Nigeria will stop recording instances of tragedy resulting from overloaded transformer and economic loss resulting from low power quality. We can encourage its proximity by sharing the knowledge until every consumer of electricity gets the awareness and know what standard to request from their sellers of power. 

Switch off the power when not in use of it this yuletide and perhaps Negawatt Santa could sneak you a gift this xmas.

See you soon.

WSO   

PRE-PAID METERS – PROMOTING EFFICIENT USE OF ENERGY

From experience I have observed that usage of pre-paid electricity meter promotes frugal management of electric energy. I remember when we used to get our monthly readings from analog meters issued by NEPA- you know the type with its spinning dial and archaic log. This system of billing customers was not only crude and prone to corruption; its debit nature encouraged wastage, arbitrariness or estimated billings, refusal to pay and bankruptcy of power companies.  

Today the case is somewhat different. Discos all over are providing smart pre-paid meters to their customers, which from my observation, results in better management of their electricity credit. How it happens is not rocket science. Pre-paid meters brings out the value of electric credit when loaded by customers because they can see how it depletes with every minute that passes, with every current used up in providing “light”. Just like call credit is used up when we make call on our cell phones, electric credit loaded in pre-paid meters is expended the same way to provide electricity.

With pre-paid meters, customers now know the importance of using low wattage appliances and gadgets which is a smart way of economizing on their energy supply. For instance, I observed that  pre-paid meters supplied by Ikeja Electric nowadays promote the replacement of conventional bulbs to energy saving bulbs (CFLs) by their customers who are made aware of energy guzzling properties of those 80 and 100 watts light bulbs when their energy credit run out within weeks of loading it. Same behavior is observed in industries and other customers with high energy demand.  Since energy credit is bought with cash before it is loaded into the meters, the value of energy they supply is better appreciated now by customers.

I sincerely hope the Discos will heed the admonition of Mr. Raji Fashola (SAN) and supply pre-paid meters to their customers. Its advantages are far reaching. Pre-paid meters eliminate estimated billing on the part of Discos, in the way bringing probity to the billing system. It also cuts wastage in energy use by customers, bringing out the immeasurable value of negawatt to the good people of Nigeria. If you are yet to get a pre-paid meter, I urge you to go and place order for one with your Disco. You will become a better manager of your energy when you start using it. Cheers!!

WSO 

VALUE OF NEGAWATT

The value of a diamond ring goes beyond its bling. A diamond ring, worn or contemplated to be, is ever a priced treasure in the market for what it represents- symbol of unbreakable bond between two people united by love. The expensive price aside, wearer of a diamond ring wishes to get the “happy ever after” that really brings out the worth of the diamond in the ring. Ask any real woman, to wear a diamond ring on unhappy heart is worse than being single (as I see it sha).  The value of a diamond ring is relative to the happiness it brings.

Same for forest of trees. The value of forest to us as inhabitants of planet earth cannot be fully appreciated unless we see it relative to the benefits it brings us. The canopy of carbon dioxide that sustains the eco system, made possible by the abundance of trees, holds more value to earth than hundred skyscrapers that populate Manhattan in New York City. Without these trees, the green planet will just fizzle out, leaving the tall skyscrapers vacant and stark; the city a shadow of concrete waste and tar. Believe me, a tree holds more value than a skyscraper; as it concerns sustainability and subsistence of this green planet.

It is the reason why we hold negawatt in high esteem in our company. Our concern as evangelists of climate change is to encourage less development of power plants but preach more development of virtual power plant (VPP) erected in space when energy is efficiently managed, resulting in equitable distribution of energy that eschews wastage. Imagine we are able to save enough energy from the ones we waste and channel that “saved energy” to another person in need of it. It obviates the need build power plants when the ones in use can still serve its intended customers.

Join us in building trees in the cloud. Invest in negawatt today. It pays.

WSO     

ENERGY CENSUS – ESSENSE OF SUSTAINABILITY

The Honourable Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Raji Fashola (SAN) recent exhortation to the Discos to conduct energy audit for their customer base is instructive and imperative in the drive to make Nigeria achieve sustainability especially in power resources. Without credible energy audit exercises conducted on Nigerian electricity consumers to know for certain how much energy is demanded, then the dream to generate 10, 000 Megawatts of electricity as envisioned by the present administration could be a pipe dream.

Why did I say this? It is a general rule in art of planning that you should never estimate when you can calculate. To estimate the energy demand of a class of customer and then plan for the supply, distribution and usage of such customer’s electricity demand without knowing exactly their demand would definitely result in inefficient management of such energy. This is because energy usage is dynamic and fluctuates with every period of usage. As a matter of fact, there can never be two exact energy usage from two different customers and this why it is always recommended that energy audit be conducted to know for certain energy demand and usage patterns of electricity users. 

The essence of energy audit is to have credible data on which to plan efficiently for electricity distribution and exploitation. This data will give experts informed decisions on what, when, how and why electricity is consumed in order to advance solutions to power problems. At Zeus Energy Limited, we offer energy audit services to our clients using global standards and instrumentation to proffer solutions to their energy challenges like current overload, electricity spike, generator sizing, solar PV sizing and more. With credible energy data made available through energy audit, our clients are made better managers of their energy.

Let me ask you a question: What is your personal energy demand per day? I am sure you have no idea. Lol. That is why you need to pay us a visit and conduct an energy audit for yourself. Knowing your energy demand would make you a smart manager of your energy any day, anytime. Be green.

See you soon.

WSO 

PS: Happy birthday to Nigeria on 1st October and to Me on 3rd October, 2016. Libra born!!!

Energy and Water Abundance

Friends of the Earth, E ku ojo meta (Greetings). A thousand apologies for my recent reticence. Perhaps, the prevailing recession also hit my pen. Lol. No, not at all. I had only gone on short hibernation.

My post today is a reflection from an experience that happened to me recently- the keen relationship between energy and water availability. 

It happened that there was power outage in my area for a period of 5 days and, as luck would have it, my generator also developed an intractable fault at the same time. It was total wahala. While I was able to deal with the situation by going out to rent a generator to pump water when my supply got exhausted, all around me people complained of water scarcity in their homes. I could also empathize from a distance.

This scenario plays out everyday in great part of Nigeria and Africa, where people experience acute water shortage simply because there is no light (electricity) to power the pumps that would provide water for their use. In villages and slums, this reality bite harder than in cities, as majority of their inhabitants rely on streams, rivers and wells to get water to use. Investments by the government on water supply over the decades has not been commensurate with expansion of population, and this could lead to disaster in future if it is not checked.

It is why I hope that government policies will involve experts in order to proffer lasting solutions to the issue of water scarcity. There is a solar powered community borehole beside our office at Ikeja that supplies water on a constant basis to the populace around. It was constructed by the Federal Government. I expect this to be replicated in remote villages and slums in Nigeria to bring succor to the citizens there not readily supplied with pipe borne water. 

Believe me, energy poverty brings untold suffering for people who cannot afford to get basic supply of it. Yet the irony of it is energy supply is infinite; IT ONLY NEEDS TO BE EXPLORED.

The cloud is a bank of energy, let's generate electricity for you from there.

Take care.

WSO

Wattage & Wealth

Wattage & Wealth



My post for today is to engage you, green friend, on two concepts that are connected together and to you and I. Wattage and wealth are twins, non identical but definitely kindred of same bloodline. They go hand in hand in aiding modern society to move forward. To put it in embellished evocation: they are the wheels of industry and measure of standard of living for nations.

What is wattage? Wattage is simply the amount of electrical energy a device, an appliance or machine depending on electricity needs to function. It is the energy (money) that runs whenever an appliance is plugged to the socket, the invisible drain of kilowatt hour on your electricity meter. For instance, if you have a 4 watts clipper, 10 watts standing fan, 2 units of 7 watts CFL bulbs, all switched on at the same time, that will give you a total wattage of 28 watts drawing energy from your pool of kilowatts. The moment you know this factor, you learn to recognize it in every electrical appliance you come in contact with, understanding how it relates to your economic standing in life. The more electricity you use, the more money you spend. 

Wattage is an inevitable commodity in every modern existence, which to sustain every citizen of the world wants to have in abundance. But it translates to money because wattage is bought in credits, loaded into electricity meters to be expended each time we draw from it for our use. Every bulb lighting up your house, every media appliance like TV, DVD player, Cable Decoder, Fan, every air conditioner and fridge consume various amount of wattage, which is expended in direct proportion to its availability and scarcity. In other words, the more appliances you have, the more your consumption in wattage will be.   

Next time you go shopping for electrical appliance, ensure to check it for low wattage. Doing this will reduce the number of times you will buy electric credits because wattage saved or efficiently used returns to the saver as wealth. Try it out for a year and become like Warren Buffet. Sure. Or like Bill Gates. Lol.

See you next time folks

WSO

Congrats to Olakunle Owoeye for being picked among the 1000 Mandela Washington Fellow for year 2016. I have always believed something great would come out of my faith investment in the black culture and in my brother, Prez Barack Obama. Now its the time for AFRICA!!! Viva Zeus Energy Limited!!!!

JOIN OUR ELITE EFERGY MILLIONAIRES CLUB

Believe me Ladies & Gentlemen, becoming a millionaire has become simpler than ever before known. Gone are the days of toiling long hours and working for years or multinational companies to hit the 6 figures. These days, with the simplest technological devices as manufactured by eFergy, we daily welcome men and women of substance into our exclusive and elite Millionaires Club.

“How can I join this elite Club?, I know this must be supreme question on your mind right now. Relax, I will show you how. But first, permit me to present this kindergarten arithmetic to you. It is the Millionaires-Money-Making-Mathematics.

Imagine you have a piggy bank where you can ONLY SAVE your coins and small notes- say N10. Now, if you save this N10 a 100 times, that will give you N1000. Step it up a bit by saving this N10 a 1000 times, that will give you N10, 000. This same N10 saved 10000 times will amount to N100, 000. By the time you are able to save this meagre N10 a record 100, 000 times, this will give you a whopping sum of N1, 000, 000 as savings. Then we will welcome you to our exclusive and elite eFergy Millionaires Club. It is that easy and simple!

What is this “piggy bank” that can save this much money and make you our elite customers into overnight Millionaires. Well, it is an energy saving adaptor styled eFergy Media Standby Eliminator (MSE). This state of the art device is a virtual bank that helps people to save money on electricity formerly wasted when media appliances are put on standby. It “kills” standby electricity charges in the media appliances by retaining electric current in its vault until it is needed, making energy use efficient and also prolonging the life span of the media appliances.

When you start using eFergy MSE or the above remote controlled socket by eFergy, you start saving money in the cloud which at the end of a period will translate into liquid cash for you to employ to other economic use. It is the simplest means to becoming a Millionaire.

Believe me, within 2 years of use, you already are a Millionaire having saved a bag of money from efficient use of electricity. In addition, you also plant virtual trees in the cloud using eFergy MSE.

Become a Millionaire, Save Energy.

See you soon.

WSO 

Playing With Lights

After a diligent bid, Zeus Energy Limited was finally granted the leave to retrofit and upgrade the lighting facilities at Lagos Yatch Club, Victoria Island, Lagos. And this week we concluded this august project- with much excitement and fulfillment.

Lagos Yatch Club had contracted us to consult for them in ways in which the organisation could cut down on their energy usage which monthly gulp a lot of money both for utility and diesel generators. For this, our energy experts conducted walk through energy audit for them and then proferred a holistic solution that consisted in retrofitting their conventional and inefficient lighting facilities to LED (light emitting diode)- a low wattage lighting fixtures that reduced the energy consumption of the elite club considerably. 

Believe me at the end of the retrofit project, in which we retrofitted their conventional and CFL bulbs, fluorescent tubes, halogen lights, Streetlights and others to LED, Lagos Yatch Club looked brighter than ever and in addition was able to save over 80kwh daily. This translates to thousands of Naira saved monthly and over 600 virtual trees planted in the cloud. You needed to see our joy- we floated on clouds.

   

And aside the energy conservation opportunities that LED provides, they also add aesthetics to the elite ambience of the club, making the beautiful abode of Yemoja a delight to see at night, especially when viewed from a ship sailing on the sea. 

We are ever grateful for the opportunity to show a pot of money can be saved when we are ready to upgrade our lighting fixtures from low hanging fruits to low wattage lighting like LED. True, it is expensive but you'd save up the money and more at the end.

Want us to come and play with lights in your establishment? Give us a buzz at Zeus Energy Limited.


Wale Sasamura-Owoeye
www.zeusenergy.com.ng   

The Future Of Electricity Metering

Recent hike in electricity tariff in Nigeria has again brought to the fore the issue of reliable metering system to cater to the mammoth customer base of Discos in Nigeria. At the announcement and implementation of the new tariff regime, Nigerians, in their native reactive response, resisted the increase with vengeance. Protests were held in all states of the federation and there were showdowns by labour organisation and civil societies to show people's displeasure with the new tariff system.

Believe me I know Nigerians did not resist the increment because they felt it was outrightly bad. No. They were only irked by the fact that there has not been commitment on the part of the Discos to distribute meters that would allow each consumer of their electricity know the quantity of energy they consume. Nigerians reacted to the increase because majority of the Discos use estimated billing to charge for electricity consumption. This has resulted in outrageous bills and unsatisfied customers who believes the Discos are out to rip them off and therefore are not willing to pay. This anemic situation has been the bane of Nigerian energy sector and it has come to change.

Now I read the Discos are set to distribute smart meters to their residential customers. You know the prepaid meters proudly made in Naija. Very good. But what about maximum demand users like corporate set ups, hotels, factories and industries whose energy consumption is on hyper level. What will meter their energy usage. 

This is where efergy E2 Classic comes in. This ultra smart energy monitors uses AMI to capture real time energy data and also has inbuilt memory to retain data captured over a period of time. It has a USB port that users can connect to their PCs and download energy data for better analysis, reported on a free hosted software with impeccable interface. It is the answer all Discos have been waiting for to create honesty and transparency in their relationship with their customers. It is the future of electricity metering because studies have shown we use energy efficiently when we can measure and analyse it.

Exclusively distributed in Nigeria by Zeus Energy Limited.

Check out efergy e2 classic on konga.com and experience the thrill of technology.

See you soon.

WSO    

www.zeusenergy.com.ng