LETTER: If diesel is unavailable, SA Inc is in trouble
How would we farm, fish, transport food and other goods to where they are needed, and generate electrical power when Eskom increasingly can’t?
03 November 2022 - 16:30
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Rudolf Diesel fell overboard a ship en route to England in 1913. It has never been established if he committed suicide, fell by accident or was pushed. But it was 1913, and meetings were scheduled with Royal Navy personnel who were excited about his new engine, which was 40% more thermally efficient than petrol alternatives.
Diesel the man has now been dead for more than 100 years, but his engines keep powering on, in agricultural machinery, trains, heavy road vehicles, cars, generators, ships and at one time even aeroplanes. His progeny are an accepted foundation of our modern world, and whether we like it or not diesel fuel is still the blood in our economy’s veins.
If it became unavailable for whatever reason, how would we farm, fish, transport food and other goods to where they are needed, and generate electrical power when Eskom increasingly cannot?
We may call ourselves homo sapiens (wise man), but our stupidity can sometimes be breathtaking. After deciding that fossil fuel was destroying Earth’s environment, oil companies were discouraged from tapping into new fields, threatened with windfall taxes and encouraged to get out of refining, all of which negatively affect the supply of diesel.
Hysterically, countries outbid each other for who would reach the holy grail of net zero first, without considering the practicalities. As a result, oil refineries have closed and SA now has but one operational refinery, while the demand for diesel is up, partly because Europe’s coming winter energy crisis will encourage the use of generators.
Eskom recently blamed continued stage 4 load-shedding on a late shipment of diesel fuel into Mossel Bay, suggesting low national stocks. Diesel now costs more than petrol, with the differential continuing to widen. These are not good omens.
Diesel can be made from soybean or canola oil, but I have heard nothing about urgent commercial initiatives in this field. I also wonder if anyone has taken inventory of SA’s remaining steam locomotives or personnel who can drive them? By this time next year they might be the only practical way of transporting food to Gauteng.
James Cunningham Camps Bay
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: If diesel is unavailable, SA Inc is in trouble
How would we farm, fish, transport food and other goods to where they are needed, and generate electrical power when Eskom increasingly can’t?
Rudolf Diesel fell overboard a ship en route to England in 1913. It has never been established if he committed suicide, fell by accident or was pushed. But it was 1913, and meetings were scheduled with Royal Navy personnel who were excited about his new engine, which was 40% more thermally efficient than petrol alternatives.
Diesel the man has now been dead for more than 100 years, but his engines keep powering on, in agricultural machinery, trains, heavy road vehicles, cars, generators, ships and at one time even aeroplanes. His progeny are an accepted foundation of our modern world, and whether we like it or not diesel fuel is still the blood in our economy’s veins.
If it became unavailable for whatever reason, how would we farm, fish, transport food and other goods to where they are needed, and generate electrical power when Eskom increasingly cannot?
We may call ourselves homo sapiens (wise man), but our stupidity can sometimes be breathtaking. After deciding that fossil fuel was destroying Earth’s environment, oil companies were discouraged from tapping into new fields, threatened with windfall taxes and encouraged to get out of refining, all of which negatively affect the supply of diesel.
Hysterically, countries outbid each other for who would reach the holy grail of net zero first, without considering the practicalities. As a result, oil refineries have closed and SA now has but one operational refinery, while the demand for diesel is up, partly because Europe’s coming winter energy crisis will encourage the use of generators.
Eskom recently blamed continued stage 4 load-shedding on a late shipment of diesel fuel into Mossel Bay, suggesting low national stocks. Diesel now costs more than petrol, with the differential continuing to widen. These are not good omens.
Diesel can be made from soybean or canola oil, but I have heard nothing about urgent commercial initiatives in this field. I also wonder if anyone has taken inventory of SA’s remaining steam locomotives or personnel who can drive them? By this time next year they might be the only practical way of transporting food to Gauteng.
James Cunningham
Camps Bay
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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