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21 May 2018 Photo Naledi Posholi
Could wave power be an answer to SAs electricity crisis
Attending a recent guest lecture, were from the left: Prof Marian Tredoux UFS Department of Geology, Prof Stoffel Fourie fromWalter Sisulu University, and Thoriso Lekoetje a third-year UFS Geology student.
South Africa has a 2800-km long coastline with high wave energy potential that can generate electricity. Presenting a lecture at the UFS Department of Geology, Prof Stoffel Fourie discussed wave power as a possible solution to the country’s electricity needs. Prof Fourie is a geophysicist and the chairperson of research and development in the faculty of engineering at Walter Sisulu University.

Power at any time
Wave power is a renewable and sustainable resource. “It can provide continuous base load power because wave energy systems do not suffer from ‘time of day’ issues as other renewable energy options. This means that it can generate power at any time of the day,” said Prof Fourie. 
Discussed also was the wave power advantages and disadvantages. 

Wave energy advantages
• Wave energy is a reliable renewable energy resource;

• Reduces dependency on fossil fuels;

• Wave energy is predictable and consistent;

• Generates little or no pollution to the environment compared to other energy resources; and

• Presents no barriers or difficulty to migrating fish and aquatic animals.

Wave energy disadvantages
• Wave energy conversion devices are location dependent, thus limiting possible sites where they can be implemented;

• Offshore wave energy devices can be a threat to shipping as they are too small to detect by radar; and

• High capital investment required for start-up costs, construction and maintenance.

“Looking at both advantages and disadvantages, there is no doubt that South Africa can use this method to harvest energy. With the right investment and political buy-in, wave power could provide a continuous supply of energy and contribute to all South Africa’s electricity needs,” Prof Fourie said.

News Archive

Work clouds and rhizomatic learning – Prof Johannes Cronjé teaches through technology in inaugural lecture
2014-09-29

Prof Johannes Cronjé 

Prof Johannes Cronjé has been appointed as visiting professor in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences in collaboration with the Centre for Teaching and Learning. The driving force behind his appointment is to develop young and upcoming scholars in the field of online and blended learning at our university.The title of Prof Cronjé’s inaugural lecture, ‘Tablets, Painkillers or Snake Oil – a Remedy for Education?’ suggested a compelling event. Prof Cronjé did not disappoint.

“We live in a world where we carry more information in our pockets than in our entire head,” Prof Cronjé remarked. Interesting fact: an iPhone 4 has 16 million times more processing power than the Apollo 11 – the spacecraft that put the first man on the moon.

If students carry this much processing power in their hands, what should we be teaching students? Prof Cronjé asked. “I believe the answer to that is: we should be teaching them to teach themselves.”

Presenting his inaugural lecture in the same way as he would to his students, Prof Cronjé had the entire audience within minutes vigorously participating in the event.

Prof Cronjé advocates a process called rhizomatic learning. Knowledge, he explained, grows in a similar way to rhizomes’ roots – inseparably connected and seemingly without beginning or end. “Learning is a social aspect: people learn from one another.”

Making use of freely-available online applications, Prof Cronjé demonstrated the power of technology in the classroom. “My objective is to use technology to make people enthusiastic and motivated about the learning process.” Using their smartphones, tablets and laptops, the audience could effortlessly participate through connecting to each other by means of a virtual work cloud. “Knowledge is being created in the room as it happens,” Prof Cronjé explained, “motivating you to participate in this learning experience.”

“There are three things you need for group work to be successful: a mutual goal, individual responsibility and positive interdependence. Then it is real cooperative learning,” Prof Cronjé concluded.

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