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RACA Journal Publication
www . hvacronline . co . za benjamin @ interactmedia . co . za
WHAT A MONTH SOUTH AFRICA HAS ENDURED … AGAIN
While the rest of the world seems to be carrying on , I ’ m sure many people are now wondering how much more the local economy can handle as the country is dealing with blow after blow – we were already on our knees to start !
South Africa was hit with another adjusted level lockdown period as the pandemic took its third strike with infections rampant across many provinces with the new Delta variant . Businesses in the hospitality , food and beverage sectors once again were affected , resulting in a direct impact on the HVACR sector , which plays a key role in these industries .
We were further impacted by a bout of load shedding and then were fooled into believing we were receiving good news and renewed hope in the legal system as the ex-president Jacob Zuma handed himself over minutes before arrest .
What ensued after this situation , some call the start of a revolution , some have called it opportunistic , some have called it a political disaster and other believe the socio-economic landscape that will result will have such a dire end that it will rocket unemployment , many more business closures will occur , and investor confidence will reach all-time lows .
The violence and senseless loss of life , looting and destruction of property has already been estimated into the tens of billions of rands . A devastating time in the South African history indeed . It was somewhat inspiring however , to see communities standing together in protection of their towns , armed with their own willingness and efforts to go and clean up the mess left behind – all showing that South Africans do want to stand united together and want the country to work . All they need is good leadership and policies fit for everyone to rebuild .
The rest of the world carries on at a startling rate of advance on the other hand . We have continued to see new product releases addressing better efficiencies , a massive technology boost and various scientific breakthroughs through intense studies and research as everyone is out to tackle the effects of global warming while simultaneously solving the root causes .
Sir Richard Branson himself participated in the first successful space flight of Virgin Galactic that reached a cool speed of just under
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4 000km / h under rocket thrust and hovered slightly over 80km above earth ’ s surface , while being fully supported by friend and business competitor Elon Musk of SpaceX . This was a significant step in technological history as even space travel is now on our doorstep as a tangible possibility – should you be able to afford it of course at a seat price of around R 3 600 000 .
In a similar vein , and on the other side of the world , trials were deemed successful as the world ’ s first flying car completed a routine 35 minute flight , landed and made its way through a city of Slovakia to an official ceremony to celebrate . Once again , the combination of technologies that have been put together to make this happen have produced jaw-dropping results .
The good news is that all these new technologies rely in some way , shape or form on the principles relevant in the HVACR world and is something to keep an eye on as disruption is the name of the game in the current timeline of the world , and who knows – maybe you will be designing and building systems for floating cities sooner than we think to get away from the hot earth !
In this issue , we cover the Mediclinic head office plant replacement as our project , we look at controllers that are the silent components of a system that essentially make everything work , and humidity control that , as research suggests , is actually needed in the correct range in almost every single application we know , to gain the optimal result .
We cover local and international news , association updates , our regular contributors and our profile in this issue is Vuyisanani Majija , a junior engineer at Energy Partners Refrigeration . We have some exciting new platforms brewing with our HVACR brands so keep an eye out for news on these in future communication .
This month ’ s quote is one really to highlight that we are all capable of making a difference .
“ No matter what people tell you , words and ideas can change the world .” - Robin Williams .
Have a great month ahead ! RACA
Ben
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