Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa March 2016

costs such an endeavor would incur, and are left feeling immobilised and defeated. Most then abandon the search for alternatives and revert back to a state of annoyed complacency. Still, the pressure on the Earth’s natural resources needs to be drastically reduced – but how to convince your average Joe? A much needed mind shift A big part of the problem so far has been our focus on going completely off the grid and becoming 100% self-sufficient. As attractive as it sounds, this approach is simply not economically viable in our country at this time. In stead of self-sufficient living, it would be useful to familiarise ourselves with the concept of ‘sustainable living’ – pursuing a lifestyle that attempts to reduce our use of the Earth’s natural resources. You don’t need to remove your carbon footprint – you simply need to reduce it. Now that we can actually afford. SA primed for a reverse engineered solution Ironically, it is exactly South Africa’s load shedding problem that has primed the country’s residents for a greener approach. Our frustration with power outages has created the very ‘urgent personal need’ so necessary for change, and thus primed us to want a better option. We want to change, not so much as a result of environmental and existential convictions, but for selfish reasons and personal convenience – which, in fact, is perfect. The answer therefore lies in meeting this personal need with an affordable, energy efficient solution that takes a load off our planet in a ‘by-the-way’ sort of approach. In other words, we need to reverse engineer the whole process and shift the focus from ‘going green’ to ‘solving your annoying load shedding problem’. www.reimag.co.za The solution Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems are available in various models, all of which are much more affordable than any off-the-grid system. These devices address South Africans’ need to not be affected by load shedding, without the hefty price tag. The bonus? In order for the UPS syste H

Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa March 2016 | Page 43