As much as businesses want to become more energy efficient, the reality is that South Africa is a challenging environment in which to do so. Most organisations are dependent on Eskom for their power, and while UPS/inverters, generators and solar solutions are available to ensure operations can continue amid load-shedding, they are costly.
It should be remembered that in business the unit cost of a product is calculated in kilowatts per hour, meaning that when you add new energy sources to mitigate the effects of the energy crisis, the cost of the product increases. Companies located in office parks are now also being charged for diesel to power generators, another expense that was not there previously. In a nutshell, some businesses struggle to afford the investment in energy-efficient technologies. At the same time, energy efficiency is becoming non-negotiable, particularly in industries like telecommunications, mining and big data