Energy sources of the Bela-Bela Township and the impacts of their usage on the environment

M.Sc. (Geography)South Africa is a developing country. Like many other African countries, the rural communities make use of the available electricity supply domestically to meet their most basic needs such as those associated with cooking, space heating and lighting. However, the availability and use of electricity as an energy source for domestic purposes varies greatly throughout South Africa, with more than one third of all homes having no ready access to electricity. As a result, many rural households have been using alternative energy sources such as paraffin, candles, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and fuelwood. This research study explores the domestic energy usage in the residential areas of Bela-Bela Township, under the local municipality of Bela-Bela, situated in the Waterberg District of Limpopo Province. Bela-Bela Township contains various housing types such as self-owned houses, Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) houses, and informal housing units. The different types of domestic energy sources used for cooking, space heating and lighting by the residents, as well as those specifically used in the various housing types, were researched. Site visits allowed for the collection of data through interviews with 100households heads, in the township, all living in different types of housing and from different socio-economic backgrounds. The data were captured through questionnaires, observations which were made, and photographs which were taken during site visits. It was observed that many of the residents dependent on fuelwood for heating and cooking purposes. An analysis of the data indicated that fuelwood is extensively used by the residents as a source of domestic energy. This could be attributed to various factors such as inadequate connections to the available electricity grid, insufficient funds to utilise other sources of commercially available energy, or because many residents consider the use of fuelwood to be a ‘traditional’ practice. It was found that the majority of residents collect fuelwood from the surrounding woody vegetation, and an investigation into the surrounding environment, which is typically Springbok Flats Turf Thornveld, clearly indicated considerable impacts upon the woody vegetation on account of unsustainable gathering practices