2014 was hotter than 1998. 2015 data in yet?

Actually, they are a net exporter of energy. However, they export power when times are good in summer when the demand for electricity drops; but in the middle of winter they import a lot of power from France. Nuclear. In the midst of their winter they also import a lot of power from Poland. Fossil Fuels. Coal.So, it seems that on peak demand, they also fall back on fossil fuels.

Yip. That's why solar power is a good weather friend. On bad days they still rely on nuclear from France and coal from Poland to keep up with their electricity demand.

You are so right. I'm working on extracting Thorium from the Wits at the moment. It's the way to go. It's abundant and safe. The Engineers are trying to work on how to extract and save that energy for when needed. Baseline energy is what is needed.In the meantime combinations of coal and nuclear and solar and wind will do the job for the next 30 to 40 years but after that its bound to be different as technology changes.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.

South Africa, with all it's different regions and climatic zones from Mediteranian to sub-tropical, suffered it's driest year on record.From my personal experience, Pretoria was the hottest it's ever been. On the stoep in front of my house my thermometer measured 43 degrees C with around 80% humidity for weeks. The hottest ever on my stoep.The last time we recorded any rain in my garden was on the 24th of December 2014.And, it's been confirmed that 42.5 degrees C three weeks ago has officially been the hottest ever recorded since records began in the city centre and surroundings. It dates back more than more than a hundred years.Our first rain this year started on the 7th of January 2016. We've been going along without any rain for a year and recorded record temperatures.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.

Not yet, but we have experienced people dying from heat exhaustion in lines while waiting for their quota of water they could get from army water trucks for free. 50 liters a day per family. Huge lines of people with no money. Waiting for days in line. And dying in line.On different army trucks people could pay around pay around R8 per 20 litres. Which is a pittance for some people, but those guys waiting in the poor line line could't afford that pittance. They died because they couldn't afford water.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.