Climate Change

I know this topic is aimed at your bit of the world, but it's valid everywhere, including Indonesia
Rainy season is all over the place for a starter, and I see a lot bigger problems coming up.

I am familiar with Kuta beach in my travels.  My home town of Santa Barbara Calif where I still have ties for 35 years is under a sharp climate change of very little rain for 5 years in a row. They are ready to start up a de-sal plant, making fresh water from the Ocean and very expensive.  Then when I am in other parts of the USA such as middle  Minnesota  last summer and they had 12 inches of rain in 24 hours, almost a 6 week supply which lead to flooding. 
Madagascar, my new home- is suffering from lack of water here in the West where I am and the wells are having to go further down another 2 meters  to find a small amount of water at this time of year which is just before the rainy season.    I have a well on my land and help the locals with drinking water but at times there is a small water war with some taking water for more than just drinking.   It is a worry for sure.
cherrio

I tend to agree  with TropicAlex.  I've noticed a change. I have lived in Maroantsetra (NE coast, in the armpit of MDG), for some ten years there. It used to be that, while it is consistently overcast and rainy, there used to be two weeks of sunshine in May and in December, but that has changed.

http://www.moov.mg/actualiteNationale.p … eId=906024
It snowed in Horombe first time this week. Freak of nature due to climate change ?

A little update concerning Maroantsetra and JIRAMA (JIro, RAno, MAdagascar, or Electricity, Water Madagascar): I used to call them just MA, because there were frequent electricity outages and there is no water system here (everybody gets water from wells).

A few years ago, they set up a hydroelectric system some 25 km south, and things changed for the better.  This year, rain has not been as abundant as usual, so there have been cuts every other day, usually at night during "prime time." Last night, a huge storm knocked out the system for some 18 hours. Unfortunately, with the previous improvement of the system, I had sent our generator to help someone in a rural village, so total darkness and no fan! Luckily, no thieves took advantage of the situation.

The takeaway from this: keep a generator on hand, or invest in solar panels for the long term.

I think calling it just "MA" is a clever witty remark- as an insiders quip for Ex pats that will understand quickly its implications. 

We have had not much rain out here in Mahajanga to amount to anything- I have not been able to collect any water to be used for home or drink this year. 
This years climate change will be putting a strain on us all and "Ma" will be blamed and in some cases as some people express want to burn Jirama to the ground.

I have had two generators in the past and finally had to use parts from each one to make one generator. The generators are very noisy compared to the new models in the USA where they just heard at a low Hum when standing next to them.

When Global Oil dropped from over 100 dollars a barrel to some 30 dollars a barrel , USA gas also dropped some 60% and more, however Madagascar gas only dropped some 3%.  With Global oil going up again, the pumps and generators  here, supply electric and water are run by Gasoline/diesel. We are already having shortages at the gas station pumps even at this point. 
I am considering going into Solar Panels but it important that ex pats do their homework on Solar panels as buying panels ( or anything ) is buyer beware.   
AS a street vendor wanted to sell me a Solar panel and said this would run a refrig, I asked him how many watts it takes to operate a refrig and he did not know.  He had one of those empty stares that seems to go on forever as time seems to slow down. 
If anyone knows of a good Solar panel dealer who is transparent about Solar panels the different grades of cells used and wattage, inverters, batteries and battery meters so batteries do not destroy themselves by dropping below the 20% threshold. 

Or any you tube or web sites that gives clear concise explanations about solar for the amateur.

And you are right that it is very important for the ex pat to have some lighting at night to push the mafia into the darker corners of the night.

Hi!
I have no knowledge but was curiuos and made some searches.
If you use the "calculate off grid power needs" you will get some good hits of sites helping you estimate your system needs.

This site I believed gave me a good understanding of all necessary info regarding different panels, inverters etc...
solarpanel.co.za/index.html

Hi all, for those of you in need of electric power and storage of same chech out youtube user : Robert Murray Smith and see how you can take care of your electric power needs using local available materials, also check out passive extraction of water from the air using perforated sheet metal to condense moisture from the air.