Operation Laser Kiwi: help us take New Zealand-made energy on the road
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RNZ's Kate Newton looks at the decision to build and LNG terminal and speaks with Rewiring CEO Mike Casey, who is pushing for a portfolio approach of more big renewables, more solar on homes, farms and businesses, better use of existing gas reserves and coal and diesel if we really need it.
Casey acknowledged the "mild" irony of a renewables advocate pushing for coal and diesel. "But we're in a situation, through an energy system that hasn't been serving New Zealanders for so long ... where unfortunately we do need some fossil fuels," he said. "The way we get out of it is not investing in more fossil fuels, it's using the fossil fuels that we currently use, and figuring out how to reduce that consumption as fast as we can."
Australia reaches a milestone in August, with more new electric cars sold than petrol cars; another new study shows EV batteries last longer than the myths have made out; Heart Aerospace sends the world's heaviest electric plane skywards; China's massive mining machine hits the dirt; and we've fully embraced heat pumps to warm the air, now they're coming for our water.
Read moreDownloadNew Zealand spends about as much on petrol and diesel as it earns exporting concentrated milk. Mike Casey says that money leaves the country, and most of it does not have to. He runs a cherry orchard in Central Otago on 21 electric machines, and a $50,000 diesel bill became a $25,000 revenue stream before financing costs. What I Asked Mike👉 How much money does New Zealand lose every year buying fuel from offshore?👉 What did it actually cost to electrify 21 machines?👉 What is the real payback period, machine by machine?👉 What can you do if you lease your building and cannot touch the roof?👉 Who should not do this?
Read moreDownloadA pinch and a punch (and a big bunch of new EVs) for the first of the month. The Rewiring gang is always pretty jazzed about the release of the new car sales numbers each month and, while the short-term stats tend to bounce around a bit, the long-term trend is clear: sales of new EVs are up by 150% year to date and sales of new petrol vehicles are down by 15% in the same period.
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