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"Don't wait. Start small, but get into it." Evan Maehl, CEO of Waste Management NZ, certainly hasn't waited when it comes to electrification.
Evan Maehl, CEO of Waste Management NZ, certainly hasn't waited.
The company was an early adopter of electric rubbish trucks, first getting them retrofitted overseas, then retrofitting them its own workshop.
Last year, with over 50 electric rubbish trucks in its fleet, it celebrated reaching the two million electric kilometre mark and, as the shift to electric has gathered pace, the are now able to buy electric trucks directly from manufacturers like Volvo.
In addition to the emissions savings, they're much cheaper to run than diesel trucks (and those savings help offset the higher upfront costs), the drivers (and residents) like them because they're quieter and smoother, and the waste they collect can even be turned into electricity that can charge the trucks the next day.
Sounds pretty bright to us.
When Mike Casey bought his house near Cromwell, it came with gas bottles on the side of the home for water and an expensive diesel system for the underfloor heating. He replaced both of them with a Steibel Eltron system and it's been saving him money ever since. As technical manager Bhawesh Singh told him at the Electrify Queenstown conference, there has been a big influx in enquiries from homes looking to get off the molecules and onto electrons.
Read moreDownloadConfidence that cutting regulations to make solar power more accessible - won't jeopardise people's safety. A new Regulation Ministry reports laid out a potential blueprint to legalise plug-in solar and reduce the time and cost of panel installation. Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey shares his thoughts with Andrew Dickens.
The burgeoning demand for solar was also a chance to address a mismatch between the numbers of training opportunities available and young people searching for work, Casey said. "The mums of New Zealand are telling me that there's not enough apprenticeships for their kids and the solar installers of New Zealand are telling me there's not enough trained people."
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