The 'Electric Election': energy policies, side by side
Diesel generators, you're cooked! We’ve seen a few of our electric communities plug in to their EVs at small events and that's great to see, but Hamish Roberge from Tom Tom Productions in Queenstown has developed a solution that can be rolled out for bigger gigs. Roberge is currently on the job delivering the third Electrify Queenstown conference and it was during last year's conference that he was inspired to create NRG Event Batteries.
He looked around for other options that were already on the market, but couldn't find the right solution so he built one himself with the help of a bank loan.
He says the quiet, clean 76 kWh substitution is designed for music events, remote weddings, corporate events and film sets.
"The more you dive into it, it's better for events. And the fact that it has environmental benefits is just an added bonus on the end."
He says it's around the same price as running a diesel generator, but the price of diesel is "pretty spicy" right now and unlikely to come down quickly, whereas charging via cheap solar could bring that price down.
During the first Electrify Queenstown conference, Mike Casey brought his electric tractor along and plugged in some electric heaters to warm the marquee for the exhibition. Gas heaters were not going to fly at an event like that. And, increasingly, with battery powered options like this one, diesel generators aren't going to cut it for events either.
BloombergNEF says sales of combustion cars peaked in 2017 and there's no coming back, while a new study in New Zealand shows petrol vehicles were losing value more quickly than equivalent models did a decade ago; big batteries aren't just for storing electricity, they can also store heat; the story of the world's biggest electric ferry and the Australian company that made it; electric motorbikes are doing a lot of heavy lifting on emissions reduction, so why don't they get more attention?; and a new show called HallowGreen2 that tackles the energy transition "with music, humour and a hopeful message”.
Read moreDownloadRNZ's Kate Newton looks at why no-one is really talking about emissions as an election issue. As Mike Casey said: "The climate movement up until this point has been very, very good at creating dartboards, but terrible at providing people with darts to play the game." That's allowed for inaction, and active lobbying against climate change action from fossil fuel companies and others who stand to lose out ... The solution is "flipping it into a strong economic narrative that they can't possibly fight with".
Read moreDownloadHumans are comparative creatures and they're particularly comparative during election season. That's why we've created a rundown of all the energy-related election policies that have been announced by the parties so far.
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