The 'Electric Election': energy policies, side by side
We're all for getting schools off the diesel and onto electrons - and we're also big fans of solar on schools. In Christchurch, Hornby High School has done just that and its system currently ranks as the biggest of any school in New Zealand.
While some schools fundraise to buy their own solar, Hornby High worked with Cog, which offered a 25 year behind the meter power purchase agreement for the 200kW-ish system. This meant it cost the school nothing upfront and provides discounted power from day one (but it also means that it won't get the full benefit of the solar savings).
As Penny Devine, deputy chair of the Board of Trustees says, "we couldn't see any downsides to be honest."
COG's Chris Conner says using schools are a pretty good fit for solar given they're in use all day when the generation is happening, as are factories or commercial buildings.
There are no batteries at the school yet, but Conner says there's a big opportunity for them to play a role in the energy system by feeding power back during evening peaks. They could also play an important resilience role in the event of a disaster by keeping the power on and acting as a community hub.
Deputy principal Ruth Robertson says the students love the solar and one student she talked to recently had included panels on a design for a home. She wonders if he would have included them if the system wasn't up on the roof and thinks it's great that it's being normalised.
It's not just about putting solar on schools, it's about getting solar into schools, as well.
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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