The 'Electric Election': energy policies, side by side
The energy system and the food system are inextricably linked, says KPMG's global head of agribusiness Ian Proudfoot. And there are plenty of solutions to our energy problems sitting inside the farm gate.
Proudfoot likes to talk about the three Fs: the food, the fibre, and the fuel.
Energy is often the first thing that gets mentioned by farmers when he's overseas, but there's not as much talk about it here in New Zealand. That's starting to change, however, and KPMG's annual survey of over 100 CEOs and senior leaders in the rural sector showed that electricity made it into the list of top 10 major concerns - and the concern around energy has been rising over time.
"It reflects the fact that this year we have a bit of an energy concern going on but also people are recognising that infrastructure in total is critically important to the future of the sector."
A massive spike in the diesel price got a few more thinking about how bonkers it is to import energy from overseas and, as Mike Casey says, when you generate and store your own energy and use it in your farm machines, it's like having your own private oil well and refinery.
Casey generates around 90% of the energy he needs to run the orchard and takes the rest from the grid and he says it's exciting to see so many more farmers installing solar.
"We'll continue to argue for it," says Proudfoot. "It just makes sense."
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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