Operation Laser Kiwi: help us take New Zealand-made energy on the road
The Vatican is aiming to be the first solar-powered 'nation' and, as solar advocate Bill McKibben likes to say, there are plenty of churches around the world generating energy from heaven rather than hell. One of them is the Discovery Christian Centre in Hamilton East, which has 48 panels on its roof.
As Stephanie Chernishov says, "it seems like a huge amount" but, like a growing number of other organisations with large roofs and increasing electricity bills, it just makes sense.
The community centre next door also has panels and a battery and it's hoping to operate as a resilience hub when the power goes out.
It even operates a scheme called Equigen, where excess power from their solar is credited to the community centre.
"When they have people coming in for food parcels and budgeting and they're really stuck with their power bills they can credit a little bit back to help them along."
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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