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Has Zane Kaihe got a deal for you! Anyone who buys something from Alpine Heat Pumps, will "get to see my smiley face at your house". Kaihe has been in Queenstown for 27 years supplying and installing heat pumps around the region. "That is pretty much all I do." We reckon he and his fellow tradies will be the heroes of New Zealand's electric transition because we're going to need a lot of them for all the solar and batteries, space and water heat pumps, cooktops and EV chargers being installed in the coming years.
Heat pumps on the wall are pretty standard in New Zealand now but they're also a good option for underfloor heating and Kaihe says he is now getting into domestic hot water.
If you're looking to get off the diesel boiler - something Mike Casey did a few years back before the price skyrocketed- it can be done economically, he says, but every home is different and it might require some tinkering and expert advice to ensure it can do the job.
Getting the gas bottles off the side of the house is an easier swap (and there's also an opportunity for people in the region to get an actual good deal on a hot water heat pump through the Queenstown Electrification Accelerator's group discount scheme)⚡https://loom.ly/GymHGIA
Electric vehicles are increasingly pulling into New Zealand workshops - and mechanics need the right qualifications to work on them safely. High-voltage battery systems carry risks for untrained technicians, and as EVs become a larger share of the national fleet, workshops without qualified staff risk being left behind. Some vehicle manufacturers are also beginning to require demonstrated technician competency as a condition of warranty-related work - a trend that is expected to grow. Here's where the training is on offer.
Read moreDownloadSolar and storage on farms has been going off like a frog in a sock recently. And Federated Farmers has made it a big part of its election manifesto. While Wayne Langford recently missed out on a fourth term as president, he's a Bright Spark in our books for all the work he's done to get this issue on the political radar and help speed up adoption.
Read moreDownload"To emphasise both the risk and the opportunity for New Zealand’s political economy, the price of Brent crude hit US$100 a barrel again on Friday, which is likely to push petrol prices back towards $3.50/litre. But New Zealand’s uptake of EVs, home solar, home batteries and grid-scale solar and batteries is lagging far behind most other countries, who have incentives and national strategies to electrify fast."
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