Flames but no fumes

Humans love looking at a flame and the fossil gas industry has played on that by promoting the ‘romance’ of gas cookers and gas fires. But what if you could have the feeling of flame without the fumes? Dunedin company Escea reckons it has cracked it and has released an electric fire with a holographic flame. 

As chief executive Nigel Bamford told The Otago Daily Times, there was a growing market for electric fireplaces but up until now they had lacked the realism of a wood burner or gas heater. 

“We’re certainly combining some cutting-edge digital technology with an established, older way of making holographic imagery … If you walk into a room and one of these things is burning, unless you went and put your head right beside it, you wouldn’t actually know that it’s not a real fireplace.” 

Users can adjust the intensity from an "absolute roaring fire to a quieter, slow moving fire" and it may even add speakers for those who also need a good crackle. They fires retail at $7,000. No word on whether you can roast marshmallows on it, however. 

Fire ban

From inside flames to outside flames. As the weather warms up, New Zealanders head for the hills and the huts, but gas cookers are risky business. 

There are a range of electric battery powered jugs available, many of which use a substantial amount of juice, and now there's a new one on the horizon.

Lectric Boil is set to launch in 2025 and it claims to offer "the world's most lightweight, portable, sustainable way to boil water and cook your meals fast and off-grid".

If you do decide to stick with the gas or wood and things go wrong, never fear: one of these amazing electric fire trucks from Rosenbauer will take care of it.

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Let the games begin

As we have said, gas in our homes is dumb - economically, environmentally and 'inhalationally'. But it’s not just households getting off the gas. A number of new stadiums are going all-electric, too. 

In Christchurch, the new Te Kaha One NZ stadium, which is currently under construction, has gone with a design where solar panels can be added in the future and committed to having no gas on site. 

“There will also be charging stations for electric vehicles, and over 20,000 square metres of vegetation across the site, creating an urban forest and green spaces for the local community.” 

In the UK, Oxford United claims it is building the first all-electric stadium in the country and Dundee FC in Scotland is following suit. 

In New York, a new Major League Soccer stadium is set to become the third all-electric venue in the US if it gets approval (the other two are Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, which was built in 2021, and Intuit Dome, the new and quite expensive home of the LA Clipplers in Inglewood). 

This piece in the Sports Business Journal does a good job of explaining the rationale behind these electric decisions (sustainability efforts and legislative requirements ) and the reality. 

As it says: “Cooking with electric flat-top grills or fryers might be the most fan-facing aspect of venue electrification. In an average sports venue, depending on the size, roughly a quarter of the overall gas use could come from the kitchen, according to Moore. Until about five years ago, concessionaires would baulk at the suggestion of electrification, but “it’s not even a question anymore,” he said.

“The technology is changing so quickly and becoming so affordable that it’s getting easier and easier every day,” Henderson Engineers Sustainability Director Brian Alessi said.

Eden Park 2.0 includes some EV charging and a few other other sustainability initiatives, but there doesn't appear to be a commitment to go all-electric.

How about those big guns that blast out flames after a try gets scored? Maybe they need to talk to Escea. 

The nuclear option

There was a fair bit of news this week about the ascension of nuclear power for the tech industry’s data centre requirements. Microsoft pledged to restart Five Mile Island, Google followed up with an announcement it was buying six or seven small modular nuclear reactors from California’s Kairos Power, and Amazon also got in on the action.

The nuclear debate is one we hear often and fission is indeed a very reliable and safe form of electricity generation (with one major waste-related drawback and some high profile but very rare accidents). Nuclear fusion - where we basically create a new sun on Earth - is a compelling idea, but still a long way off. The nuclear reactor we already have in the sky is where we like to focus and we always return to the same argument: even if a magical power plant could generate completely free electricity in the middle of the North Island, it would be more expensive to a customer than rooftop solar because the distribution, transmission, and retail markup alone already exceeds the cost of generating via solar panels on your roof. There are nuances here, but those nuances don’t make enough of a difference to change the equation. If you can afford to buy your own reactor to provide your power, fantastic. Until then, we suggest you go for the panels.

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Down for it? 

Recent research from Goldman Sachs has shown that battery prices have declined by 25% since 2023 and they could drop by almost another 50 per cent by 2026, “bringing with it the potential of price parity with internal combustion engine (ICE) cars”. 

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There is evidence to suggest China is already there, and Europe and the US will follow. And when that happens, we should probably get out our electric holographic try scoring blaster thing and celebrate because it will almost certainly speed up the EV adoption rates we need to get to.

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