The case for energy loans: read our latest explainer
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Rewiring Aotearoa was proud to be part of the inaugural Electrifying Queenstown event at Millbrook alongside more than 150 members of the local business community. DQ boss Mat Woods told Mountain Scene the idea for the event was sparked by the Electric Homes report about New Zealand becoming one of the first countries in the world to reach the ‘‘tipping point’’ and there's a positive peer pressure in the Southern Lakes air as the region attempts to create a carbon zero visitor economy by 2030. To reach that goal it will have to, as Mike Casey said at the event, electrify everything that can be electrified - and quickly. As Kinloch Wilderness Lodge's Toni Glover said, the best way to do that is 'just start'. Kudos to Destination Queenstown, the Queenstown Business Chamber and Aurora for making it happen. We'd love to see more events like this right across the country so we can share the economic and environmental opportunities of electrification to more Kiwi businesses. Where next?
Read moreDownload the document here"We've lost the cops!" In our next instalment of Political Power, we managed to get David Seymour, deputy prime minister and leader of the Act Party, behind the wheel of a Zeekr 7x when he was in Queenstown recently. As is often the case when people take a new EV for a spin, there was much chortling as he gave it heaps up the Remarkables ski field road - and, if we take him at his word, we might even see him give Mike Casey's tractor heaps up Parliament steps in the future.
Read moreDownloadEVs are having a moment right now, so how can we get more people driving electric; Tom Selleck sums up how EV owners are feeling right now and staggering analysis shows the sun's prices have been unaffected by decades of geopolitical conflict; Scion goes solar to get off gas, while dairy farmers and homes go with solar and batteries to keep going; Saul Griffith takes his solar-powered scooter to Canberra and starts a fight with regulators; the Cancer Society's Lions Lodge in Hamilton gets some panels donated and will save $17,000 a year; and killing the Friday vibe with new studies on how fossil fuel companies made massive profits after the last energy crisis in 2022 and carbon emissions making our blood boil - perhaps quite literally.
Read moreDownloadAn electrification advocate says the rising price and falling supply of gas may not be a bad thing in the long-term. PwC research —commissioned by Gas Industry Co— has found New Zealand's gas market will need to shrink sharply as domestic supply declines. It warns this could mean business closures, job losses, and higher energy costs.