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Lucy Cooper talks to Justine Prain and Vern Brassel about two free events that are "designed to light a spark for those thinking about electrifying their homes and businesses".
We've loved seeing community groups develop and there are now over 20 of them around the motu, with many more set to start up soon. Wairarapa is one of the regions leading the charge after putting on a two-day conference last year and they're following up on that success by turning it into an ongoing project and running two events.
Word of mouth is a powerful force and the neighbouhood effect is real so the first event will focus on local case studies (including Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey's dad Simon).
“We’ve got a couple of people talking about their own experience of solar and battery, as well as hot water heat pumps,” Vern Brasell said. “And Lindsay Cairns from Masterweave Textiles will talk about why it made sense to go solar for a business.”
The success of this group is a powerful demonstration of the way grassroots action can change perspectives - and how electrification appeals right across the political spectrum.
Book your tickets to the event at https://events.humanitix.com/why-electrify-wairarapa?hxchl=hex-pfl
Financial commentator Frances Cook uses her own story to show that that an investment in solar and an EV significantly outperforms the stock market and fellow number cruncher Nadine Higgins says that if you do it right, EVs are cheaper to run and own; EV sales have climbed to their highest level since 2022 and are closing in on 2023's numbers and Go Rentals has just invested $2.3 million in some new Tesla Model Y Premiums; the gap between energy costs of diesel vans and utes and electric vans and utes is absolutely massive; solar is also going off right now, with one installer in Otago 448% above their sales target in March; Lightforce has gone back to the Barretts with a new TV ad; Wellington mayor Andrew Little explains its electrification strategy and Hutt City Council shares data showing how its fleet has gone from dirty Toyotas to cleaner EVs; Shenzen in China has electrified its public transport and taxis and that's come with big benefits - and some challenges; and a very simple illustration of the LNG terminal.
Read moreDownloadAs Minister of energy, climate and local government, Simon Watts had a great opportunity to push the country towards cheaper, cleaner and more reliable New Zealand-made energy. And that’s why we laid down a challenge and gave him the ‘MegaWatts’ moniker last year. Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey says he did some good things, like enabling more solar on farms, removing tax on solar exports, fixing onerous solar consenting requirements, putting pressure on the lines companies to pull up their socks, and getting the ball rolling on the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme. "But the LNG import terminal appears to have been a defining issue."
Read moreDownloadAfter ‘crunching the numbers’ and adding in new sources of ‘New Zealand-made energy’ to our equations, CEO Mike Casey has announced that Rewiring Aotearoa will be changing its name to Refuelling Aotearoa. There has been a huge amount of independently verified research showing electrification beats fossil fuels on economics, efficiency, emissions and energy security and that there is a huge opportunity for New Zealand to electrify, but the discovery of an infinite supply of snake oil in New Zealand has changed everything, he says.
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