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"The cheapest unit of gas is the one you do not use,” EECA chief executive Marcos Pelenur said in a piece on the NZ Herald. Europe's response to severe gas shortages after the start of the Ukraine war was focused on efficiency, flexibility and heat pumps and as New Zealand deals with its own shortage, we can learn from it.
As he said:
“Savings from heat pumps [in Europe] and reduced wastage largely offset the loss of gas supply, and drove a 6% total drop in all energy consumption, demonstrating the potential of demand-side action,” he told the Herald.
“They are very different contexts, but are similar conditions in the sense that from the Ukraine-Russia war there was a sudden gas shortage, and then they had to quickly pivot to deal with this gas crunch.
“And so specifically it was essentially heat pumps and then identifying and reducing waste.
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.
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