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Taranaki Daily News' Catherine Groenestein tells the story of her solar journey: "Every day this week, the gorgeous late autumn sunshine has felt like a double blessing. As well as the sense of wellbeing a sunny day brings, it's boosting our financial health too, because since May 6, we've been harvesting solar energy off our roof. With the fervour of a religious convert or reformed smoker, I'm regularly checking the clever app on my phone to see how those panels are performing. Our solar journey began late last year when I interviewed electrification advocate Mike Casey from Rewiring Aotearoa, around the time an email arrived announcing yet another price hike from the gas company. Partway through the conversation for a story (the convincing case for electrifying your life) about the financial benefits of rooftop solar, I was convinced. To get my husband Phil on board, I bought us tickets to Sustainable Taranaki's Electrify Your Whare session, where Casey was guest speaker and we learned about how it works."
Read moreDownload the document hereThe expensive fuel prices triggered by the choking of the Hormuz Strait were not stopping an undercurrent of change, Rewiring Aotearoa chief executive Mike Casey said. "We're talking about kitchen table or dinner table decisions rather than board- room table decisions." Casey, who runs a fully electric cherry farm in Central Otago, said New Zealand could benefit from introducing a “salary sacrifice" scheme similar to one available in Australia for people wanting to buy new electric cars. “We can get brand new basic electric cars onto the road ... for under $200 a week, at least for people in New Zealand, for our essential workers, for our teachers, for our nurses, and that includes registration, insurance, maintenance, energy and the car itself."
Read moreDownloadKeeping up with the Joneses (in a good way) as Australia shifts towards sun and wind and away from fuels; New Zealand gets a good grade in terms of how electric our economy is, but we're well behind the leaders; batteries are booming (also in a good way) and eating into gas; how to get that 'wok hei' flavour with induction; a big electric barbie event gets set to break a Guinness World Record; Joby Aviation's historic electric test flights in New York; and what's old is new again with electric classic cars and even an electric museum.
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