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Rewiring Aotearoa's Mike Casey has plenty of fans, but the electric ones on his orchard are definitely the biggest. EECA's Technology Demonstration Fund helped Forest Lodge import and install two electric frost fighting fans in 2020 and, as the case study says, "the company has saved thousands on energy bills and significantly reduced its carbon emissions. These successes have been achieved without sacrificing frost-fighting performance". You might not need your own frost fighting fans, but electric equivalents - from hot water heat pumps to electric vehicles - are now cheaper to run and better for the environment.
Read moreDownload the document hereWhen Mike Casey bought his house near Cromwell, it came with gas bottles on the side of the home for water and an expensive diesel system for the underfloor heating. He replaced both of them with a Steibel Eltron system and it's been saving him money ever since. As technical manager Bhawesh Singh told him at the Electrify Queenstown conference, there has been a big influx in enquiries from homes looking to get off the molecules and onto electrons.
Read moreDownloadConfidence that cutting regulations to make solar power more accessible - won't jeopardise people's safety. A new Regulation Ministry reports laid out a potential blueprint to legalise plug-in solar and reduce the time and cost of panel installation. Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey shares his thoughts with Andrew Dickens.
The burgeoning demand for solar was also a chance to address a mismatch between the numbers of training opportunities available and young people searching for work, Casey said. "The mums of New Zealand are telling me that there's not enough apprenticeships for their kids and the solar installers of New Zealand are telling me there's not enough trained people."
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