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We've heard from plenty of MPs telling us about the electric machines, solar and EVs in our Political Power series. Green MP Kahurangi Carter is also mostly running on electrons, but her set-up is fairly unique. She lives in one of 14 units in the Peterborough Housing Co-op in central Christchurch.

"Wairakei in 1958 made us one of the first countries to generate power from geothermal steam. Manapōuri came online in 1972 at a scale the demand of the day did not justify. The Waikato chain, the Clutha, the Waitaki. None of it was built to just meet the load. It was built well past it, by people comfortable being wrong for a decade in the direction of too much." That’s Anna Kominik, co-chair of Growth NZ, talking about the approach we used to take when it came to investing in electricity generation following the release of a discussion document called 'Powering a Prosperous New Zealand'.

The Vatican is aiming to be the first solar-powered 'nation' and, as solar advocate Bill McKibben likes to say, there are plenty of churches around the world generating energy from heaven rather than hell. One of them is the Discovery Christian Centre in Hamilton East, which has 48 panels on its roof.