The case for energy loans: read our latest explainer
Old Man Gas was in for a bit of a shock last week. There he was, reminiscing about the good old days, when news about a report from EECA about the dangers of burning gas indoors came through on his state-of-the-art fax machine. 'Over 200 premature deaths isn't that many deaths, is it?' said Old Man Gas. 'Didn't they know they should just crack a window? And can you really put a price on the joy of being in the presence of that beautiful flame?' When he discovered that someone had actually put a price on it and gas cooktops cost the country $3.3 billion due to hospitalisations and lost productivity, he said: 'Well, $3.3 billion isn't that much, is it?'
Read more about the current gas situation, our declining domestic reserves, rapidly rising prices and what we can exchange gas for in our explainer 👉 https://loom.ly/fn0Oza8
"We've lost the cops!" In our next instalment of Political Power, we managed to get David Seymour, deputy prime minister and leader of the Act Party, behind the wheel of a Zeekr 7x when he was in Queenstown recently. As is often the case when people take a new EV for a spin, there was much chortling as he gave it heaps up the Remarkables ski field road - and, if we take him at his word, we might even see him give Mike Casey's tractor heaps up Parliament steps in the future.
Read moreDownloadEVs are having a moment right now, so how can we get more people driving electric; Tom Selleck sums up how EV owners are feeling right now and staggering analysis shows the sun's prices have been unaffected by decades of geopolitical conflict; Scion goes solar to get off gas, while dairy farmers and homes go with solar and batteries to keep going; Saul Griffith takes his solar-powered scooter to Canberra and starts a fight with regulators; the Cancer Society's Lions Lodge in Hamilton gets some panels donated and will save $17,000 a year; and killing the Friday vibe with new studies on how fossil fuel companies made massive profits after the last energy crisis in 2022 and carbon emissions making our blood boil - perhaps quite literally.
Read moreDownloadAn electrification advocate says the rising price and falling supply of gas may not be a bad thing in the long-term. PwC research —commissioned by Gas Industry Co— has found New Zealand's gas market will need to shrink sharply as domestic supply declines. It warns this could mean business closures, job losses, and higher energy costs.