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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
When 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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