Read our new Electric Homes and Vehicles report
Queenstown, Wānaka and the surrounding region have committed to one of the world’s most ambitious climate targets and pledged to create a carbon-zero visitor economy by 2030. It’s great to have a bold target to aim for but, as renowned electricity lover Thomas Edison said, vision without execution is just hallucination – and right now, the region is a long way off track and lagging behind a number of other places. So how can the region go from talking to walking? It basically all boils down to this: everything that can be electrified needs to be electrified - and quickly. Read Mike Casey's full opinion piece on Newsroom.
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."
Read moreDownload
