The case for energy loans: read our latest explainer
Jack Tame interviews outgoing Climate Change Commission chair Rod Carr on Q+A and electrification tops his list of things New Zealand could do to reduce emissions affordably.
“Acceleration of decarbonisation through electrification.”
That's what outgoing Climate Change Commission chair Rod Carr believes would make the biggest difference in terms of New Zealand's emissions and is something the country could afford to do. And Rewiring Aotearoa concurs.
It's the right thing for the environment and, as we outlined in our Investing in Tomorrow paper, it's the right thing for the economy, with potential savings of $11 billion a year by 2040. The argument that solving climate change is too expensive really doesn't stack up anymore.
Watch the full interview to see what he thinks of this Government's approach and his take on the soon-to-be released Second Emissions Reduction Plan.
Everyone is rocking on down to Electric Avenue today (this one online, not that other small one in Hagley Park in Christchurch), so let's ride the lightning: profits and electricity prices keep going up, as panels keep going down; a new paper puts a number on how much more homes with solar sell for; we're bottling things up with big and small batteries and they are eating into gas in Australia and California; transport emissions drop across the Tasman as a result of Government EV incentives, while HEB Construction electrifies its fleet; electrons are coming from above in China; and Xpeng announces the arrival of a crazy looking electric van/aircraft carrier.
Read moreDownloadWarren G and Nate Dogg said it best when they said: 'Regulators, mount up!' - and this week, they have.In a rare joint open letter, three different regulators - EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority), the Commerce Commission and the Electricity Authority - have basically told the lines companies to pull their socks up and make the most of ‘non-network solutions’ (AKA stop building more expensive poles and wires and start looking at customers and new technology as part of the solution!).
Read moreDownload"The LNG announcement from earlier this month has set the stage: electricity, and the energy sector more broadly, is set to be a major election issue this year. Casey has compared electricity to telecommunications, an area where services have become much cheaper in the last decade with technology advancing. “There are supply challenges for the grid and natural gas, and increasing pressure to find sustainable alternatives as reliance on fossil fuels becomes less viable,” he wrote in a Newsroom piece earlier this month, heralding the “electric election”.
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