
"I firmly believe electricity is the next crop for farmers in New Zealand, and the more farmers that get involved in this, the better the returns for farmers are going to be ... My big dream is that farmers start powering New Zealand. That would be really cool." Seven Sharp ventured to Cromwell recently and Rachel Parkin put together a beautiful story about the all-electric Forest Lodge Orchard. The team has proven that it's possible to grow cherries without burning any diesel on the farm - 'not a single drop,' as manager Euan White says - and that farmers can play a role in the energy system by generating, using, storing and exporting their own electricity. At the moment, many homes, farms and businesses are reliant on expensive molecules sent to us from the other side of the world. Fossil fuels have taken us a long way, but there is a better and cheaper option: locally-produced electrons. That's good for businesses, and good for the country as a whole. Watch the show on TVNZ+ (skip to 4 mins).
The Government’s changes to the Clean Car Standard are a gift to the fossil fuel industry that will lock New Zealanders into buying expensive foreign fuels for years to come. But they don’t change the fact that, on average, electric vehicles are cheaper over their lifetime.
Read moreDownloadRNZ investigative journalist Kirsty Johnston digs into the liquified natural gas terminal decision and finds that "for a government facing blackouts and business closures in an election year, importing gas is an attractive choice. For others [including Rewiring Aotearoa, whose CEO Mike Casey was quoted in the piece] it's the worst possible option."
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