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Instead of squabbling about golf courses and gravel, Sir Ian Taylor says politicians need to focus on the solutions being developed in New Zealand right now that can reduce emissions and grow the economy. He points to Mike Casey's all-electric orchard to show that going electric is "cheaper. It’s cleaner. And it’s proof that the transition from fossil fuels to electric isn’t theoretical" and Rewiring Aotearoa's research showing that electric machines and solar makes financial sense.
As he wrote:
As we did in geothermal energy, New Zealand also once led the world in electrification.
We built the world’s first fully electric house, powered by renewable hydropower [picture above]. Reefton, on the West Coast, was the second town in the world with electric street lighting, just weeks after Paris became the first. We also built the first transmission line in the Southern Hemisphere.
But today, more than 70% of our energy supply comes from imported fossil fuels, costing New Zealand consumers $55 million a day. Most of which goes offshore.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Mike Casey and Rewiring Aotearoa have put together a powerful case for the electrification of Aotearoa. It began with the world’s first fully electric cherry orchard, which runs on 21 electric machines powered by solar energy. It’s cheaper. It’s cleaner. And it’s proof that the transition from fossil fuels to electric isn’t theoretical. It works now!
His research team has shown how solar energy, scaled nationally on our houses, businesses and farms, would significantly lower the energy costs of the country, whilst at the same time saving billions in overseas spending on fossil fuels.
Combined with the potential from supercritical geothermal, New Zealand could, once again, be a world leader. Embracing the opportunities around climate change and sustainability.
All we need is political vision and courage.
Financial commentator Frances Cook uses her own story to show that that an investment in solar and an EV significantly outperforms the stock market and fellow number cruncher Nadine Higgins says that if you do it right, EVs are cheaper to run and own; EV sales have climbed to their highest level since 2022 and are closing in on 2023's numbers and Go Rentals has just invested $2.3 million in some new Tesla Model Y Premiums; the gap between energy costs of diesel vans and utes and electric vans and utes is absolutely massive; solar is also going off right now, with one installer in Otago 448% above their sales target in March; Lightforce has gone back to the Barretts with a new TV ad; Wellington mayor Andrew Little explains its electrification strategy and Hutt City Council shares data showing how its fleet has gone from dirty Toyotas to cleaner EVs; Shenzen in China has electrified its public transport and taxis and that's come with big benefits - and some challenges; and a very simple illustration of the LNG terminal.
Read moreDownloadAs Minister of energy, climate and local government, Simon Watts had a great opportunity to push the country towards cheaper, cleaner and more reliable New Zealand-made energy. And that’s why we laid down a challenge and gave him the ‘MegaWatts’ moniker last year. Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey says he did some good things, like enabling more solar on farms, removing tax on solar exports, fixing onerous solar consenting requirements, putting pressure on the lines companies to pull up their socks, and getting the ball rolling on the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme. "But the LNG import terminal appears to have been a defining issue."
Read moreDownloadAfter ‘crunching the numbers’ and adding in new sources of ‘New Zealand-made energy’ to our equations, CEO Mike Casey has announced that Rewiring Aotearoa will be changing its name to Refuelling Aotearoa. There has been a huge amount of independently verified research showing electrification beats fossil fuels on economics, efficiency, emissions and energy security and that there is a huge opportunity for New Zealand to electrify, but the discovery of an infinite supply of snake oil in New Zealand has changed everything, he says.
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