The 20th century energy system was one-way from generators to households. By focusing only on solar farms, we are, as a recent study said “using new technologies in an old-fashioned way, by centralising power generation in certain locations, in the hands of a few companies”. There are also land use issues with large solar farms, as they take up space that we could be using to grow food or trees (although recent advances in agrivoltaics do look promising). 

Households with solar on their roof will have the cheapest energy available and need to be seen as a critical part of our 21st Century energy system. If solar was added to all our approximately 2.2 million homes we could generate around 40% more electricity. Mid-size solar systems on our 50,000 farms could generate 60% more electricity. 

And we may not need as many new solar farms: academics from Auckland University of Technology pointed out that the 14 biggest rooftops in Auckland would be equivalent to New Zealand’s largest solar farm, while the rooftops of 167 schools and supermarkets would also provide the same amount of energy and be much closer to the point of consumption. 

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Compared to Australia, which has around 35% rooftop solar penetration, it is niche in New Zealand at around 3%, but it is growing as more people realise it is the cheapest form of energy available to New Zealand households and unlocks a lot of savings for electric homes. New Zealand's sunlight resource is similar to the state of Victoria and much better than Germany.

Even if we put a magical power plant in the middle of the country that generated free electricity, it would still be cheaper for customers to have rooftop solar panels because of the costs associated with all the poles and wires and the margins required for those businesses that provide it.

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We will need a lot more renewable energy in the future, but when they talk about big solar and wind farms, they only talk about electricity generation. Generation is less than half the total cost that customers pay. The price of distribution will still keep going up, no matter how much energy supply there is. Rooftop solar cuts out the middleman, by delivering energy from your roof straight into your home; no poles or wires needed, and therefore no distribution costs to pay.

Added to that, the price of grid electricity and fossil fuels is expected to keep going up, while solar basically locks in the price of electricity for decades. That’s why finance is such a key part of the puzzle in making rooftop solar affordable for all New Zealanders. The upfront costs are higher, but the savings are concrete; so we need to give everyone access to the finance to unlock the decades of cost savings and emission reductions.

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The recovery rates of materials in solar panels are already well over 90% and local company Phoeniix Metalman is recovering around 98% of the materials. But even with a massive global roll out of solar, the amount of solar waste the world might plausibly produce up to 2050 is equivalent to the amount of coal ash already produced globally each month. 

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Our explainers Electricity means Efficiency and Closing the Loop provide answers to all the waste questions. The short version is that electrifying everything will massively reduce the overall material and energy requirements of the global energy system. It is the epitome of doing more with less.

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Grid-connected solar systems are often shut down for safety reasons during an outage to avoid feeding back into an inactive grid. However, there are inverters available that can utilise solar generation and provide a small amount of energy to the home even when the grid goes down, so homeowners can choose to have that option. If you have a home battery backing up your rooftop solar system, you can charge the battery with your solar panels and use your battery for power.

If you're in an area that gets frequent electricity problems, or you want added resilience, you will likely need to specify to your installer that you want this capability. Battery systems can be set to back up the home in an outage, or also just turn off. When specifying a battery install make sure you speak to your installer about the backup options you would like to have.

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New Zealand’s electricity grid is over 80% renewable and we should rightly be proud of that. But electricity is just part of our energy system. Around 70% of our total energy use comes from fossil fuels because we are so reliant on them for transport, heating and industry. We’re not so renewable when you look at it that way. 

Demand for electricity in New Zealand is expected to double or triple in the next few decades as we electrify our economy (and particularly our transport), and the lowest cost way to provide that to customers is through rooftop solar and batteries. That means customers can play an important role in the energy system, keep water in our hydro dams during winter and reduce the need for fossil fuel electricity generation. 

New Zealand's sunlight resource is similar to the state of Victoria. New Zealand currently has around 3% solar penetration, whereas Victoria is around 35%.

The more rooftop solar there is, the more it benefits the whole community as increased local power generation reduces the costs of power transmission. And in Australia, which has a much larger solar industry, it is also estimated that there are 39 jobs directly supported for every one megawatt of solar installed.

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Any excess solar you’re not using is automatically fed back to the grid (unless you have a battery). The Feed in Tariff or buy-back rate is what your energy retailer is prepared to pay you for the energy fed back. The biggest savings are made if you can use as much solar as you can when it’s produced, so it makes sense to set timers and use appliances and chargers during the daytime. Check different retailers to see their export rates as they vary considerably. Some homes with low-energy requirements can end up with negative power bills (i.e get paid by their electricity company) but most homes will just see a reduction in their bills.  

Rewiring Aotearoa is advocating strongly for batteries to become more "bankable" by levelling the playing field and paying customers that export energy at peak times, something we call Symmetrical Export Tariffs. This would show the true value of a battery and help to speed up the payback period and adoption. So ask your MP why cost-reflective two-way tariffs are not mandatory.

Monitor: Spend the first few weeks of having solar by using your app (your installer will help set this up) to monitor your energy habits and experiment with ways to match your consumption to the highest solar-producing hours (e.g. doing your weekly EV charge during the day on a Sunday). You might be surprised! 

Load shift: There is a lot of potential to maximise your savings with simple measures such as shifting more of your energy consumption to daylight hours. Use the delayed timer feature on appliances like dishwashers and washing machines, and set timers for hot water systems so they can be heated by cheap solar. If you have an EV, make sure you charge it via solar to enjoy huge energy bill savings.

Get off gas: Once you have solar, it makes more sense to remove gas appliances including your water heater, space heater and cooktop and install efficient, electric appliances. That is likely to be when they need replacing, but it may make sense to do it earlier, especially for health reasons. 

Invest in a battery: The next step is to consider investing in a household battery so the energy from the sun can be stored and also used at peak times. This is especially beneficial for those on time-of-use plans with their retailers as households can reduce peak usage from the grid and their costs. 

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• Inverter type: Microinverters are attached to the back of each panel, while string inverters are all connected. Microinverters are generally more expensive but are more effective and good for shady roofs or complex installations.
• Quality: Invest in high-quality solar panels and components from reputable manufacturers to ensure reliability and longevity. Better quality panels usually have higher efficiency and longer warranties too.
• Future energy use & system size: If you can, choose the biggest system you can afford and will fit on your roof. This is so you can accommodate any future electric needs (eg. electric vehicle). It costs less to install all at once and you can provide more electricity for winter use. To give you an idea, the average solar system on Australian homes is 9 kW, which can meet a household’s energy needs including two EVs.

A solar system requires a smart meter on your main connection, and if your switchboard is old it could also require replacement, but not necessarily. Your installer will tell you if you need upgrades as part of your quote.

In New Zealand, installed solar costs around $2,000/Kw, although it can be a bit more for smaller installs or less for larger installs. This cost also varies by region but installers regularly offer special deals. 

Rooftop solar is the cheapest form of electricity available to New Zealand households because the energy is generated where it is consumed and doesn't need to be transported.

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It used to be thought that solar panels were only good for north-facing roofs. With technological improvements and costs falling, these days it can be economical to put solar panels even on south-facing or shady roofs and many systems are designed with winter in mind. Your installer can advise you.

Solar installers we’ve talked to say there are very few roofs that are unsuitable for solar. 

If you are planning on moving house soon, solar may not make sense, but the average length of time people spend in a house in New Zealand is around seven years, so you can often pay off your solar investment in that time with your bill savings. And while it is difficult to prove, some studies have shown that homes with solar are more attractive to buyers and come at a premium. 

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Our household electrification guides offer a good rundown on how much you can save and how to make it happen. Households that have already installed solar are usually very happy to talk about it. If there is someone in your neighbourhood with panels, ask them about their experience or for recommendations and advice. 

You can also ask us (hello@rewiring.nz) or see if there are any electrification community groups in your area. If you decide to invest, always get a few quotes and keep an eye out for any special offers. 

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Install a timer or wi-fi control that enables you to time when you heat your water. If you have solar panels, the best time to heat your water is during the day when solar production is at its peak and when the heat pump works most efficiently.

About 10 - 12 years. 

Yes. While heat pumps work more efficiently in warmer climates, they do still work effectively in cold climates. The better quality heat pumps work very efficiently in both cold and warm climates and heat pumps heat roughly half the homes in Norway, Finland, and Sweden, which get a lot colder than New Zealand. Our advice is to not go with one of the cheaper versions.

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If you are able to power your electric resistive water heater from a large solar array during the day, it may make economic sense for you to keep it. It will still use 3 to 4 times more energy than a heat pump (which is why we recommend heat pumps) but if your budget is restricted (as the upfront cost of a heat pump is more expensive) it may be worth adding a timer to your heater and drawing on solar. Over 15 years, electric resistive with solar and the grid is around the same cost to run as a hot water heat pump on the grid including the upfront costs.  

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While batteries are individually small, they add up. As an example, just 120,000 homes (or five percent of New Zealand households) with a medium-sized battery could potentially reduce the peak load as much as our largest hydro power station, Manapouri. While these batteries would not hold as much energy as Manapouri, they could output the same amount of power for an hour or two when the system really needs it. 

Every home with a battery basically removes themselves from peak, and it could potentially remove their neighbours from peak, too. 

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If you want to completely go off grid you will need a very large solar and battery system to cover all your energy needs and you can face particular challenges such as town planning regulations. There are a lot of benefits for most New Zealanders remaining connected to a grid system, so we are not advocating that homes go off grid, but having solar and a battery ensures you have more resilience, control and independence whilst grid connected.

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Yes. 95% of a lithium battery has the potential to be recycled. Our explainer Closing the Loop shows that the renewable energy transition is a big opportunity to create a more circular economy. By 2050, more than half of the demand for materials like cobalt, graphite, and lithium could be met by recycled secondary supply. Others expect this to occur even earlier.

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Yes. New Zealand has strict standards that apply to batteries including the location and installation. If these are followed, the risk of fires is extremely low. 

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Most lithium-ion batteries are warrantied for around ten years, but some now have warranties for 15 years. How long they last depends on the conditions, where it is stored and how it is used. 

Smart energy management systems that monitor and control the charging and discharging of your solar battery can enhance efficiency and prolong battery life. 

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A 5 kWh battery is between $6,000 to $7,500, while a 15kWh battery is between $14,000 to $18,000. 

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It depends what your motivations are. It’s a firm ‘yes’ if you are keen to reduce your household emissions, improve your energy resilience and create an all electric home. If you are primarily concerned by the return on investment, unlike solar (which is an economic slam dunk for most homes today), batteries aren’t a clear call just yet, but those economics are improving every day and battery prices continue to drop by more than expected. 

It may well make financial sense if you are on a time of use rate for your electricity (where the cost varies throughout the day) or can join a plan where you can export energy at peak times and be rewarded for it, like those offered by Octopus Energy and Flick.

Rewiring Aotearoa is advocating strongly for batteries to become more "bankable" by levelling the playing field and paying customers that export energy at peak times, something we call Symmetrical Export Tariffs. This would show the true value of a battery and help to speed up the payback period and adoption.

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An Australian research project called EV Firesafe, which is funded by the Department of Defense and aims to reduce the risks for first responders, has looked at a heap of data and come up with a list of findings. The main one is: "Our intial research findings, based on global EV battery fires from 2010-2020, indicate a 0.0012% of a passenger electric vehicle battery catching fire. While it's difficult to find a similar stat for internal combustion engine (ICE) passenger vehicles globally, a range of country-based reports we found suggest there is a 0.1% chance of an ICE vehicle catching fire."

Think of hydrogen as another type of battery, rather than an energy source. The issue is that it's not a very good battery. 

You start with electricity, you make hydrogen, you then use that hydrogen to make electricity again. Around one third of the energy you put in comes back out. This is not efficient and it also means hydrogen will be considerably more expensive than electricity for the customer. It’s better to just use the electricity in an electric machine or store it in a battery, if you can. 

There is potentially a role for hydrogen in heavy transport, steel and cement making etc where the advantages outweigh the inefficiencies, but even large mining operations are investing heavily in electric machines and many hydrogen trials have proven to be expensive and problematic.

Just as gas doesn’t need to play a role in our homes, hydrogen should not play a role in light vehicle transport. We don’t have a network of hydrogen stations, whereas we already have an electricity grid that spans most of the country and a growing number of solar installations where you can fill up your EV at home.

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We do not need to replace petrol stations. While the fast charging network is important, especially for longer trips and for those without offstreet parking, we should be rolling out more convenient slow chargers through communities (supermarkets, beaches, parks, workplaces etc). These will be much cheaper to build, and have minimal impact on electricity networks compared to fast chargers. 

Using a petrol price equivalent, you can power your electric car for around $0.30/Litre with rooftop solar and $0.60/Litre with electricity delivered from the grid, but fast charging is much more expensive. 

Many new EVs now have over 500km of range, and the average car in New Zealand drives 11,000km a year, or just over 200km a week.

That's around four hours total plugged into a 7kW charger to get all the energy they need per week. The car is probably used for less than 2 hours a day, and they may have another 150 hours that week when their vehicle is parked, so even standard plugs with the car charging overnight can get you the energy you need. 

If the range keeps improving as it has over the years, we may not even need to stop to charge on that 800km trip, although we’ve never met a human bladder that can last that long.

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One of the main reasons you would buy a petrol car today is because the upfront cost is still lower than an EV. It may seem cheaper, but when you buy a petrol car, you’re also locking yourself into many years of increasingly expensive petrol. The cost of fossil fuels (and grid electricity) have increased at above the rate of inflation and they are expected to keep increasing. 

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Global forecasts show EVs could be the same price as fossil fuel cars by 2026 so the economics keep improving. Early adopters often pay a premium and the price of EVs has dropped considerably, which is good for anyone looking to buy a second car. 

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Everyone should pay their fair share for road use. But even with RUCs added EVs are a lot cheaper than fossil fuel cars, especially when they are charged with rooftop solar. Using a petrol price equivalent, you can power your electric car for around $0.30/Litre with rooftop solar and $0.60/Litre with electricity delivered from the grid. Fast charging is much more expensive, but still cheaper than petrol.

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They make even more sense. People who live in the country drive a lot more and the more you drive, the more money you save with electric cars. The average New Zealander drives about 11,000km a year, while those in rural areas can drive over 50,000km per year. 

Data suggests over 90% of charging happens at home and with ranges of new EVs now in excess of 500km, more expensive fast chargers are unlikely to be required. 

‍Should we go back to subsidising EVs? 

If we want to get access to a lower cost of living and reduce our emissions, getting more EVs on the road is still a good idea. We believe low-interest loans for home and transport electrification are a better option than subsidies, although there should still be room for income-contingent grants. 

As our recent paper Investing in Tomorrow shows, this doesn’t need to be seen as a cost, it's an investment that can save households $29 million per day by 2040 because we are avoiding expensive imported foreign fossil fuels and using more locally generated renewable energy. 

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One of the big opportunities with the transition away from fossil fuel vehicles is the role EVs could play as big batteries on wheels. 

There are some EVs that allow what’s called Vehicle to Load (V2L), so you could make a coffee via your MG, make a toastie with your tractor, or run a quiet camping generator. 

Plugging in to the home (known as vehicle to grid) as opposed to just a particular machine has long been a dream of EV enthusiasts but is more complicated.  

In Australia, there is currently only one car, the Nissan Leaf Gen 2, and one charger, the Wallbox bidirectional Quasar, that allow you to do it, but new, more affordable innovations like Hoem may change that. 

A typical electric car battery holds about 60+ kilowatt hours of electricity, which is enough to power a small home or apartment for a week. There are pilots overseas where large EVs like Ford F-150s and school buses have been plugged in and are feeding back into the grid. 

With advances in EVs, batteries, and energy systems accelerating all the time, this may not be far off for New Zealand either.

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We need more active transport and more electric public transport and we should be reducing the number of cars on the road, but many New Zealanders still need a car. For those that remain, they should all be the more efficient electric versions. 

To give an example of the efficiency gain and reduction in energy from switching to an EV, with an electric motor, about 90% of the energy is put towards moving the car. In a fossil fuel car, 80% of the energy gets wasted as heat, vibration and noise and the waste is buried in the sky. It’s like buying a pizza and only eating two slices. 

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Approximately 40% of all global sea freight is in the transportation of fossil fuels so when you electrify your car, you also help remove the tankers from the water and the trucks from the road. 

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We agree that where possible, people should opt for active and public transport. But where cars are required, we are pushing to ensure that they are all EVs so that we can eliminate all need for fossil fuels in our transport sector, including the cost of fossil fuel distribution.

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Towing does reduce range, but by how much depends on the weight you’re towing and whether the car has been designed to tow. One test showed an Audi e-tron decreased its range by one third when towing a caravan, while a Tesla Model 3 towing a caravan reduced its range by 50%. 

Most EVs in New Zealand today are not designed for towing significant amounts, though this is expected to change, and the USA is already demonstrating EVs that can tow large loads long distances.  

‍EV sales have slowed down here and overseas. Are they overhyped? 

Sales may have slowed down in New Zealand recently, but that was expected because the clean car discount was stopped. Even with the new road user charges, EVs are still cheaper to run than petrol or diesel cars over their lifetimes, especially if you have rooftop solar and batteries, and global forecasts show EVs could be the same price as internal combustion engine cars by 2027.

The adoption curve is not perfectly flat but the growth trend over time is obvious worldwide. Some experts think we’re reaching peak global oil demand largely because of the success of EVs. Many manufacturers have agreed to phase out fossil fuel cars, so their resale value is likely to go down, not up, simply because they’re not as useful. 

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Battery degradation is an issue with some earlier EVs and the replacement costs are high, but modern EV batteries are guaranteed for many years and show very small amounts of degradation. They are now generally expected to last for the lifetime of the vehicle. 

EECA says most new EVs have battery warranties that guarantee the battery for around 8-10 years, or distances such as 160,000km, which is similar to 15 years of average driving. New electric vehicles often have ranges exceeding 500km. With average weekly driving being closer to 200km in New Zealand, older second-hand EVs are more than capable of coping with most daily driving, and in most cases weekly driving, and come at a significantly lower upfront cost.

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Colder temperatures do have an impact on the performance of batteries because colder temperatures slow down chemical reactions. Below freezing temperatures have been shown to reduce range by 10% - 20%. It also takes longer to charge in cold temperatures. Very high temperatures can also affect performance. Modern electric vehicles now have thermal management systems in their batteries to mitigate the impact of outside temperature variation, and have been demonstrated to perform in both extreme cold and extreme heat (there are now fully electric snow groomers available).  

Cars in New Zealand drive an average of 210km a week, and almost every new EV has far more range than that, which means a 10-20% reduction in range would make no real difference to regular car use. A good way to think about it is if your fuel tank was at 90% rather than 100%, would it make a difference to how you think you can use your car on any given day? 

Many EVs have phone apps that will let an owner set a desired departure time and turn on preconditioning so a car can use grid electricity while it’s plugged in to heat the cabin and warm its battery to the desired operating temperature. This can conserve more of the battery charge for actual driving, but this is only needed ahead of the small number of longer trips the EV will do. 

Mining of any mineral or materials should be done as ethically and responsibly as possible. In the past, there were some issues with mining of cobalt for batteries. As the industry has matured, however, so has the traceability and sustainability of mining for critical minerals. Today, more batteries have transparent mineral production or using alternatives such as lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. Australia is a world leader in ethically and environmentally produced critical minerals. The best news is that more than 90% of the components in an EV battery can be recycled, and the rate of recycling will only improve as the industry expands. In sum, even considering battery production, the environmental impact of EVs are tiny when compared to fuel-powered cars. 

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While hybrid cars (HEVs) may give peace of mind for those with range anxiety, hybrids have limitations compared with full EVs, including more moving parts and maintenance, generally less power and efficiency and, most notably, the car will still be responsible for emitting pollution. In short, if you can, go straight to an electric vehicle.

Standard HEVs are not low emissions vehicles. They still consume about 70% of the petrol used by petrol vehicles (and create 70% of the emissions). HEVs will not allow us to reach our fossil fuel-free and climate goals and Rewiring Aotearoa would not recommend them being supported in green finance offerings. 

Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) still often consume large amounts of petrol, though they can be driven some distance with zero emissions on electric power. Therefore their emissions are largely down to driver behaviour. If owners choose not to charge them, they are essentially an HEV or internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. However, they likely do have a short term role in decarbonisation, especially with larger vehicles like utes which don’t have as many full EV options (e.g the new BYD Shark is one example of a hybrid ute). For these cases, there are some PHEVs overseas with 100km - 200km of battery range, which petrol can supplement. These models can play a more important role in decarbonisation. Still, they are a stepping stone and not the solution. 

EVs are the main vehicle that should be encouraged and supported for decarbonisation.

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Renters make up around one third of households in New Zealand. Some landlords may be open to installing solar panels and more efficient electric appliances, especially as it is likely to enhance the property value and attractiveness as a rental. You could calculate a value proposition and negotiate a slight rental increase in exchange for a larger power bill reduction, something often called a comfort levy. This means both the landlord and the tenants benefit - the landlord gets more rent, the tenant gets a cheaper power bill, and the savings come for free from the sun.

Portable induction stoves are available for those who don’t want to cook with gas, which is especially relevant given the health impacts of indoor gas appliances. 

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It is best to check with the specific appliance details and a healthcare professional. Induction cooktops generate electromagnetic fields, which can affect a pacemaker if you get too close. The British Heart Foundation recommends “Keep a distance of at least 60cm (2ft) between the stovetop and your pacemaker. Most people should be able to use a hob if they follow these precautions. And classic electric cooktops are still a good option for those who are concerned.

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For most houses, single phased power is sufficient. But check with an electrician before purchasing an induction cooktop to check if any electrical upgrades are required. 

One of the benefits of induction is the cooktop surface only heats when a pan is present so after you’ve finished cooking and removed the pots and pans, no heat will be generated making it safer than gas or traditional electric cooktops.

A number of professional chefs like Pete Gawron, Michael Meredith and Des Harris have made the switch to induction because it directly heats the cooking surface and not the surrounding space (like gas). This means cooking temperature can be very precisely controlled.

Farms are in a unique position to provide mid-scale renewable electricity solutions that can bolster the country's energy security. They have greater buying power than individual households; they have the land and space to install much larger systems than households; they are usually owner-operators who can make their own decisions; and they often have access to finance and are generally well-placed to take on long term investments, especially those that will save money.

If each of the approximately 50,000 farms in New Zealand installed mid-scale solar systems they could generate an additional 60% of the country’s current total electricity consumption.

Solar can play an important role when it comes to irrigation, which increases electricity use during summer, and could help keep our hydro lakes full for winter.

Every farm is different, but the agriculture sector spends around $700 million on diesel each year. Shifting away from diesel machines is a huge economic opportunity for farms because electric machines, while more expensive upfront, are so much cheaper to run. When powered by solar and batteries, farms can dramatically reduce their energy bills and improve their resilience.

A significant amount of on-farm emissions come from fuel use. Farmers can make a difference right now - while also reducing the country’s dependence on increasingly expensive carbon offsetting - by electrifying their fossil fuel machines.

With the right conditions, farmers can also create an additional revenue stream by producing and storing solar power and timing export perfectly for when it is most valuable.

Forest Lodge Orchard in Central Otago has electrified all of its on-farm machinery, including two electric frost fighting fans, electric golf carts and New Zealand’s first electric tractor. Rooftop and groundmount solar and a battery bank provides about 80% of the farm’s electricity needs, so although electricity use has increased by about 900% compared to the status quo, the peak drawdown from the grid has remained low. No more local distribution infrastructure has been required and no new poles and lines needed to be built.

After electrification, the farm saves almost $40,000 a year across the farm and home from avoided costs of diesel, avoided electricity network lines charges and by exporting excess power back to the grid when prices are high. For example, diesel frost fans burn large amounts of fuel and can cost over $10,000 a year to run, whereas Forest Lodge Orchard’s two 30kW electric frost fans are more efficient at 20% the operational cost. Similarly, the 40hp electric tractor does the job of a 80hp diesel equivalent thanks to the benefits of electric power, and costs a fraction of the price to run.

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Modern farming is heavily dependent on diesel machines like tractors, motorbikes, pumps and harvesters. An electric farm swaps some or all of those fossil fuel machines for electric equivalents and powers them with a combination of solar panels, battery banks and New Zealand’s highly renewable grid. If enough generation capacity is built, electric farms can also play a role in the energy system and create a new revenue stream for farmers by selling renewable electricity to the grid during times of peak demand.

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Creating biogas from municipal waste or other waste streams is an interesting idea and a good example of a more circular economy, but so-called renewable gas is even more expensive than fossil gas and there's just not enough of it to make a dent. 

Some industries may need gas for a while as they transition to electric technologies, and we do use gas for electricity generation, but it is not a clean source of fuel, and it is certainly not renewable. A recently peer reviewed study has shown that it is even worse than coal for the climate due to its methane components, which is 80 times more potent than CO2 for warming. Gas definitely shouldn't be used in people's homes - it’s more expensive, it is running out, and burning it is bad for your health. Electric equivalents are more efficient, lower cost and much better for the environment. 

Around the world gas networks are shutting down because it’s clear the economics don’t stack up when compared to electricity. New houses should not be built with gas connections, because it locks families into decades of expensive, unhealthy gases in their home.

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Like highways, electricity lines are not always busy and have short periods of high demand. We will definitely need some grid upgrades to cope with the expected increase in demand as we electrify but, on average, our lines are at 30-40% capacity. So with smart demand management (like charging EVs or heating water during the day) and better pricing signals that encourage lower energy use and export at peak, we could increase that utilisation substantially without over-investing in new poles and wires, which will be paid for by customers over time on their bills. 

The more electricity generated by customers, the more hydro we can store for those winter peaks without the need to burn fossil fuels and the less need there will be for expensive, taxpayer funded upgrades of our network. Rooftop solar plays an important role here; when we have a dry year with not much rain, there are 5-10% more sunshine hours. 

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Batteries are are a crucial piece of the puzzle. While batteries are individually small, they add up. As an example, just 120,000 homes (or five percent of New Zealand households) with a medium-sized battery could potentially reduce the peak load as much as our largest hydro power station, Manapouri. While these batteries would not hold as much energy as Manapouri, they could output the same amount of power for an hour or two when the system really needs it. 

Every home with a battery basically removes themselves from peak, and it could potentially remove their neighbours from peak, too. 

Electricity use is also increasing in summer (largely due to air conditioning requirements and EVs) and this will have repercussions on lake levels in winter. Irrigation is also a major user of electricity in summer in some regions. Solar is well-suited to both of these cases as the electricity is usually required during the day when the sun is out, so more solar at home and on our farms can provide a lot of what we need with less strain on the grid and at the lowest cost.

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Demand flexibility is a crucial component of our energy system and all customers - whether large or small users - should be rewarded for reducing demand when required, or exporting at peak times. The recent Government Policy Statement on Electricity seems to back that view.

It’s total energy consumption, not electricity consumption, that is key to a sustainable future. We need to use less energy to do the same things, i.e. better efficiency. Electrification is the energy efficiency we’ve always been looking for - at both a small and large scale. 

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In our homes, switching to electric vehicles, hot water heating, space heating and cooking can reduce total household energy use by around 70% because heat pumps, induction stoves and EVs are on average 3-4 times more efficient at using energy than conventional fossil fuel machines. These homes will use more electricity but much less energy overall and this enhanced efficiency is where a lot of the savings come from.

Any reduction in electricity use above and beyond the main efficiency gain from electrification, whether through more efficient electric machines (e.g. LED light bulbs) or behaviour change (e.g. riding an e-bike instead of the EV) is a bonus, but electrification should come first to lock in the big-ticket emissions reduction and efficiency benefits.

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Even if electric homes get all their electricity from the grid rather than rooftop solar, they will still save a considerable sum compared to a fossil fuelled home. And generating your own electricity through rooftop solar brings those costs down further because it is consumed where it is produced. 

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The Commerce Commission decides how much the regulated monopolies can spend on upgrades and while bills are expected to rise to pay for those, Rewiring Aotearoa claimed a $1.2 billion win for consumers by arguing for more focus on the role customers could play. 

As an example, Mike Casey’s Forest Lodge orchard uses around 900% more electricity than the status quo because he has completely electrified all his farm machinery and now provides around 80% of that through solar generation and battery storage. The farm doesn’t use any additional electricity at peak times and that means there were no new poles or wires needed. 

A lot of the electricity we need for our increasingly electric lives could come from households, straight from the roof with no poles and wires in between. If that happens, it will actually reduce the need for expensive, taxpayer funded upgrades of our network. 

Like highways, electricity lines are not always busy and have short periods of high demand. On average, our lines are at 30-40% capacity, so with smart demand management (like charging EVs or heating water off-peak) and better pricing signals that encourage savings and export at peak, we could increase that utilisation substantially without over-investing in new poles and wires. 

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The 20th century energy system was one-way from generators to households. By focusing only on solar farms, we are, as a recent study said “using new technologies in an old-fashioned way, by centralising power generation in certain locations, in the hands of a few companies”. There are also land use issues with large solar farms, as they take up land that we could be using to grow food or trees (although agrivoltaics are showing potential). 

Customers with solar on their roof will have the cheapest energy available to households and also need to be seen as a critical part of our 21st Century energy system. If solar was added to all our approximately 2.2 million homes we could generate around 40% more electricity. Mid-size solar systems on our 50,000 farms could generate 60% more electricity. 

Academics from Auckland University of Technology pointed out that the 14 biggest rooftops in Auckland would be equivalent to New Zealand’s largest solar farm. The rooftops of 167 schools and supermarkets would also provide the same amount of energy, and be much closer to the point of consumption. 

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Australia has around 35% rooftop solar penetration, while New Zealand is at around 3%, but it is growing as more people realise it is the cheapest form of energy available to New Zealand households. New Zealand also has similar solar potential to the state of Victoria.

Even if we put a magical power plant in the middle of the country that generated free electricity, it would still be cheaper for customers to have rooftop solar panels because of the costs associated with all the poles and wires and the margins required for those businesses that provide it.

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We will need a lot more renewable energy in the future, but when they talk about big solar and wind farms, they only talk about electricity generation. Generation is less than half the total cost that customers pay. The price of distribution will still keep going up, no matter how much energy supply there is. Rooftop solar cuts out the middleman, by delivering energy from your roof straight into your home; no poles or wires needed, and therefore no distribution costs to pay.

Added to that, the price of grid electricity and fossil fuels is expected to keep going up, while solar basically locks in the price of electricity for decades. That’s why finance is such a key part of the puzzle in making rooftop solar affordable for all New Zealanders. The upfront costs are higher, but the savings are concrete; so we need to give everyone access to the finance to unlock the decades of cost savings and emission reductions.

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Demand flexibility is a crucial component of our energy system and all customers - whether large or small users - should be rewarded for reducing demand when required, or exporting at peak times. The recent Government Policy Statement on Electricity seems to back that view.

It’s total energy consumption, not electricity consumption, that is key to a sustainable future. We need to use less energy to do the same things, i.e. better efficiency. Electrification is the energy efficiency we’ve always been looking for - at both a small and large scale. 

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In our homes, switching to electric vehicles, hot water heating, space heating and cooking can reduce total household energy use by around 70% because heat pumps, induction stoves and EVs are on average 3-4 times more efficient at using energy than conventional fossil fuel machines. These homes will use more electricity but much less energy overall and this enhanced efficiency is where a lot of the savings come from.

Any reduction in electricity use above and beyond the main efficiency gain from electrification, whether through more efficient electric machines (e.g. LED light bulbs) or behaviour change (e.g. riding an e-bike instead of the EV) is a bonus, but electrification should come first to lock in the big-ticket emissions reduction and efficiency benefits.

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If you’ve got the money, the best option is to pay for electrification up front and take advantage of the massive bill savings on energy.

With solar, you can lock in the price of electricity for the lifetime of the panels and provide a 10 - 15% return on investment, which is much better than the average deposit rate - and likely to improve as the price of grid electricity goes up. 

Talk to your existing lender to add solar to your mortgage or see what green finance products they offer at lower interest rates. Many banks offer green loans for other low-emissions purchases like heat pumps, hot water heat pumps and EVs, but these are generally short term.

On average, homes currently using gas appliances and petrol vehicles could save around $1,500 per year (and around $4,500 per year if they can get a low interest green loan) if they choose electric equivalents and get their electricity from a combination of rooftop solar, home battery and New Zealand’s highly renewable grid.

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Electric machines are much more efficient than their fossil fuel counterparts and that’s where a lot of the savings come from. For example, an electric car is about four times more efficient at converting energy into motion and, even in cold regions, heat pumps are still more than twice as efficient as most other heating options. Fossil fuels are also single-use, while the materials required for electrification are available and highly recyclable.

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The upfront costs of electric machines are often higher, but our research has proven that New Zealand is one of the first countries to reach what we call the electrification tipping point. This is the point where households and businesses can save money right now if they electrify their appliances and vehicles, even with the upfront costs and interest from loan finance built in. It also means we can significantly reduce our emissions. So when the time comes to repair or replace those fossil fuel machines, we want New Zealanders to make the switch to electric.

One of the main reasons you would buy a petrol car today is because the upfront cost is still lower than an EV. It may seem cheaper, but when you buy a petrol car, you’re also locking yourself into many years of increasingly expensive petrol. The cost of fossil fuels have increased at above the rate of inflation and they are expected to keep increasing, while the price of solar and batteries has continued to declne. 

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Global forecasts show EVs could be the same price as fossil fuel cars by 2026 so the economics keep improving. And it is a similar story with other electric machines.

The recovery rates of materials in solar panels are already well over 90%. But even with a massive global roll out of solar, the amount of solar waste the world might plausibly produce up to 2050 is equivalent to the amount of coal ash already produced globally each month so it is tiny.

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Our explainers Electricity means Efficiency and Closing the Loop provide answers to many of the questions around materials and resource use. The short version is that electrifying everything will massively reduce our overall material and energy requirements. It is the epitome of doing more with less.

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Mining of any mineral or materials should be done as ethically and responsibly as possible. In the past, there were some issues with mining of cobalt for batteries. As the industry has matured, however, so has the traceability and sustainability of mining for critical minerals. Today, more batteries have transparent mineral production or using alternatives such as lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. Australia is a world leader in ethically and environmentally produced critical minerals. The best news is that more than 90% of the components in an EV battery can be recycled, and the rate of recycling will only improve as the industry expands. Fossil fuels are single-use so the transition to renewable energy is an opportunity to create a more circular economy. Even considering battery production, the environmental impact of EVs are tiny when compared to fuel-powered cars. 

By 2050, more than half of the demand for materials like cobalt, graphite, and lithium could be met by recycled secondary supply. Others expect this to occur even earlier.

Renters make up around one third of households in New Zealand. Some landlords may be open to installing solar panels and electric appliances, especially as it is likely to enhance the property value and attractiveness as a rental. You could calculate a value proposition and negotiate a slight rental increase in exchange for a larger power bill reduction, something often called a comfort levy. This means both the landlord and the tenants benefit - the landlord gets more rent and a more valuable property, the tenant gets a cheaper power bill, and the savings come from the sun.

Renters (especially if there is access to offstreet parking so they can charge at home) can get all the benefits of an electric vehicle and there are an increasing number of affordable second-hand options that can cope with most urban driving requirements, and portable induction stoves are available for those who don’t want to cook with gas, especially given the health impacts of indoor gas appliances. 

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Reducing carbon emissions is crucial to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. But if someone invented a machine that removes greenhouse gases from the atmosphere at an industrial scale and therefore ‘fixes’ climate change, would electrification still be worth doing? Our answer is ‘hell yeah!’ because electrifying everything can improve human wellbeing along multiple metrics. This depends on how we roll out the energy transition, and on whether we design energy markets, supply chains and policy mixes to avoid inequity and injustice. But if we get ahead of the curve, we can ensure that everyone enjoys the benefits of electrification, now and into the future.

People sometimes talk about ‘carbon tunnel vision’ – that is, the single-minded pursuit of emission reductions at the sake of everything else.

But this is the wrong way to think about electrification. It isn’t only about emissions. It isn’t only about the tech or the kit: the rooftop solar panels, the batteries, the electrified appliances and vehicles. These are just the means to an end.

Electrification is about people and it is a fundamentally better way to power our lives and livelihoods. By comparison to fossil fuel energy, renewable energy is cheaper, cleaner, more efficient, more abundant and more resilient over the long run. Consequently, the electrification of everything is set to enhance human wellbeing in various ways, often with immediate benefits.

Rather than tunnel vision, we like to look at electrification with panoptic vision.

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We will not reach our climate targets or reduce the impact of global heating by planting trees. We need to reduce emissions from fossil fuel use. 

As an example, on Forest Lodge Orchard, planting 9,300 cherry trees removed about three tonnes of Co2 emissions per year. But burning diesel pumped out around 50 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, or about 18 times the carbon being sucked up via the trees. 

If we relied solely on planting trees, we wouldn’t have enough land to suck up the carbon we are emitting; nor would the trees grow fast enough to solve the problem in front of us right now.

If the government needs to pay for offsets to meet its emissions targets, we believe it should instead consider paying New Zealanders to reduce their fuel emissions through electrification.

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This is really a categorisation problem and it goes back to the 1970s. Cars, for example, are counted as part of the transport sector. But the kind of car you buy is a household decision. And that’s where it should be counted. 

By recategorising where these emissions come from, we can show that households make up a much bigger number than conventionally thought and it’s low-hanging fruit for emissions reductions. That’s why we think the Government needs to prioritise household electrification in its emissions reduction plans. 

Around 25% of gross emissions come from small machines that households and businesses use. They’re decisions made around the dinner tables and boardroom tables and the emissions those decisions lead to are much larger than traditionally thought and able to be removed by switching to electric equivalents. 

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When combined, smaller countries collectively account for over one third of global emissions. This is almost as much as the emissions of China and India combined. 

Small countries like Norway, which is responsible for just 0.1% of global emissions, have set an example and over 80% of new cars sold there are electric. This shows how small nations can demonstrate what’s possible and inspire others to follow suit. New Zealand also has a proud history of being a small country that leads the world on issues like women’s suffrage.

New Zealand has a very real chance of becoming the world’s most electric economy. We have abundant renewable resources and a rich history of electrical innovation. We created the world’s first all-electric home, with the world’s first practical electric home water heater; the southern hemisphere’s first electric public lighting in Reefton; the world’s first electric gold dredge; the world’s first wet steam geothermal electricity power station; and, more recently, the world’s first electric cherry orchard. 

The country could go from importing billions of dollars of some of the world’s most expensive fossil fuels to saving billions and reducing emissions by instead using locally produced renewable electricity in more efficient electric machines. This will lead to more cost effective homes, businesses, farms and industries.

If we hit the electrification adoption curves required to meet our climate goals, this will save households around $11 billion per year by 2040.

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The main benefits of electrification are lower costs for households, but electrifying everything in your household or businesses is likely to have a bigger impact on emissions than any other decision you make - and you can do it right now. 

We call them ‘dinner table decisions’ and these decisions made by households are an underappreciated opportunity for the country to reduce its emissions. They make up around 30% of our domestic emissions, and electrification is low-hanging fruit for reductions. When you add businesses in, that number is even higher. 

When you compare household machines with domestic flights, you can see the significant impact they make over their lifetimes.

• If you buy a new petrol car instead of an electric vehicle, that is the emissions equivalent of 107 return flights between Auckland and Queenstown over the lifetime of that vehicle. 
• If you decide to install a gas hot water heating system rather than a much more efficient hot water heat pump, that is the emissions equivalent of 20 return flights between Auckland and Queenstown over the lifetime of that system. 
• Using LPG to heat your home rather than a heat pump is the emissions equivalent of 35 return flights between Auckland and Queenstown over the lifetime of that heating system. 
• And while gas cooktops don’t use a huge amount of energy in the home, the fuel you need to burn is the emissions equivalent of six return flights between Auckland and Queenstown over the lifetime of the cooktop

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Compared to a fossil fuelled home, the emissions savings over the lifetime of those machines is huge.

Our global emissions problem is primarily an energy problem. Around 73% of global emissions come from energy. 

Solving that energy problem in practice is a machine problem. 

Underneath all our energy emissions categories sit fossil fuel machines - from coal-fired power plants and industrial boilers to petrol vehicles and gas water heaters. If we want to avoid the worst of global heating, we need to swap those fossil fuel machines for more efficient electric alternatives and power them with renewable energy from the grid, rooftop solar and batteries. And we need to do it very quickly. 

Conventional thinking has focused on finding solutions for large-emitters, but we don't have enough electric planes or green steel and there is no such thing as a non-burping cow. Behaviour change is needed, but takes time - which we don’t have. By recategorising where our emissions actually come from, we have shown that the millions of "demand-side" machines like cars, trucks, tractors, space and water heaters have been under-appreciated when it comes to rapid emissions reduction.

These are the low-hanging fruit that we can eliminate now. Climate change is a cumulative emissions problem, so the faster we act, the less warming we get. By electrifying these machines now, we cut a significant chunk of our emissions immediately and buy us time for the more difficult, longer-term behaviour change and deep tech improvements that we need.

Renters make up around one third of households in New Zealand. Some landlords may be open to installing solar panels and electric appliances, especially as it is likely to enhance the property value and attractiveness as a rental. You could calculate a value proposition and negotiate a slight rental increase in exchange for a larger power bill reduction, something often called a comfort levy. This means both the landlord and the tenants benefit - the landlord gets more rent and a more valuable property, the tenant gets a cheaper power bill, and the savings come from the sun.

Renters (especially if there is access to offstreet parking so they can charge at home) can get all the benefits of an electric vehicle and there are an increasing number of affordable second-hand options that can cope with most urban driving requirements, and portable induction stoves are available for those who don’t want to cook with gas, especially given the health impacts of indoor gas appliances. 

Demand flexibility is a crucial component of our energy system and all customers - whether large or small users - should be rewarded for reducing demand when required, or exporting at peak times. The recent Government Policy Statement on Electricity seems to back that view.

It’s total energy consumption, not electricity consumption, that is key to a sustainable future. We need to use less energy to do the same things, i.e. better efficiency. Electrification is the energy efficiency we’ve always been looking for - at both a small and large scale. 

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In our homes, switching to electric vehicles, hot water heating, space heating and cooking can reduce total household energy use by around 70% because heat pumps, induction stoves and EVs are on average 3-4 times more efficient at using energy than conventional fossil fuel machines. These homes will use more electricity but much less energy overall and this enhanced efficiency is where a lot of the savings come from.

Any reduction in electricity use above and beyond the main efficiency gain from electrification, whether through more efficient electric machines (e.g. LED light bulbs) or behaviour change (e.g. riding an e-bike instead of the EV) is a bonus, but electrification should come first to lock in the big-ticket emissions reduction and efficiency benefits.

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Some homes are unhealthy and should be insulated, but in general, if you’re trying to stay warm it’s much cheaper to install a heat pump than to insulate. 

If you’re using gas and insulate your whole home you might reduce gas usage by 25%. If you replace that gas with a heat pump you reduce your energy use by 70% overnight without any insulation.

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Electric machines are - in general - significantly more efficient than their fossil fuel counterparts. This is important to understand as it drives many of the cost savings available through electrification. For example, heat pumps deliver three times lower energy bills than gas heating, and ten times lower emissions.

Insulation will improve the efficiency of heating and cooling your home and may be a good idea if you live in colder areas or a particularly draughty home. However, it doesn’t need to be done before electrification and it isn’t essential to experience the economic, health and environmental benefits of switching from traditional gas and electric resistance heaters to efficient electric heat pumps. 

To improve the thermal performance of your home, start by looking at the low hanging fruit such as sealing up air leaks, installing better interior window coverings, covering up windows and closing doors at night.

Buildings use around 40% of the world’s energy, and are responsible for around 17% of the world’s emissions, so they are very important. 

Building standards for extremely efficient homes that need no net energy input, such as ''passivhaus,'' are a good idea. Some will argue that with a sufficiently good building you do not need heat pump heating, and that may be true, but we need to solve this problem for the houses we already have and inspire homeowners to retrofit, as they make up a much larger proportion of our housing stock. 

In the U.S, for example, only 1% of housing stock is built new each year. And only about 2% of houses are built with an architect; the majority are built from common plans. Reducing energy use is something we need to focus on, but electrification is the efficiency we have always been looking for as it can reduce total energy use by 70%. 

New gas connections make no sense for economic, environmental and health reasons.

There will be job losses as new technologies develop and take over and this can be managed with good planning and training schemes. Renewable energy should be seen as an opportunity for growth in New Zealand, because more money will stay in our communities and the transition will create demand for more workers - from solar and heatpump installers to electricians - and will create incentives for entrepreneurs to solve problems.

According to Yale Climate Connections, clean energy jobs grew more than twice the rate of the overall US economy in 2023. 

“Clean energy jobs are a powerful opportunity for communities. Energy jobs tend to pay higher wages than the national average, and the transition to less-polluting sources of energy is driving a surge in innovation, investment, and infrastructure construction.”

Rewiring America's recent report showed robust electrification would produce 3 million jobs.

In Australia, which has a huge solar industry, it is also estimated that there are 39 jobs directly supported for every one megawatt of solar installed.

Rewiring Aotearoa is working on jobs calculations for New Zealand, but one estimate is that we currently have about 10,000 new solar setups installed each year. If we were to increase this tenfold to 100,000 per year, this would add around 4,500 solar installation jobs to the industry, not to mention the additional demand for electricians and maintenance workers.

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It is unrealistic to expect that humanity will be able to develop enough carbon sequestration in time to hit our climate targets. This emphasises the need to electrify and decarbonise faster.

When you burn a hydrocarbon, it becomes three times bigger as a molecule, because you add two oxygen atoms to each carbon atom. It also becomes about 5000 times larger because it becomes a gas (CO 2 ), where in most cases it started as a liquid or a solid. The fossil-fuel industry is invested in the idea that you can keep burning their product, provided you capture that CO2 and bury it. To capture the CO2 requires expensive filtration equipment that, even if you exclude the cost of capital, requires a great deal of energy to operate. So the idea amounts to using more energy to capture the CO2 , then yet more energy to compress the CO2 , then yet more energy again to transport that CO2 to somewhere the geological formations allow you to hide it for hundreds or thousands of years while you hope it turns into a rock.

Today we pull roughly 10 billion tonnes of fossil fuel out of the ground each year. It becomes 30 billion tonnes of CO2. The fossil-fuel industry wants you to believe they can keep emitting a whole bunch more because we’ll be able to sequester it, but the world is already counting on a physically unrealistic amount of sequestering to compensate for ‘overshoot’ – the fact that we’ll go past our 1.5°C target and have to use negative emissions.

In a nutshell, carbon sequestration can only make fossil fuels more expensive, which will make them even less competitive with cheaper renewables. We can’t do enough carbon sequestration to maintain even a fraction of the existing fossil-fuel industry. It is unlikely the world will be able to do enough carbon sequestration just to offset our overshoot, let alone to allow for continued offsetting of fossil fuels. Electrification will be cheaper anyway, and will reduce the amount of energy we need by half while improving our quality of life.

We are already geoengineering. Burning fossil fuels is geoengineering that gives us climate change. The question is, can we geoengineer for good instead?

Geoengineering is not a decarbonisation strategy. It is a hope to control the temperature of the earth while giving up on CO2 strategy. Many of the early arguments for studying geoengineering were that we should know how, just in case the world turns out to be apathetic about climate change. We now know multiple paths to geoengineering climate change: most of them amount to managing the incoming flux of energy from the sun. You have probably heard of these ideas - giant space mirrors, scattering reflective particles in the atmosphere, artificially-generated clouds. In an ecosystem as complex as that of earth, they will all have unintended effects. 

Geoengineering would also make us dependent on always needing geoengineering in the future. It's a bit like using liposuction as the solution to obesity when you're just going to keep eating cheeseburgers. Even if it works, and we do it, we can't afford to take the pressure off the better, cleaner solutions proposed. 

The problems of trying to control the climate are many. Who sets the temperature? Low-lying islanders and people who love coral or northern Europeans who might benefit from a bit more climate change? We don’t really know all of the unintended consequences - environmental, social, or political.

It is a good idea to study geoengineering schemes, and it does help us understand earth systems better, but this is not a realistic permanent solution. It could draw large amounts of resources away from technologies we already know can solve the problem.

No. For homeowners with smaller homes, or for those with a need to heat and cool individual spaces within larger homes, mini-split or ductless heat pumps allow you to regulate the temperatures in individual rooms. Mini-split systems are perfect for retrofitting homes with non-ducted heating systems.

Some homes are unhealthy and should be insulated, but in general, if you’re trying to stay warm it’s much cheaper to install a heat pump than to insulate. 

If you’re using gas and insulate your whole home you might reduce gas usage by 25%. If you replace that gas with a heat pump you reduce your energy use by 70% overnight without any insulation.

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Electric machines are - in general - significantly more efficient than their fossil fuel counterparts. This is important to understand as it drives many of the cost savings available through electrification. For example, heat pumps deliver three times lower energy bills than gas heating, and ten times lower emissions.

Insulation will improve the efficiency of heating and cooling your home and may be a good idea if you live in colder areas or a particularly draughty home. However, it doesn’t need to be done before electrification and it isn’t essential to experience the economic, health and environmental benefits of switching from traditional gas and electric resistance heaters to efficient electric heat pumps. 

To improve the thermal performance of your home, start by looking at the low hanging fruit such as sealing up air leaks, installing better interior window coverings, covering up windows and closing doors at night. 

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Yes. While heat pumps work more efficiently in warmer climates, they do still work effectively in cold climates. The better quality heat pumps work very efficiently in both cold and warm climates and heat pumps heat roughly half the homes in Norway, Finland, and Sweden, which get a lot colder than New Zealand. Our advice is to not go with one of the cheaper versions.

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Every machine, whether it is a car, a gas water heater, or a coal power plant, has a natural lifetime before it has to be scrapped or replaced. Gas hobs are expected to last for 13-15 years, while cars are closer to 20 years. So if your appliances, systems or vehicle are due to be replaced, your next purchasing decision should be electric. In most cases it won’t make sense to scrap a perfectly usable appliance, but in some cases, it actually makes financial sense to replace these machines (particularly cars) before their use-by date and if we use all our fossil fuel machines to the end of their lives, the world will just keep getting hotter. If you’re worried about the waste, it pays to put it in perspective: the amount of waste created by replacing an appliance is far less than the fossil fuel waste to keep that appliance going. 

If you’re building a new home, you get to start fresh and it makes no economic or environmental sense to have a gas connection. EVs are already cheaper to run than fossil fuel cars, even with the upfront costs and finance, and they are expected to reach price parity by 2026. Every new fossil fuel machine purchased or built now locks in years or decades of further emissions and increasing energy costs. 

Globally, the cost of heat pumps, electric vehicles, solar panels and batteries continues to fall due to economies of scale and higher than anticipated demand. This doesn’t necessarily mean you should wait, however. In New Zealand, fossil fuel prices are among the highest in the world and the price is expected to continue rising. Grid electricity prices are also expected to increase, and solar and batteries basically lock in the price of electricity for the next 15 years.

The earlier you go electric, the more fossil fuel costs you avoid, and the more savings you lock in. It’s cheaper to buy a more expensive electric appliance now, and to avoid the fossil fuel costs that you’d otherwise be spending, than to wait for electric appliances to come down in price and to pay fossil fuel costs the whole time while you’re waiting.

‍I’m renting. How can I electrify? 

Renters make up around one third of households in New Zealand. Some landlords may be open to installing solar panels and electric appliances, especially as it is likely to enhance the property value and attractiveness as a rental. You could calculate a value proposition and negotiate a slight rental increase in exchange for a larger power bill reduction, something often called a comfort levy. This means both the landlord and the tenants benefit - the landlord gets more rent and a more valuable property, the tenant gets a cheaper power bill, and the savings come from the sun.

Renters (especially if there is access to offstreet parking so they can charge at home) can get all the benefits of an electric vehicle and there are an increasing number of affordable second-hand options that can cope with most urban driving requirements, and portable induction stoves are available for those who don’t want to cook with gas, especially given the health impacts of indoor gas appliances. 

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Every home is different but, on average, homes currently using gas appliances and petrol vehicles could save around $1,500 per year (and around $4,500 per year if they can get a low interest loan) if they choose electric equivalents and get their electricity from a combination of rooftop solar, home battery and New Zealand’s highly renewable grid. 

Homes that use more power and hot water and use their vehicles more than others generally get the most savings through electrification. 

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The upfront costs are usually higher for electric appliances and vehicles, but they’re much cheaper over the long-run and the costs are much more stable. Even though a fossil fuel machine may be cheaper upfront, you are committing to many years of expensive and volatile fuel prices to run it. 

New Zealand is one of the first countries to reach what we call the 'electrification tipping point'. This means households and businesses can save money right now if they electrify their appliances and vehicles, even with the upfront costs and finance built in. 

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Electrification swaps some or all of the machines in our homes and businesses that run on fossil fuels for much more efficient electric equivalents and powers them with renewable electricity from the grid, rooftop solar and batteries. These technologies are available today and put everyday people in charge of accelerating achievable climate and energy solutions. 

Our lights, dishwashers and ovens may be electric, but there are still a lot of households that burn fossil fuels for water heating, space heating, driving and cooking and lots of businesses that rely on fossil fuel machines. While our electricity system is around 80% renewable, it’s important to remember that electricity is just one part of our energy system, and fossil fuels still account for around 70% of New Zealand's total energy use. 

Electrifying your fossil fuel machines - and particularly your car - will reduce your energy bills and is likely to have a bigger impact on your emissions than any other decision you make. 

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Access to finance is one of the key barriers that households face. That's why Rewiring Aotearoa is advocating for low-interest long-term loans for household electrification. This would provide homes with a line of credit backed by government, indexed to inflation, and secured on the property and would enables homeowners (including landlords) to install solar panels, batteries, EV chargers, and replace gas appliances.

This would come at minimal (or zero) cost to government over time because loans would be repaid when the property sells and it would rapidly bring down our emissions, so ask your local MP why this isn't being offered.

We believe there should still be room for electrification grants or subsidies for low-income households. They stand to benefit even more from electrification because low-income households and households with more people living in them spend a greater proportion of their income on energy.

As our recent paper Investing in Tomorrow shows, electrification doesn’t need to be seen as a cost, it's an investment that can save households $29 million per day by 2040 because we are avoiding expensive imported foreign fossil fuels and using more locally generated renewable energy. 

Our goal at Rewiring Aotearoa is to electrify millions of fossil fuel machines by 2040. When the time comes, we want New Zealanders choose the electric option for their household because that opens up a range of financial, health and environmental benefits.

When a community electrifies, that impact can be exponential: lower emissions, cleaner air, a supported local economy and more collective power, and the grassroots movement is crucial.

While many New Zealanders want to install solar and begin their household electrification journey, a key barrier is not knowing where to start and find trustworthy advice. Local community groups can help drive awareness and uptake of electrification, bring the local council to the table to support electrification and show central government it is broadly popular across different demographics.

If you want to start a new group, add your support to an existing group, or you’re an existing group that wants to jump on the electrification bandwagon, check out the groups on the map or get in touch with us.

Every household is different, as is every community, but there are three main areas of focus with these groups:

1) Support communities to electrify

2) Create smart energy users

3) Advocate for community assets and political action, especially around access to finance.

We want our community groups to find out what is most needed by their residents and then find a way to provide it. Some of the things groups are doing include:

• Community surveys and resources
• Induction cooking demonstrations
• Speaker events, educational workshops and information sessions
• Electric vehicle test drives and open days
• In-home advisory services or business partnerships with installers
• Working with councils for infrastructure such as solar on community buildings and EV charging
• Working with councils to incentivise electrification in new buildings or help them create information campaigns for residents
• Bulk buys of solar panels and heat pumps
• Electrification expos and trade shows
• Engagement with local media (including regular columns)

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