Don't listen to Old Man Gas. Ditch LNG. Support New Zealand-made energy!
One News has covered the Investing in Tomorrow report, which shows that big household savings from electrification add up to big national savings. As Dr Saul Griffith says about the $29 million day that New Zealand could save if we swapped out fossil fuel machines for electric equivalents and ran them off renewable electricity from the grid, rooftop solar and batteries: "It's nice to be able to make the carrot that large because I think it focuses the policy mind on how to get there."
He said a "wartime level of effort" is required to have a chance at mitigating the very worst effects of climate change, as set out in the Paris Agreement targets.
"This is an uncomfortable thing to say. I believe in capitalism, but you have to go faster than the free market can go. You need to replace all of the machines that burn fossil fuels faster than their actual lifetimes, with machines that don't."
When Gunnar Friese visited his parents in Germany about a year and a half ago, he saw a lot of plug-in solar systems, but when he returned to New Zealand, he found they were illegal here. Since then he has been on a mission to introduce the technology and, with many political parties now on board and the Ministry of Regulation proposing it be legalised, it looks like it's about to take off.
Read moreDownloadThe LNG can has been kicked down the road, now it's time to stick it in the bin for good; EECA releases its first report on the two-way charging trial in Queenstown; the IEA releases its first electrification-focused report and says we're well and truly in the 'Age of Electricity'; two of our favourite energy nerds explain the primary energy fallacy; old EVs are more likely to pass tests than old petrol cars; who needs roads when you've got boats that work like planes?; and a spurious link between penguins and electrification.
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