Electrify everything for everyone

‘The principal narrative of the last few decades – that we can’t afford to solve climate change – is just not true.’

Kia ora, welcome to Future Proof. Thanks for joining me. This week: a new home for rare frogs, and a fast-track backtrack. But first: electrifying everything would save us some major dosh.

Earlier this week, the government announced plans to address the ongoing energy crunch – including facilitating the importation of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Yesterday’s Bulletin has the details. The decision to invest in fossil fuels in the middle of a climate crisis has attracted fierce criticism: Lisa McLaren outlines on The Spinoff why gas isn’t the “transition fuel” to get us out of this mess.

So, how about a different vision for Aotearoa – one where thousands of households equipped with solar panels and batteries can feed back into the grid on those peaky winter mornings?

A mass roll-out of rooftop solar would add to the country’s electricity supply and help bring down prices, three New Zealand researchers write on The Conversation.

What’s more, this kind of distributed energy system is a massive opportunity for New Zealand to save money, reduce short-term emissions, and build energy resilience, argues a new report from energy charity Rewiring Aotearoa.

An earlier Rewiring Aotearoa report, Electric Homes, found that the average Kiwi household using gas appliances and petrol vehicles could save $1,500 every year by switching to electric.

The new report, Investing in Tomorrow, scales up that analysis, finding that making the electric switch and installing solar panels and batteries could save New Zealanders $9 million per day, or $3.7 billion per year, by 2030.

That ramps up to $29 million per day or $10.7 billion per year by 2040. Plus, by 2040, we could be saving 10 million tonnes of carbon emissions every year by electrifying everything for everyone.

“About 14% of New Zealand’s gross emissions are just dinner table decisions – the way you heat your water, heat your rooms, cook your food and get around this beautiful country. These are the low-hanging cherries of New Zealand emissions,” says Mike Casey, Rewiring Aotearoa chief executive, who also runs an all-electric cherry orchard in Central Otago.

“This is a significant opportunity to bring down the cost of living, as well as bringing down emissions really quickly.”

New Zealand is one of the first countries in the world to reach an “electrification tipping point”, the report says, where it’s cheaper in the long run to invest in electric stuff rather than keep buying expensive and planet-polluting fossil fuels. 

“The principle narrative of the last few decades – that we can’t afford to solve climate change – is just not true,” says Saul Griffith, chief scientist of Rewiring Aotearoa.

If you own your own home, Casey says it’s “an economic slam dunk” to go electric. But with higher upfront costs, making the switch can be out of reach for many Kiwis.

Rewiring Aotearoa says that fair access requires finance innovation – and possibly some regulation to ensure renters also get the benefits of new tech. 

The report suggests that governments should consider electrification and beefing up rooftop solar as “critical infrastructure” worthy of significant funding, just like big renewables projects.

“New technology has allowed households, small businesses and farms to generate and store electricity, so we would argue that customers also need to be seen as a critical part of the energy infrastructure and should also receive favourable finance,” says Griffith.

“There's just a lot of efficiency gains that can be made with very quick strikes of a politician's pen,” says Casey. “They are still focusing on the big end of town, and all that we're really asking for is that the customers are considered part of the solution as well.”

This should include paying “prosumers” fairly for power they push back to the grid during energy demand peaks. “If 120,000 households with a battery – which is about 5% of households in New Zealand – were all to export during those times, that would have the same peak response as our largest dam in New Zealand,” says Casey.

“This really is something that New Zealand could be leading the charge worldwide on.”

Takeout Kids’ second episode introduces Dom who, when he’s not playing sports at school with friends, shoots hoops outside his mother’s Thai restaurant in Taupō. Dom helps his mum out by waiting tables and letting her critique his golfing stance, even when he doesn’t want to hear it. Looking to disconnect himself with his father, Dom embraces his mother’s last name and prepares to use it as his own, and tears up over the thought of life without her.

Made with the support of NZ On Air.

Ministerial powers removed from fast-track, environmental concerns remain

On Sunday, the government scrapped one particularly contentious aspect of the Fast-track Approvals Bill. Final green-lighting of projects will no longer sit with three ministers, but instead be the responsibility of an expert panel. While environmentalists have welcomed the change, they have also warned that the bill is still heavily weighted in favour of the economy over the environment. Monday’s Bulletin has great coverage of the back-track, and RNZ has a handy explainer on the changes.

We also learnt that the fast track has attracted at least 384 applicants for inclusion in the list of pre-approved projects, but details remain shrouded in secrecy. An OIA request for the list by the Environmental Defence Society (EDS) was declined, but EDS complained to the Ombudsman and is hopeful of a favourable ruling soon. Meanwhile, Forest & Bird is presenting a “show us your list” petition to parliament’s petitions committee tomorrow.

Elsewhere, Mata with Mihingarangi Forbes investigates an historic example of “fast-track failure”, where 1954 legislation to accelerate a pulp and paper mill at Kawerau has left a toxic legacy for land, water and people.

Talk about the scientific climate consensus

There is almost universal consensus among climate scientists that climate change is happening (97–99.9%). Talking to the public about this consensus can help shift misconceptions, and slightly increase belief and worry about climate change, according to a study of 10,000 people across 27 countries (not including New Zealand). The message didn’t extend to increasing support for action, but was effective among those with less trust in science or with right-wing political ideologies.

Another recent study found that information repeated over and over – whether it’s climate-science or climate-sceptical – increases its perceived truth. In other words, we’re more likely to believe stuff we’ve heard before, whether it’s actually true or not. So if you’re having a climate convo, best not to give false info any airtime, and just stick to what’s true.

More stories

• Scientists have just calculated the blue carbon potential of New Zealand’s mangroves, saltmarshes and seagrass, and mapped low-lying coastal areas suitable for restoration, the Herald’s Jamie Morton reports.

• Tornado-like waterspouts – like the one that sank a super-yacht in the Mediterranean – are becoming more likely with rising sea temperatures. (Bloomberg)

• Antarctica’s “doomsday glacier” is unlikely to collapse, according to a new study, but that doesn’t mean it’s stable. (The Conversation)

• A keen Auckland ebiker shares one of her favourite ferry-and-cycle excursions in the city. (The Spinoff)

• In South Taranaki, the prospect of fast-tracked ironsand seabed mining stirs fear in the community, writes Eva Corlett from The Guardian.

• What’s driving olive oil prices up to dizzying highs? Heatwaves and droughts exacerbated by climate change. Global production of olive oil dropped by one-third between 2021 and 2024. (Carbon Brief)

• Scientists are investigating whether plastic-munching microbes could gobble up our plastic waste before becoming food for humans. (Undark)

• Researchers in California are working to genetically engineer the cow microbiome to eliminate planet-heating methane emissions from cow burps. (Washington Post)

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Image credit: Hayley May.

To finish this edition, “nationally critical” pepeketua Hamilton’s frogs have been released into the wild at Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne in Wellington – the only wild population on the mainland. The teeny frogs don’t croak regularly (but occasionally chirp if alarmed). They also skip the tadpole stage: eggs are laid on the ground or on trees, and the dad guards his precious eggs for several months until they hatch. Then he carries around the wee froglets on his back until they’re fully grown.

Froggin’ great news,

Ellen

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