Powering up schools with solar

The sun’s energy is where the heat is at.

Kia ora, welcome to Future Proof. Thanks for joining me. This week: climate-friendly travel and a cat-astrophe. But first: putting solar panels on schools could create the country’s biggest virtual power plant.

As the solar power revolution heats up, we’re finding more and more clever places to put panels. In Germany, there are more than 400,000 plug-in solar panels on balconies, while France wants all large car parks to be covered with a shady canopy of solar panels.

Here in New Zealand, we’re experimenting with floating solar panels on wastewater ponds and agrivoltaics – combining sheep or crops with solar electricity generation.

But thinking even more simply: there’s a helluva lotta empty roof space, ripe for soaking up that sweet solar radiation. Research from the Auckland University of Technology found that the rooftops of 167 schools and supermarkets across Auckland would be equivalent to New Zealand’s largest solar farm.

Image credit: Andrew Burgess via The Conversation (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The upfront costs of installing solar on a school can be prohibitive – but a new concept called Empower Aotearoa could help schools across the motu embrace the sun’s power.

“Our idea is to supercharge putting solar and batteries in schools, but doing it in a collectivised way which makes it more secure and financeable,” says Rob Bason, Senior Healthy Waters Programme Specialist at Auckland Council. Bason was part of a cross-disciplinary team who developed the idea, which won the judges’ award in GHD’s design innovation challenge, Smart Seeds. 

Empower Aotearoa would be “a bridging entity to unlock an energy ecosystem,” says team member Alicia Williams from Genesis Energy. Collective bargaining power would help schools install solar systems, batteries and heat pumps. In turn, this would enable them “to shift away from reticulated gas and achieve energy security and generate revenue by selling excess electricity back to the grid at peak times,” she says.

Empower Aotearoa team at the Smart Seeds challenge. Image credit: GHD.

While there’s been a big effort to get schools off coal boilers, some still use reticulated gas – another planet-heating fossil fuel – for heating. Switching to renewable solar energy collectively across schools could generate an estimated 200MW, according to early calculations, which is about one-quarter of the capacity at Manapōuri Hydro Station. 

This would make it New Zealand’s largest virtual power plant, and save schools $30 million per year, according to the pitch team. Decentralising power generation in this way – and having it located closer to where the electricity is actually used – could improve energy resilience, too. 

Next steps for Empower Aotearoa are under discussion. “None of us have left our day jobs. We're kind of working out how to get it moving,” says Bason, but he’s heartened by the support they’ve received. “I’ve realised how many awesome groups are doing work in energy transition… people are so willing to listen and to help further New Zealand along.”

On the road with the Rasmussens

The fifth episode of Home Education joins the ‘road-schooling’ Rasmussens in their house bus. The seven kids learn through collaborative family based projects – here they’re learning about geography, history and politics through designing their own ancient civilisation. Their resourceful mum Bridie is kept busy meeting the needs of her children, aged from 6 weeks to 17 years. The Rasmussens’ unconventional lifestyle has them run into judgement all the time, but “We thrive on proving people wrong,” says Bridie. Made with the support of NZ On Air.

National Cat Act not a priority for government

The government has declined to progress a national framework for cat management in response to a recommendation for mandatory desexing and registration from the environment select committee. The committee’s recommendation was backed by animal advocates, vets and environmental organisations. 

Despite widespread support, the government said it “does not believe that the development of a nationwide cat management framework is a priority at this time”. Jessi Morgan, chief executive of the Predator Free New Zealand Trust, told Stuff the outcome was “really disappointing” while the SPCA’s chief scientific officer Dr Arnja Dale labelled it “a colossal, missed opportunity” in the midst of “a crisis of cats”. 

In other feline news: meet Bobbie the spokescat for responsible cat ownership, and her owner, wildlife rehabber Sabrina Luecht.

Can travel ever be climate friendly?

Yes, it’s possible to travel without planes and cars – and their carbon emissions – Shanti Mathias finds in this Travel Week feature. “Learning how to travel in a low-carbon way requires a shift in mindset about how and why and where we travel,” she writes. 

For Preyanka Gothanayagi, that shift in mindset came when she bought a secondhand bike to commute to work. I love her description of riding again for the first time in a piece on The Spinoff: “It felt like flying. In an instant, the years fell from my shoulders and I was a kid again… It was straight joy…”

More ways to rescue imperfect food

Tackling food waste is one of the most impactful and easy climate actions an individual can take – for example, eating “ugly” fruit and veg. Wonky Box, proprietors of imperfect but still delicious fresh produce, have expanded their offering to include a selection of rescued items that would otherwise get chucked with the Wonky Pantry.

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More stories

• This community store in Ōtautahi wants you to see objects not as rubbish, but as possibilities. (The Spinoff)

• A climate anxiety booklet published by Mike King’s charity, and a climate ride sponsored by a major climate polluter, has prompted concerns about greenwashing. (RNZ)

• What if hope is the problem? A thought-provoking read on hope in the midst of a climate crisis. (The Guardian)

• New Zealand rocked up to an international biodiversity summit with “waffle” and a mismatch between policy and targets, environmentalists say. (RNZ)

• The Fast-track has revived New Zealand’s planet-heating coal mines, and impelled an offshore wind developer to pull out of New Zealand due to conflicts with seabed mining. (Newsroom)

• This declaration wants countries to recognise Antarctica and its surrounding Southern Ocean as a legal entity with the right to have a say at climate talks. (Inside Climate News)

• By 2030, generative AI could generate 2.3 million tonnes of electronic waste, equivalent to 13.3 billion iPhones, according to new research. (ABC)

• Emissions per-kilo of milk are higher for NZ dairy than Aussies, according to a Fonterra report, Marc Daalder writes. (Newsroom)

• The world has made zero progress on cutting emissions and tackling climate change over the last year, a UN report finds. (The New York Times)

To finish this edition, Here the Wild Things Are is a short doco about New Zealand’s efforts in the City Nature Challenge, a global race to document the wildlife hidden in cities around the world. The annual event galvanises species experts and keen amateurs alike, and uncovers our rich urban biodiversity. I covered the “America’s Cup for biodiversity” last year.

Wild about urban nature,

Ellen

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Got some feedback about Future Proof or topics you’d like covered? Get in touch with me at futureproof@thespinoff.co.nz