Powering Change 'went off' (in a good way)

energiseotakicomms
3 days ago
3 min read

Energise Ōtaki recently marked the fifth birthday of Rau Kūmara – Aotearoa's first community-owned solar farm – by having some mates round for a kōrero.

There were about 100 people in Ōtaki Memorial Hall, there for tips on how to go electric at home, on the farm and in business. The top tip was probably "get together with your mates for a kōrero about how much sense it makes to go solar". So, tick.

We proud parents of the birthday array co-hosted with Electrify Kāpiti, Kāpiti Coast District Council and Electra, with Sustainability Trust and Rewiring Aotearoa as special guests.

Speaker Mike Casey of Rewiring Aotearoa said the event was “unreal; the biggest yet” on the trust's nationwide ‘Kill Bills’ pro-electrification tour.

Focusing on energy change as well as energy efficiency and energy access (recognising the differences that money makes to the choices we have) made for “really complimentary kaupapa. Something for everyone”.

The event had stalls and even electric cars ready for joyrides.

Why change energy sources?

It's a topic infamous for being ‘all talk, not enough action’. But the importance of having good conversations was strongly emphasised. Rewiring Aotearoa's presentation was filled with data on why it makes sense to go electric, supplying actual talking points for the dinner table or over a cuppa with your neighbour. Like:

New Zealand homes spend $29m on fossil fuels every day, most of which are imported. Getting fossil fuels damages environments, and burning them makes emissions that make the climate crisis even worse.
Yet by Rewiring’s calculations, of the 10 million machines in Aotearoa, 8.5 million are ready to electrify and 1 million are almost ready. Not ready: aeroplanes, combine harvesters and air balloons! Fittingly for his day job as a cherry orchardist, Casey encourages all to “go for the low hanging fruit”; the many machines already good to go.
If we were to electrify our homes and vehicles, Aotearoa could save $85 billion by 2040.
Those resources could be spent on infrastructure that benefits us all. It’s the equivalent, say, of building 30 hospitals.

Change how, and to what?

Yet changing energy sources - and its matching machinery - is not something many of us can afford right now. Last year,140 thousand New Zealand households had to take out a loan to cover their power bill.

Sustainability Trust’s Georgie Ferrari and EŌ's chair Leigh Ramsey emphasised that addressing energy poverty and how energy is used is key to making energy change 'work'. Sustainability Trust runs Toast Electric, an innovative electricity provider in which a portion of money earned helps support low-income customers.

Christian Judge is part of Electrify Kāpiti, a voluntary community group offering free home visits for advice on everyday appliances. As he said, “There should be something for everybody to take part in electrification. Especially for those that need to save money, who are often the least able to do it. Which is why we need solutions for everybody, and we need to keep working on it, especially for renters”.

Some banks offer "green finance" to make (for example) buying solar panels and batteries more feasible. Sustainability Trust has a short summary on this as does Money Hub.

Ferrari said of the event, “When you see this kind of energy in the room, you go, ‘It’s totally doable.’ The time is now. We can do it, if we have the right policy settings and the right financing in place. We just need to start this groundswell of support to get it going.”

MC (and Energise Ōtaki trustee) Di Buchan aid the event made her "feel proud to be a New Zealander". Her 'take-away' was panelists' enthusiasm for agrivoltaics, in which animals and crops share space with solar panels; "a relatively unrealised rich source of electricity in New Zealand that will benefit the country, the farmers and our livestock".

Many thanks to our co-hosts, participants, and especially Electra and Kāpiti Coast District Council for your support.