It’s no surprise to see fierce debate over proposals to ban new natural gas connections from 2025, given that gas is a hugely popular, safe, reliable and affordable energy source for New Zealanders. Around 400,000 New Zealand homes and businesses choose natural gas for heating and...
By John Carnegie, chief executive of Energy Resources Aotearoa. Achieving net zero emissions by 2050 is an admirable and achievable goal, but the Climate Change Commission has proposed a much tougher road than we really need to follow. The commission is picking winners and losers – trying...
Recently an idea was floated in the media to ban natural gas connections into new homes. This might sound ludicrous at first glance, and the more you consider it, well, the more ludicrous it becomes....
Energy Voices is back for 2020! Now more than ever, we need locally-produced energy to power our economic recovery. So many of our factories and industries rely on natural gas to create products like food and building materials, creating jobs and exports for Kiwis. As we rebuild...
Last week the Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC) released a report warning of the dangers in trying to replace natural gas in our electricity system. They explain how natural gas is so important in keeping electricity prices down by providing “backup generation when demand is very high and/ or the...
The Energy Voices campaign has started a new and revitalised phase. Over the rest of this year we’ll be sharing a series of new videos and graphics outlining how important natural gas is to the cost of living and quality of life for New Zealanders. We’ll be explaining...
The Energy Voices campaign objective has been to bring home to the public and the Government how expensive and damaging the ban on new exploration will be. We have highlighted the stories of the workers and businesses most affected, but there was always going to...
The hurried legislation putting the exploration ban into law used a terrible process in terms of how Parliament is supposed to operate. The very short time allowed for submissions and deliberation showed how little confidence Government MPs had in the decision. It deserved far more consultation...
The new year is often a time for reflection on what was achieved and how we can do better. As 2019 begins, the impact of the rushed decision to end new exploration permits for oil and natural gas is beginning to be felt.The decisions were...
Kiwis love their cars. So much so that the Government is very disappointed in us for buying new ones.There were over 4 million vehicles on our roads last year. Almost entirely fuelled by petrol and diesel. This is vital to our transport system and our...