Towards the end of April, Paula Bennet, the Minister for Climate Change Issues, travelled to Paris to sign the Climate Change Agreement. In her speech, she said that generation of energy in NZ already was 80% renewable but we aim to have 90% renewable by 2025. Most of our electricity is generated by water (hydro-electricity) and we also have some geo-thermal energy from steam in volcanic areas in the North Island, and some energy from wind. Some fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – are still used.
The following week, the Royal Society of NZ released a report written by a number of scientists: Transition to a low-carbon economy for NZ. The report says that, in fact, 100% renewable energy is possible in NZ. Here are some of the recommendations.
Biomass could provide heat to make electricity. Biomass could be waste from forests and from saw mills. Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport in London uses biomass for heating and cooling. The ash from burning the wood is used for fertiliser on fields.
The report also recommended electric cars and buses, light rail in cities, better urban design to encourage cycling and walking, and more use of rail and sea for freight instead of trucks on the roads.
We know that many of our homes and other buildings are not well insulated. The report recommended adding insulation to old buildings. New buildings must be more energy efficient. New appliances, for example refrigerators, also are more energy efficient than old ones.
Planting more forests is also helpful but there is a shortage of land for this purpose so it is not a long-term solution.
More solar energy could be used in the future. At the moment, this is expensive in NZ but it is becoming cheaper.
The report says that all New Zealanders must work towards reducing carbon emissions.
Vocabulary
• transition (n) – moving from one thing to another, a change
• generate (v) generation (n) – making electricity
• renewable (adj) – can be used again and again
• geo-thermal (adj) – heat from the earth
• biomass (n) – bio means life, trees are living things
• saw mills (n) – factories which cut logs into timber
• freight (n) – goods, cargo
• insulate (v), insulation (n) – material which keeps the building warm
• energy-efficient (adj) – does not waste energy
• emit (v), emissions (n) – sending out carbon into the atmosphere