Power for the people
- New Zealand’s growing population means we need to generate a lot more power
- We’ve got to go nuclear
- If we don’t want more fossil fuel plants then greenies need to look at the big picture and sacrifice a few valleys and hills
These are opinions I’ve heard increasingly often in the last few years but they are not really based on the facts, or smart thinking.
New Zealand’s electricity demand doubled in about the last 25 years. So in another 25 years, will we need twice as much power again? I hope not.
What we need isn’t electricity – it’s the services that electricity provides like heating, lighting, or entertainment. The challenge is how we meet these needs.
The good news is that we are moving in the right direction – until a few years ago our electricity intensity (that is electricity use per economic output) was growing faster than our population and economic growth. Now our electricity intensity has fallen to around the OECD average. Recent moves towards improving the energy efficiency of our housing stock and industrial demand reduction projects are part of this picture.
However, our electricity system is still set up to simply meet demand, rather than manage it, and we need a paradigm shift if we are to have a sustainable and carbon neutral electricity system. More good news – its possible. A 2005 PCE report showed how we can maintain the energy services that we get from electricity with only moderate generation increases in the short term as we transition to a system where, rather than demanding cheap electricity we meet energy demands at low cost through energy efficiency, distributed generation, and looking for smarter solutions. Examples include biogas generation from cow poo, energy efficient lighting, or ‘truly’ smart meters that manage demand.
Neither the Mokihinui hydro dam, which would inundate hundreds of hectares of near-pristine conservation land, nor Project Hayes, which would destroy a unique landscape, are the answer. They are both superficially attractive to some, simply because they are ‘renewable energy’ in some sense. However they do nothing to change the structure of our energy supply and demand drivers.
Until we make that change our wild places and treasured landscapes will continue to be lost. And this is the bad news – the recently released national energy strategy is a move backwards – there is no encouragement for energy efficiency, no plan to move away from fossil fuels.
We need to make sure we move towards an energy system which is sustainable, and has more than just empty goals – the onus is on us to re-invent our energy system. SUBMIT!
- Blogger: West Coast Branch Comittee Member Brian Anderson
