By Angelo Baggini / Published on Sat, 2009-01-03 10:00
Year: 2008
Policy Status: In force
On 17 June 2008 the New Zealand government launched its Efficient Lighting Strategy, aiming to reduce lighting energy consumption by 20% by 2015.
The target is to be acheived through a number of actions, including:
- supporting the uptake of efficient, affordable lighting technology
- phasing out the least efficient lighting products by setting minimum energy performance standards.
As part of the Strategy, the Government announced that it will next year ban incandescent light bulbs. These will be phased out starting at the end of 2009, to make room for more efficient and cost-effective light bulbs. The Electricity Commission is subsidising a number of these more-efficient light bulbs, making them cheaper to buy.
The first lamps to be subject to MEPS, from October 2009, will be the general lighting service (GLS) lamp (the common, pear-shaped incandescent light bulb) less than 150W.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Fri, 2009-01-02 10:00
Year: 2008
Policy Status: In force
The
low carbon energy technologies (LCET) fund supports research for New Zealand related to the scale-up and demonstration of existing research on second generation biofuels, other low carbon liquid biofuels and
low carbon energy technologies.
The LCET scheme will invest in
research that leads to scale-up and demonstration of technology to an investor ready stage, assesses the environmental and socio-economic impacts of these technologies, and demonstrates the potential to reduce New Zealand’s carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector, including electricity and transport energy. Research organisations based in New Zealand can apply for this funding.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Wed, 2008-12-31 10:00
Year: 2007
Policy Status: In force
In February 2007, the New Zealand government announced a plan for the public service to go 'carbon neutral'.
Further details were provided throughout 2007, including in the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy, released in October 2007.
Plan include:
- Carbon neutral public service: six lead core public service agencies to be carbon neutral by mid-2012. The remaining 28 public service departments to be on the path to carbon neutrality by mid-2012.
- Procurement policies: public service departments to have incorporated sustainability into a single procurement policy, and recommendations made on applying sustainable procurement policies to the wider state sector, by November 2007.
- Public service accommodation: departments are to adopt a minimum five- star Green Star New Zealand rating for the construction of all new Grade A office buildings and refurbishments from 1 July 2007; all new government buildings are to meet a minimum five-star rating from 2012.
- Reduction in public sector energy use: departments are to take action to achieve a 10% reduction in energy use per FTE. Departments will also reduce the use of energy-intensive consumables such as paper by 10%.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Tue, 2008-12-30 10:00
Year: 2007
Policy Status: In force
In 1995, the government created a scheme to' kick start' residential energy efficiency activities. The EnergyWise home scheme, as it is now known, is administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. It operates within a wider objective to retrofit all pre-1977 homes with a suite of cost effective energy efficiency measures.
The scheme is focused on improving insulation in low income households. Core measures funded include ceiling and underfloor insulation, weather stripping external doors, and may also include hot water cylinder wraps, energy efficient light bulbs, energy efficient shower heads.
Grant funding is allocated by either competitive tender or via strategic partnerships with other project sponsors. Programme funding is designed to complement additional funding from other organisations such as energy retailers and district health boards.
In June 2007, the New Zealand government announced a new package of measures in relation to this scheme, including increased funding to new and existing government programmes such as the solar water heating programme, home insulation and clean heating retrofit programmes and a review of the Building Code.
The main elements of the package are:
- an interest-free loans scheme to help homeowners pay for energy efficiency and clean heating upgrades
- the trial and implementation of a Home Energy Rating Scheme, a tool to measure the energy efficiency of a house and provide this information to home buyers
- funding to maintain the current rate of 12,000 annual energy efficiency retrofits for low-income households under the EnergyWise Home Grants programme
- funding for increased research on energy efficient technologies, partnering with industry to promote these technologies and develop new funding mechanisms, providing support for councils to implement the new Building Code and promote energy efficiency to households
- an information campaign to provide customers with clear, practical advice on actions they can take to improve the energy efficiency of their homes and the benefits of doing so.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Mon, 2008-12-29 10:00
Year: 2007
Policy Status: Ended
In 2007, the
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority launched a nation-wide
Home Energy Ratings scheme on the basis of research showing 86% of homeowners were interested in information about how they could make their homes more energy efficient, and that 91% of people thought it would be useful to know how energy efficient a home was before buying it.
This
voluntary scheme provides homeowners with
information about the way energy is used in their houses.
The home energy rating is an
independent assessment of the
energy performance of a home including how well the building's design, construction and orientation enables it to maintain a comfortable indoor temperature, and how efficient the space heating and water heating are.
It is expressed as a
star rating that will enable comparisons between one house and another. The assessment also includes expert recommendations about the most cost-effective ways to improve the home's energy efficiency and reduce energy costs.
This scheme is part of a package of government action working towards warmer, drier, healthier homes with reduced energy costs for New Zealand families. Other initiatives include interest-free loans and grants to install energy efficiency measures, and the ongoing insulation of low-income houses.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Sun, 2008-12-28 10:00
Year: 2007
Policy Status: In force
In 2007, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) launched an Innovation Fund to encourage smart innovations that will lead to the uptake of solar water heating and heat pump water heating technologies.
Under the new fund EECA will contribute up to 50% of the cost of an approved project, with a maximum grant of NZD100,000.
Funds will be allocated in several contestable rounds. The first round of applications was called in November 2007. Only projects that are not already covered by any of EECA's other funding schemes are eligible. In the November round, preference will be given to projects that have commercial applications, although subsequent rounds may have a different focus. A second round of applications took place in March-April 2008.
Projects can fall under one of three categories:
- Solar water heating projects that will result in the installation of a large number of solar water heating systems, or provide industry information to support commercial decision-making;
- Heat pump water heating projects to encourage the uptake or to gather information and performance data on the technology towards further this developing industry;
- Other innovative projects to demonstrate original approaches to improving solar water heating or heat pump water heating technology and uptake.
The launch of the Innovation Fund is part of the progressive roll-out of the New Zealand government's NZD15.5 million solar water heating programme. It forms part of its broad approach to promoting sustainability, energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Sat, 2008-12-27 10:00
Year: 2007
Policy Status: Ended
In October 2007, the
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) established a scheme to meet up to
55% of the cost of insulation upgrades. The scheme covers ceiling and underfloor insulation, hot water cylinder wraps, pipe lagging, low flow showerheads and draught proofing in pre-1978 homes occupied by low-income tenants.
In 2006, the EECA introduced a similar rental offer to landlords in which landlords had to be a member of the New Zealand Property Investors' Federation. The 2007 scheme was opened to all applicants, providing tenants are eligible for a community services card and the property was built before 1978.
As of October 2007, over
35,000 homes had been retrofitted since the installation of energy efficient measures began through EECA programmes in 1995.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Wed, 2008-12-24 10:00
Year: 2007
Policy Status: In force
The New Zealand Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy is the government's action plan to promote energy efficiency, energy conservation and the use of renewable sources of energy.
It seeks to promote sustainability as part of New Zealand's national identity, improve the quality of life for New Zealand families and drive economic transformation in business.
It demonstrates the government commitment to addressing climate change concerns and progressing broader sustainability objectives. It complements a number of other government strategies including the Sustainability Package announced by the Prime Minister in February 2006 and the New Zealand Transport Strategy.
The strategy includes measures to reduce electricity demand, address energy use in transport, buildings and industry, and promote greater consideration of sustainable energy in the development of land, settlements and energy production.
It is an action plan for many of the programmes in the New Zealand Energy Strategy and its programmes are complementary to the Emissions Trading Scheme in achieving emissions reductions.
The strategy targets actions in five areas:
- energywise homes
- energywise business
- energywise transport
- New Zealand's efficient and renewable electricity system
- government leading the way.
Programmes contained in the strategy are expected to deliver the following savings:
- Stationary energy (electricity plus industrial processes and heat): 30 PJ of energy, 9.5 PJ of extra renewable energy for industrial and heating purposes per year plus 5-6 million tonnes of emissions savings per year by 2025.
- Transport: Cumulative savings of 4.8 billion litres of fuel, 175 PJ of energy and 11.8 million tonnes of emissions by 2025.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Tue, 2008-12-23 10:00
Year: 2007
Policy Status: In force
The New Zealand Energy Strategy (NZES), released on 11 October 2007, sets out the government's vision of a sustainable, low emissions energy system and describes the actions that will be taken to make this vision a reality.
The strategy responds to two major energy challenges:
- the need to reduce greenhouse gases to respond to climate change;
- to deliver clean, secure, affordable energy while treating the environment responsibly.
The NZES seeks to:
Provide clear direction on the future of New Zealand's energy system- Utilise markets and focused regulation to securely deliver energy services at competitive prices
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including through an emissions trading scheme
- Maximise the contribution of cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation of energy
- Maximise the contribution of cost-effective renewable energy resources while safeguarding our environment
- Promote early adoption of environmentally sustainable energy technologies
- Support consumers through the transition
Measures include:
- emissions trading, in which energy-intensive sectors' emissions would be capped and the scheme would spread to many sectors after 2012
- regulation favoring renewable energy production and 90% of electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2025
- improvements to car efficiency and further support for public transport
- funding for wave and tidal electricity production
- streamlining the resource consents process to enable consideration of renewable energy projects' national benefits;
- requirements for energy companies to publicly show their emission levels;
- voluntary sector agreements to reduce emissions;
- requirements on the car industry that vehicle fleet sales meet an overall fuel efficiency target; and
- introduction of renewable fuels to replace petrol and diesel.
It also includes a target of 90% renewable electricity by 2025.
The NZES forms part of a suite of measures which include the New Zealand Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy (NZEECS), the New Zealand Transport Strategy (NZTS) and a Framework for a New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Mon, 2008-12-22 10:00
Year: 2007
Policy Status: In force
New Zealand's 2006 budget allocated $1.7 million for the 2006/07 year to develop a home energy rating scheme to provide a star rating (or similar) to householders based on the energy efficiency and energy performance of their houses.
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority leads the work in consultation with the Department of Building and Housing, the Ministry for the Environment and other government agencies.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Sun, 2008-12-21 10:00
Year: 2006
Policy Status: In force
New Zealand's Electricity Commission has agreed to support the installation of up to 3 million energy-saving CFL bulbs in New Zealand homes by end of June 2007.
Drawing the Electricity Commission Levy that consumer pay to their electricity retailer, the the Commission has set aside NZ $3 million to invest in residential energy-saving bulb campaigns throughout the country.
For the country, it is more economic to invest in energy-saving bulbs than producing electricity. According to the Electricity Commission, the energy-saving bulb programme costs New Zealanders around 1 cent per kilowatt hour, relative to the 6 - 8 cents per kilowatt hour price of producing electricity to light inefficient bulbs.
Working in partnerships with other organisations, the Commission subsidises the retail purchase price of the energy saving bulbs. Marketing of the campaign is being undertaken by the partner organisations with some funding support from the Commission.
A total of 12 energy-saving bulb promotions ran throughout New Zealand between October and December 2006. This equated to replacing around five standard bulbs with five energy-saving bulbs in every second home. This target helped to:
- save enough electricity to power up to 30,000 homes a year;
- cut New Zealand annual residential power bills by about $45 million;
- substantially reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that result from the use of electricity;
- reduce landfill, since CFLs last substantially longer than regular incandescent lamps.
The Commission estimates that installing three million energy-saving bulbs saved enough electricity to avoid emissions of 170,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Sat, 2008-12-20 10:00
Year: 2006
Policy Status: In force
The Energy Domain Plan is an initiative led by Statistics New Zealand in conjunction with the Ministry of Economic Development and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) to assess the current state of energy data and propose initiatives for filling the gaps.
The domain plan itself aims to:
identify the key enduring topic areas that need to be informed by Official Statistics;- identify the data sources that currently inform these topics;
- identify the topic areas that are most in need of enhancement;
- propose a set of initiatives to be undertaken to strengthen Official Statistics in the Energy Sector.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2008-01-24 08:30
Energy Efficiency (EE) efforts have fallen off
The International Energy Agency (IEA) compiled an interesting graph, based on information about 10 European countries plus the U.S., Canada, New Zealand and Japan. It can be found on the Executive Summary of the book 'Energy Use in the New Millennium: Trends in the IEA countries', published on the IEA Web site. The graph shows the annual growth of energy consumption (actual energy use) and how much energy savings have contributed to restricting this growth (energy efficiency improvements). The period from 1973 to 1990 is compared with the period from 1990 to 2004.
The graph shows that the actual growth in energy use has increased. It also shows that energy efficiency improvements have fallen off considerably. In fact, the hypothetical growth of energy use without energy efficiency improvements was larger in the former period than in recent years.
Does this mean that energy efficiency as an energy source is slowly running dry? Not according to the IEA. They still see significant scope in those countries for adopting more cost-effective energy-efficient technologies in buildings, industry, and transport. The IEA concludes in this study that the oil price shocks in the 1970s did considerably more to control growth in energy demand than climate policies implemented since the 1990s. However they do add the consideration that the study does not fully reflect the impact of many policies recently initiated.
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By Sergio Ferreira / Published on Fri, 2007-04-27 09:40
Stephen Drew is the steering engine behind a successful project to improve the energy efficiency in Fonterra, a large industrial corporate in New Zealand. In a country that is well down in the OECD country rankings for energy efficiency, Stephen and his team have shown that things can be done and with short resources.
In his paper ‘Less talking and more walking down the energy efficiency road – the journey has begun’, Stephen drives us through the energy efficiency road, explaining the approach and the key for success – motivation.
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