CHOICE STALLED! As BayBuzz goes to press, it appears NZ First has pulled the plug on the proposed Clean Car Standard, a huge setback for the Labour-Green coalition and, more importantly, for a nation yet to limit vehicle emissions at…
Tom Belford01 April 2020
Why? Because air transport contributes to 4.9% of human-caused climate change. In Europe plans are being developed with an aim of decarbonising aviation, alongside ongoing investment in alternative low carbon land-based transport, primarily electric rapid rail including bringing back night…
Paul Callister & Wallace Rae01 February 2020
While breakthroughs in affordable storage are accelerating the shift to electric vehicles, bikes, solar storage, and increasing our reliance on battery-powered gadgets and gizmos, the toxic footprint of their manufacture and disposal raises serious concerns. The World Economic Forum’s (WEF)…
Keith Newman01 December 2019
Alongside wind power, solar has been touted as the ideal endgame for renewable energy, but the hype continues to outpace reality, with the market relying on low-deposit or no-deposit finance plans to lift it from the slump of stalled prices.…
Keith Newman01 August 2019
Commercial logging and processing is our third largest export trade covering around 1.8 million hectares with about $5 billion earned annually from shipping to Australia, Japan, Korea, China and the US. It’s a messy business, leaving massive amounts of offcuts,…
Keith Newman01 June 2019
Our celebrity Prime Minister was recently in Davos telling other world leaders that global warming was the issue of our times. “What greater threat to our wellbeing is there than the current threat of climate change,” she commented, adding, “This…
Tom Belford01 April 2019
With global warming, Hawke’s Bay faces a warmer, drier, stormier future, which, on the surface of things, looks to be a mild prognosis. “Droughts are nothing new,” I’m told. “We’re a maritime country, we’re used to variable weather.” “I wouldn’t…
Bridget Freeman-Rock01 February 2019
Plastic forms an integral part of everything from cars to furniture, office and household appliances and a cornucopia of containers, but its fastest growing, lowest cost form – the bags, wrappers, straws and caps that litter our roadsides, river banks…
Keith Newman01 December 2018
Our business and lifestyle habits and the lifecycle of the goods and services we consume are increasingly coming under the spotlight as we’re urged to rethink our part in the emerging ‘circular economy’. This latest buzzword is not just greenwash,…
Keith Newman01 October 2018
Elsewhere in this edition you’ll find disturbing updates on the global warming challenge – 400 consecutive months of above-average temperatures, a threat to 30% of the world’s veggie production, accelerated species extinction. Add in faster melting ice sheets and slower…
Tom Belford01 August 2018
In Hawke’s Bay, trucks, utes, farm machinery, generators, including the back-up power supply at Whirinaki, are big diesel users and unlikely to change unless there’s a compelling alternative. A decade ago New Zealand’s first foray into biodiesel production proved to…
Keith Newman01 June 2018
On New Year’s day, 6am, Germany reached an historic milestone as the country slept following Silvester celebrations and strong winds blew. For a moment in time, wind power alone produced 85% of Germany’s energy consumption, with hydro and biomass decking…
Bridget Freeman-Rock01 April 2018
It’s not just you heating up in our summer sun. The case for solar is warming up too, with next-tier customers holding out for a shift in the cost of the latest kit – and in the position of electricity…
Keith Newman29 January 2018
Public concern over potential oil and gas development in Hawke’s Bay has simmered over the last five years, triggered initially by the Government’s awarding of both onshore and offshore exploration permits in our region. Initial feasibility studies projected that as…
Tom Belford24 November 2017
Globally, an energy revolution is occurring. Will Hawke’s Bay be an early adopter or a slow learner? For most consumers, energy is a ‘take for granted’ aspect of our lives. When the ‘system’ is working, we tend to think about…
Tom Belford01 October 2017
New Zealand will have to wean itself off intensive agriculture, plant vast forests, commit to vehicles and factories powered by 100% renewable electricity or continue to buy carbon credits to cover its backside if it’s to meet Paris Agreement climate…
Keith Newman31 July 2017
Despite exponential growth in global sales and the promise of 44 new models being released in New Zealand over the next three years, electric vehicles (EVs) are almost invisible in Hawke’s Bay. While buying new remains prohibitive for many buyers,…
Keith Newman29 May 2017
It is annual survey of business priorities, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) says energy conservation and reducing carbon emissions never makes it into the top three or four areas of importance. Greg Visser, EECA general manager, says businesses…
Keith Newman29 March 2017
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright says we’ll need to dramatically change what we grow and how we grow it if we’re to meet our commitment to the Paris Accord on Climate Change, which 75 other countries have ratified.…
Keith Newman04 February 2017
We take power for granted.Power as in the electricity (and gas) that heats our homes, refrigerates and cooks our food, pumps our water from private bores and water tanks, charges our phones and tablets, and keeps our computers ‘plugged in’ to…
Keith Newman02 December 2016
