Burying one’s head in the slowly overheating sand is not a method to be recommended. As unpalatable as it is, recognising how bad things are getting is a good step towards modifying entrenched behaviours and desperately pressing down on the brakes to stop runaway climate change.
Something we do need to do perhaps more frequently, in the midst of all this cheerlessness, is stop and better recognise how much is already being done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in this country and elsewhere, even if it is not enough at this stage to reach the desired cuts set out in the Paris Agreement in 2015.
Unfortunately, that target to limit the global temperature increase to below 2°C, preferably 1.5°C or lower, above pre-industrial levels by 2100 is currently looking pretty shaky.
In New Zealand, there are many initiatives under way at the community, regional and national level to cut emissions and live in a more sustainable fashion.
The way we interact with the environment around us, the way we eat, the way we travel, the way we keep warm or cool — all of these can be, and are being, tweaked in ways which will reduce their carbon footprints and help us as we strive to reach our emissions goals and limit future global warming.
However, a country cannot run on good intentions alone. It runs on energy. And while 80% to 85% of our electricity, depending on the state of our hydro-electric lakes, is generated from renewable sources, the broader picture shows only about 40% of our total energy supply comes from renewables.
Reducing that reliance on oil and natural gas, and some coal, is going to be the trickiest part. But at least we are well under way with our aspirations to reach 100% renewable electricity by 2030.
Electricity is one of the wonders of the modern age. Who among us ever gives any thought about where it comes from, what it actually is, and how quickly it is there at your fingertips when you need it?
When we have plenty of power available, we don’t think so much about our electricity consumption. But we can’t always assume there is an overabundance of the stuff, and almost every winter there are times when the threat of blackouts loom somewhere if demand isn’t rapidly reduced.
Good news then that the Government this week has taken the bull by the horns and is fast-tracking through the often-cumbersome consenting stages several wind and solar generation projects around the motu.
Key among them is Contact Energy’s Southland Wind Farm, near Wyndham, which will generate 300 megawatts of electricity from 55 turbines once it is commissioned.
Another 120MW will be generated by two other fast-tracked wind farms in the North Island. Also fast-tracked since 2021 have been nine solar-power farms able to generate more than 1100MW at peak output.
Energy Minister Megan Woods says the three wind farms, operating simultaneously, will generate close to the output of the 432MW Clyde Dam.
Just as important for New Zealand’s future, and its contributions to international efforts to slow down global warming, is the potential for these projects to stop 150 million kg of carbon emissions which would have been produced instead by filling the gap using non-renewable sources of power.
Climate change will affect the demand patterns for our electricity needs. In the past, New Zealand had a clear winter maximum demand, with lighter consumption in the summer.
That is now changing. As regions get hotter, demand for air conditioning on the most trying days will increase.
Having more wind and solar power will help in the summer months and provides a robust backstop for the times when the hydro lakes might be lower than required.
