It is not just a station for railway passengers
I wish to record my discontent at Dunedin Railway’s decision to rebrand itself as Dunedin Railway Station.
How dare they appropriate an entire building? Their current name is perfectly adequate to describe train journey activities, without assuming perceived management of the neighbouring tenants who share the same address in the Dunedin Railway Station.
This rebranding decision will dispossess us, and any other businesses in the Dunedin Railway Station, of our iconic address.
As a member of the Otago Art Society I am proud of our gallery location in the Dunedin Railway Station - a perfect fit of heritage and culture for our 150-year old society - and hate the thought that the public might assume that a train company will now run our shop and galleries.
Additionally, rebranding is an expensive undertaking, so I see it as a waste of money in a struggling economy. Let the Dunedin Railway Station belong to everyone, not just Dunedin Railways.
Jenny Longstaff
North East Valley
Baiting birds
It seems ironic the Department of Conservation is calling on South Westland communities to protect kea from lead poisoning (ODT 20.4.26) when Doc’s very policies are factors in the decline of the alpine parrot.
For many years, and still, the department have engaged in all-out war culling wild animals, particularly tahr and deer by helicopter and hunters using shotguns and cartridges loaded with lead buckshot of about a dozen pea-sized lead pellets - one bite-sized pellet for a kea.
Although lead buckshot may not be used any more, over many decades of culling deer and tahr possibly 100s of tonnes of lead pellets are lying in kea habitat which will never disappear.
Doc used a fanciful alibi of kea eating lead head nails from the roofs of mountain huts. This, to me, is a joke as the sharp decline coincided with the formation of Doc.
Doc’s widespread aerial 1080 poisoning has an associated practice of pre-feeding non-toxic sweet pollard baits - very palatable to kea - before dropping 1080-laced baits. The intention is to accustom pests to baits, but kea also get accustomed and thus take the poison on the second drop. Is it any wonder kea are on the decline?
Lewis Hore
Oamaru
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Reasoned debate
There are many of us opposed to the Santana gold mine, but Sam Neill has become a target due to his high public profile. Personal attacks only reflect badly on yourself and on your cause. I suggest well thought out reasoning as an alternative.
Janine Thompson
The Catlins
Climate chaos and war threatens our home
If we wish human civilisation to continue on this planet for much longer, the overwhelming priority, undoubtedly, must be reversing the havoc of climate change which human activity has loosed upon the world.
In his The Rebirth of Nature, plant physiologist and biochemist Rupert Sheldrake has written: “The planet is not terminally ill, though our civilisation may be.”
Reducing the impact of climate change necessitates a drastic reduction, or total abandonment, of practices which have caused it. The most heart-breaking consequence of wars between nations, such as those in the Middle East, is the enormous cost in human lives and suffering.
Such wars contribute hugely to greenhouse gas emissions. We must learn to live in peace.
Almost all the activities associated with practices such as gold-mining also contribute huge emissions of these gases. Whatever so-called “wealth” such activities may be viewed as generating would be utterly worthless in a world no longer habitable.
David Kārena-Holmes
Dunedin
Solar pros, cons
I read Ross Alexander’s letter (16.4.26) with interest. His solar panel system of 15kW is indeed large for a domestic installation and, if my calculations are correct, produces about 23,750 kWh of power annually. He appears to not have a battery.
We installed a 10kW system with a 13.5kWh battery at our house in East Taieri. Our roof is near perfect for solar in every regard bar one — it has a slope of 15deg which is flatter than the ideal for Dunedin (30-50deg). The annual generation has averaged a touch over 11,000kWh and our best day is 70kWh. On a miserable grey wet day we generate very little power.
In 2023 we were 61% self-sufficient and more recently this has reduced to 46% self-sufficiency with the purchase of an EV — the main contributor to an increase in power usage.
With the price of systems reducing, the efficiency of panels increasing and the tantalising prospect of harnessing your EV as a battery soon to be a reality, I invite your readers to not write off the possibility of solar in Dunedin. I will take circa 50% self-sufficiency every day of the week.
Hamish Caithness
Mosgiel
Ross Alexander makes some very interesting points.
The maximum energy you can generate from solar in Dunedin is in the middle of summer on a sunny day. This is exactly the time when most of us use the least amount of energy. The least amount of energy generated is in the middle of winter on a cloudy day when we use the most energy. Lines/fixed charges stay the same no matter how much or little energy you use.
Traditional generation was done by huge power plants close to the main populations. Sustainable energy generation is more widespread in remote areas. This requires expansion and upgrades of the network.
If fixed charges were added to unit charges then home solar would be reduce not only the energy drawn from the grid but also line charges for every unit of energy saved.
If this method was used those who have higher energy use would pay a higher proportion of the fixed charges. Solar users would pay lower fixed charges for every unit saved.
Alan Paterson
North East Valley
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: letters@odt.co.nz
