Sponsor's Message

No, your ISP is unlikely to lift its rates and this time it's not even Telecom who is the villain.

I am referring of course, to the planned power price hike that will sting everyone who uses energy from the national grid -- and who doesn't?

It seems that the country's power generation capacity has failed to keep pace with the demand for electricity so, after a series of winters where power cuts have been threatened and prices have continued to escalate, there's now talk of building new dams and fossil-fueled plants to solve the problem.

Of course that all costs money, and requires resource management consent, and generally screws up someone's favourite fishing, camping or scenic spot.

But do we really need to spend all that money, obliterate the landscape or polute the air in such a brutal manner?

Readers Say Got something to say about today's column, or want to see what others think?  Visit The Forums Have Your Say

Perhaps it's time for "clean green" New Zealand to wake up to the fact that there may be a better way to solve our current energy crisis.

Maybe we should follow the lead of a few other, very forward-thinking parts of the world, such as many states in the USA.

Some of these places are encouraging individual households to generate their own energy by way of tax rebates on the equipment they install to either reduce their energy needs or generate their own power. In some cases, the local power companies are even required by law to purchase excess power generated by households -- further increasing the cost-effectiveness of energy self-sufficiency.

Here in New Zealand there are two or three immediate prospects for slashing the drain on the national grid -- all of which might well be worthy of at least some form of subsidy.

Firstly, and perhaps most cheaply, there's solar water heating.

Although it was very trendy back in the 1970s, this extremely cost-effective power-saving option appears to have fallen very much from grace -- which is a tremendous shame when you consider just how much power it can save.

Then, especially for those who live in Wellington or within 10-20Kms of the coast, there is the micro-turbine wind generator. These are a very cost-effective method of generating very useful amounts of electricity virtually all year round.

Finally, and I include this mainly because I'd probably be deluged in complaining emails if I didn't, there's solar power. Unfortunately, Solar panels are still very expensive for the power they generate and, in most centres, there are many more cloudy days than totally calm ones -- so I don't favour this form of generation quite as much. Although, having said that, it doesn't generate any noise and doesn't produce the same level of visual pollution as wind turbines.

So why should the government offer some kind of tax-incentive to households who install one of these clean, green methods of harnessing free energy?

Well the answer may surprise and shock you a little.

Believe it or not, at the current price of diesel, and with suitably sized diesel-powered generators available for a very reasonable sum, it will soon be cheaper to install and run your own generator than to buy power from your local power company.

Right now, so long as it's not too loud, I don't think there's much in the way of laws that prohibit householders from plonking such a generator in their back yard and running it 24/7 to create their own electricity.

But just think of what all those diesel particulates would do to the quality of suburban air!

When diesel prices fall a little this winter (as the demand in the northern hemisphere declines) and if power prices go up yet again by just a few cents per unit, self-generation by way of diesel will finally become cheaper than buying power from the grid.

In fact, if you can use the heat these systems generate to warm your home, such a combined power/heating unit is alread a cost-effective alternative for those living in colder areas of the country.

If the government doesn't wake up to this potential disaster and start offering to at least wipe the GST on wind-turbines, solar arrays and solar water heating systems, our cities could end up covered in a fine film of oily soot from all those generators.

But hey, who am I kidding? That'll never happen because, as governments do, they'll simply pass a law (or a by-law) that makes it illegal for any generator to be permanently installed in a suburban environment -- or more likely, they'll add a massive tax to such equipment so as to ensure that power from the grid is our only alternative.

So what's it to be -- the carrot (tax incentives for clean-green household power generation) or the stick (by way of laws that criminalise the installation of stinky diesel generators in the home)?

What do you think -- are we going the right way about dealing with what has become a rather critical energy crisis?

If any Aardvark readers want to share an opinion on today's column or add something, you're invited to chip in and have your say in The Aardvark Forums or, if you prefer, you can contact me directly.

Contacting Aardvark
I'm always happy to hear from readers, whether they're delivering brickbats, bouquets or news tip-offs. If you'd like to contact me directly, please this form. If you're happy for me to republish your comments then please be sure and select For Publication.

Other media organisations seeking more information or republication rights are also invited to contact me.

Just add a couple of lines of JavaScript to your pages and you can get a free summary of Aardvark's daily commentary -- automatically updated each and every week-day.

Aardvark also makes a summary of this daily column available via XML using the RSS format. More details can be found here.

Contact me if you decide to use either of these feeds and have any problems.

Linking Policy
Want to link to this site? Check out Aardvark's Linking Policy.

Did you tell someone else about Aardvark today? If not then do it now!