The Prime Minister of New Zealand has just announced that the country is committed to being 90% powered by renewable energy in less than 20 years. Now, this might sound outlandish, but we should note that they're already 70% powered by renewables.
The majority of their power comes from hydroelectric dams, which we're no huge fan of, as they destroy a great deal of habitat, but New Zealand's secondary source of power is also carbon-neutral and (for all intents and purposes) renewable: geothermal.
The Prime Minister also reports that she hopes New Zealand will someday be completely carbon-neutral, and set forth some plans to control carbon emissions from cars. No word yet on exactly what form the new renewables will take, but we can only hope for a combination of geothermal, wind and solar, all of which New Zealand has in abundance.
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written by Brian Green, September 29, 2007
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written by weee recycling, September 29, 2007
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written by A Siege, September 29, 2007
Or, is it 90% of electricity?
Hmmm ...
E.g., like another island nation (Iceland), NZ will become electricity near carbon neutral ... This is great, but it would be even more impressive if this was 100% of the economy/society.
Now, the tests in NZ of algae-based bio-fuel for jets suggests that they might be developing that path for a 90% of the entire economy within 20 years.
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written by Christiaan, October 02, 2007
It's also worth pointing out that a major advantage in NZ, especially when you consider the use of hydro and geothermal, is the relatively small population.
In my opinion NZ should be do much more much faster. Of course there are other countires that should be doing even more even faster but I wouldn't be too quick to praise NZ. If the NZ government purports to take science seriously then the least it should do is act appropriately, i.e. urgently.
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