The New Zealand Green Building Council welcomes this morning’s announcement of Labour’s SolarSaver policy, saying it adds welcome momentum to the election-year focus on energy resilience, lower power bills, and making better use of the energy resources New Zealand already has available.
NZ Green Building Council chief executive Andrew Eagles says, “It’s great to see a kickstart subsidy included in this plan, low-interest loans are important, but a rebate will really help those who have concerns about getting started. This feature, which is used in many places overseas, is a crucial part of building scale and getting widespread uptake.”
“These programmes are low-cost options for any Government, they work well in other countries and done right make a real difference,” says Andrew Eagles. “There are huge advantages when these schemes are taken up at scale, including dramatically helping with peak load, a real challenge for New Zealand.
The widespread installation of batteries means Australia can now effectively distribute as much power at peak load as two Huntly power stations.
“This is great for security and energy resilience. There was no resource consent needed, no planning, construction delays or cost increases associated with a large power station or renewables programme. It happened in the space of 18 months.”
Our two major political parties have now both made important policy commitments to help build our nation’s resilience and help modernise our energy grid.
But energy security and healthy efficient homes is more than just rooftop solar panels and batteries. Insulation, hot water heat pumps, and help to get off gas must be included in these schemes.
“We urge Labour to include these wider initiatives in its subsidy and low interest loans programme unveiled today,” says Andrew Eagles. Forty one percent of New Zealand houses have bedrooms that are consistently below 16 degrees. “A solar panel on the roof doesn’t help a child in a cold bedroom.”
The focus on trades training in Labour’s announcement is also welcomed by the NZGBC, which has been encouraging subsidised training for plumbers, gas fitters and other trades needed to help electrify and modernise our homes and buildings.
Schemes such as these have proven to be good for job creation in other countries.
Some of the additional policy recommendations made:
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Improve Warmer Kiwi Homes to support efficient space and water heating, insulation, ventilation, and lighting.
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Introduce rebates for hot water heat pumps—the single largest opportunity for household energy savings. For lower income homes, this can be the best way to get these modern appliances installed.
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Modernise the building code enabling all homes to meet energy performance standards, as in other countries, and for new builds to be all-electric.
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Adopt a check at the design stage to confirm new build terraced homes and apartments do not overheat.
Also: NZ Green Building Council response to National's Home Energy Fund announcement