[yeahbut]

maybe not any more stupid than any one else. we will only be told what TPTB want us to know. the info is all there but we will carry on with BAU until we hit the wall --snip-- oil has risen 100% in 120 days in the worst recession since the 30's this is going to get ugly

I'm sure you used to be a lot more of a corny KC, what happened?
I agree that the utter lack of vision re alternative energy is disappointing and frustrating, but it was absolutely predictable and I'm sure came as no surprise to you. The Greens are the only party to have seriously addressed these issues, they've been doing it for many years(their ancestor the Values Party was saying it all way back in the '70s), and they never get much more than 5%. Thank jeebers we have an electoral system where those votes don't count for nothing, at least.
Agree re Diamond, that's a good book. 'Guns, Germs, and Steel' is superb too, I recommend it. Flannery's 'The Future Eaters', also. Bit old now but still interesting.

[kiwichick]

the more i read and research , the more pessimistic i get

yeah the greens are the only ones anywhere near the truth but they need to push alot harder

[Graeme]

Speech: Katene - Transport Funding Bill

The current predictions from the New Zealand Energy Strategy is that by 2020 only 5% of new car sales will be electric – that is after all only a decade away. But as the technology advances it is likely that the numbers of new car sales that will be electric will rise rapidly to 60% by 2040.

But you can bet your last dollar, that it won’t be our whanau driving away in these flash vehicles, no matter how much we believe in energy efficiency.

So we had a good look at this Bill, to see if there were any options by which the Maori Party could support in the pathway to sustainable transport.

The proposition in this Bill is to increase the amount of investment from the National Land Transport Fund to be spent on sustainable transport options rather than on roading.

scoop

[Graeme]

Energy Data File highlights rich lignite resources

Straterra, the industry group representing New Zealand’s natural resources industries, says release of the 2009 edition of The New Zealand Energy Data File highlights the huge – and largely untapped – economical potential of the country’s natural resources.

“The total value of New Zealand’s lignite deposits depends on how they are assumed to be monetised, but even their lowest end value – used as a direct fuel for heat generation is estimated at $300-500 billion,” said Mr Michael.

“Extracted at a rate of 20 million tonnes per year, lignite resources could provide energy and feedstock for most of New Zealand’s transport fuel and petrochemical requirements for at least 500 years.”

scoop

[Concerned]

Energy Data File highlights rich lignite resources

Straterra, the industry group representing New Zealand’s natural resources industries, says release of the 2009 edition of The New Zealand Energy Data File highlights the huge – and largely untapped – economical potential of the country’s natural resources.

“The total value of New Zealand’s lignite deposits depends on how they are assumed to be monetised, but even their lowest end value – used as a direct fuel for heat generation is estimated at $300-500 billion,” said Mr Michael.

“Extracted at a rate of 20 million tonnes per year, lignite resources could provide energy and feedstock for most of New Zealand’s transport fuel and petrochemical requirements for at least 500 years.”

scoop

“Extracted at a rate of 20 million tonnes per year, lignite resources could provide energy and feedstock for most of New Zealand’s transport fuel and petrochemical requirements for at least 500 years.”

Is that a fact? Assuming all other factors stay equal right?

New Zealand does have international trade and garners enormous benefit from having things made with oil and gas in overseas factories.

What if New Zealand had to make more and more of it's own trucks, cars, computers, generators, tyres, shoes, air con, fridge, washer, stove, building materials.

Not to mention Lignite is scraping the bottom of the barrel i.e dirty coal, much lower EROEI and higher emissions.

[TheAntiDoomer]

This new tech might catch NZ's eye:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/columnists/rmiller/stories/DN-miller_28bus.ART.State.Edition1.3cf764e.html

After a year of trying, University of Texas at Arlington researchers say they have succeeded in producing Texas intermediate-quality crude oil out of lignite.

[kiwichick]

seen on BBC the world debate

senior exec from shell oil

"conventional oil will not be able to meet demand
by 2015 "

[Graeme]

Australia-New Zealand Climate Change and Business Conference

It will come as no surprise to you that tackling climate change is the New Zealand Government’s number one environmental priority.

It has been described as a ‘diabolical policy problem’ by Australia’s climate change adviser Ross Garnaut; a description which I believe is very apt.

The first point I wish to make is the scale of the political challenge posed by climate change.

I have been fortunate to have held many portfolios during my 20 year Parliamentary career but none get close to the complexity and difficulty posed by anthropogenic climate change.


New Zealand will meet its 2020 target through a mixture of domestic emission reductions, incentivising new forest plantings, and the purchase of emission reductions from other countries.

beehive

[heroineworshipper]

When's the emissions reduction bailout & who's going to get the executive bonus?

[kiwichick]

what no commitment to carbon neutrality?

where is the promise to go for 100% renewable energy?

[kiwichick]

ok read the speech

better

42 cent/litre incentive for biofuels

zero roadtax on all electric cars

but more importantly NZ aims to go to copenhagen with it's ETS

legislation "settled"

so much for austruckfalian's "leading"!!!

[hardtootell-2]

Wow! Compared to the limp wristed response I se in N America, this is real leadership.

[Graeme]

National, Maori Party reach deal on emissions trading

An agreement between National and the Maori Party means a law reviving and amending an emissions trading scheme could be passed by December, Climate Change Minister Nick Smith said today.

The new emissions trading scheme (ETS) will halve the cost of energy increases to consumers and give polluting industries an easier ride and longer to adjust through taxpayer subsidies.

Those that exceed their limit have to buy carbon credits from those who were under their cap or from those who plant trees.

The key changes announced today reduce the costs to businesses that pollute and spreads out a transition phase to match New Zealand's trading partners.

Dr Smith said the impact on electricity and petrol prices would be halved to 1c/kWh and 3.5c/l.

The cost to the average household would fall around $330 to $165

Another key change is pushing back the inclusion of agriculture emissions from 2013 to 2015 and bringing forward liquid fuels from 2011 to July 2010.

Dr Smith said the ETS would still send price signals about the cost of emissions and would line up internationally as a credible ETS.

It would also give strong incentives to plant more trees by finally getting a market underway in carbon credits, which foresters could trade overseas as well as in New Zealand.

stuff

bloomberg

[kiwichick]

nowhere near enough .... but at least we are on the way

it will have to get a lot tougher

NZ will have to disincentivise human reproduction

[Graeme]

New Zealand 'set for an oil bonanza'

Investors willing to back the discovery and development of New Zealand oil reserves could be investing in a country at the same stage as Norway in the pre-North Sea era, says a leading US money manager.

Renowned for his bullish views on New Zealand's petroleum prospects, William Buechler insists New Zealand is set for an oil bonanza that will eclipse Britain's North Sea oil boom.

"New Zealand is at the beginning of a country-changing event; the challenge is going to be to embrace the change and get it right. Activity and momentum are increasing but going under the radar screen."

stuff

[dorlomin]

At $598b, Norway's global government pension fund is the world's second largest wealth fund. It has snowballed in size after Norway's decision to treat oil proceeds and royalties as investment capital and not revenue like Britain.

600 000 per head.

One more reason to utterly loath thatcher.

[yeahbut]

8O

At $598b, Norway's global government pension fund is the world's second largest wealth fund. It has snowballed in size after Norway's decision to treat oil proceeds and royalties as investment capital and not revenue like Britain.

600 000 per head.

One more reason to utterly loath thatcher.

Well, New Zealand slavishly followed thatcherism at the time and not much has changed since. You certainly don't need to worry about us using a one-off natural resource bonanza for the long-term good of our country- I'm quietly confident that we'll do the lot and have bugger-all to show for it...

[Tyler_JC]

8O

At $598b, Norway's global government pension fund is the world's second largest wealth fund. It has snowballed in size after Norway's decision to treat oil proceeds and royalties as investment capital and not revenue like Britain.

600 000 per head.

One more reason to utterly loath thatcher.

A few problems with that analysis...

First off, you're assuming both countries had equal oil resources. They didn't, Norway actually had more.

Secondly, the UK has far more people than Norway. 61 milion compared with 4.8 million.

Dividing 600 billion by 61 million is a little less than $10,000 per head in UK. Dividing 600 billion by 4.8 million is $125,000 per head in Norway.

It wasn't as if Thatcher and subsequent PMs threw the oil revenue into a fire. They used the money to fund social programs and reduce taxes. There was obviously some benefit to both of these activities. Some of that oil revenue was spent on education, making the UK a more competitive economy. Some of it was used to reduce investment taxes (or reduce an increase in investment taxes), leading to more capital investment.

It's tempting to think Norway did everything right and Britain did everything wrong but we'd be remiss in our analysis if we ignored the externalities of oil tax revenue.

[Graeme]

Opinions divided on New Zealand's energy future

Ministry of Economic Development (MED) forecasts about the energy sources and fuels that will power New Zealand into the future were aired at the Do Something! forum sponsored by HumanFM at Victoria University last night – but opinions on the basis for and realistic achievability of future scenarios were divided.

Many participants challenged the MED’s heavy reliance on optimistic projections by the International Energy Agency (IEA) – primarily because of growing evidence that we are now well and truly in a peak oil era and need to be planning for a wider set of scenarios to change our economic and private ways of life.

In a presentation to the forum, Mark Walkington of the MED’s Energy Information and Modelling Group talked about three scenarios for future energy use in New Zealand that are cross-referenced to IEA projections:

o doing nothing (business as usual)

o a scenario based on New Zealand discovering more oil and gas

o a scenario based on New Zealand reducing its reliance on imported oil.

The scenario of reducing our dependence on imported oil, titled Changing Gear by MED, calls for a more efficient transport fleet, the uptake of electric vehicles and the establishment of local biofuel production, but even this ‘best case’ scenario would take until 2040 to contribute to a decrease in energy sector greenhouse gas emissions to below 1990 levels.

scoop

[Sixstrings]

(Reuters) - A strong earthquake of 7.4 magnitude hit New Zealand, just 4 miles (7 km) southeast of Christchurch, in the middle of the night local time, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Friday.

There were no immediate tsunami warnings. USGS earlier said the quake measured 7.3 magnitude.

The center of the quake was 41 miles (66 km) deep and it struck at 1635 GMT.

Christchurch, on the east coast of the South Island, is New Zealand's second-largest city with a population of about 342,000 people.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0311646120100903

Hope all the Kiwi members on the forum are OK.. best wishes and sympathies to you. I don't think there's much info out yet, if anyone has more feel free to post here.