The average New Zealand household could save nearly $1500 a year by installing rooftop solar and batteries, and switching out gas and fuel for electric appliances and cars, according to a high-powered report.
Renewable energy advocate Saul Griffith has published a report that finds New Zealand can save $95 billion by 2040 if it electrifies its economy and moves away from fossil fuels. Among the report's co-authors is Reserve Bank chief economist Paul Conway.
"The traditional narrative of climate is it's too expensive to solve climate change. But we have here a clear case for a big portion of the economy that you can't afford not to.
"It's nice to be able to make the carrot that large because I think it focuses the policy mind on how to get there," Griffith said.
The Government has announced a taskforce will be set up to investigate high wholesale electricity prices. (Source: 1News)
It comes as energy prices continue to climb as demand increases.
At the same time, questions are being raised about the lack of competition in the sector, while prices continue to threaten hundreds of jobs in other industries.
The role of solar panels
Griffith said while the price of gas and petrol continues to increase, the price of installing solar panels and batteries continues to fall.
He said this was largely due to increasing economies of scale and China's industrialisation. So, the availability of the technology was no longer the issue of getting people to switch to solar, he said.
"There's no great barrier anymore - apart from psychological ones, cultural ones, and finance."
Griffith said one solution could be for the Government to see rooftop solar as an infrastructure project. He said this could mean households may be able to get easier access to low-interest, government-backed loans.
"There are ideas like rate-based financing - so you buy the [electric] vehicle by paying your electricity bill every week," he added.
Electricity's role in world's climate change targets
Griffith said that, in addition to lowering a household's bills, electrifying homes was a more realistic and immediate step towards decarbonisation. That's in contrast to waiting for technology like "green steel" and "green aviation" to scale up, he said.
"It does invert the logic [of tackling climate change]. It means you don't focus on industry and agriculture yet. You focus on the domestic economy."
New Zealand is one of the first countries to reach the ‘tipping point’, where households can save money and significantly reduce their emissions by electrifying their homes. (Source: 1News)
He said a "wartime level of effort" is required to have a chance at mitigating the very worst effects of climate change, as set out in the Paris Agreement targets.
"This is an uncomfortable thing to say. I believe in capitalism, but you have to go faster than the free market can go. You need to replace all of the machines that burn fossil fuels faster than their actual lifetimes, with machines that don't."
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air
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