Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Kimberley O'Sullivan: University of Otago Senior Research Fellow on the increase use of coal and gas and the need for additional solar panels

Transcript

Kimberley O'Sullivan: University of Otago Senior Research Fellow on the increase use of coal and gas and the need for additional solar panels · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We've got some more to add to the country's energy crisis.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: New data from MB shows between April and June this year,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: extra coal and gas was needed to generate enough power.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Not surprising our suppose given recent coverage, Low hydro late
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: levels meant that electricity generated from renewable sources drops to
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: eighty one point three percent of total generation. That's eight
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: point six percent lower compared to at the same time
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: last year, and for the first time since June twenty
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: twenty one, coal generated more electricity than wind. Senior research
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: fellow at the University of Otago, doctor Kimbery O'Sullivan's with
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: me this morning. Good morning, Shutda, thanks for being with me.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: What's I suppose this is just part of the course,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: right when we don't have enough in the lakes, we
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: have to go somewhere.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: We have to go somewhere. Ryan, You're right, but I
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: really think that it's time to stop looking underground to
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: the solution to our problems. It's gotten cheaper and cheaper
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: for us to put solar on houses, and that's what
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: we really need to start doing urgently if we want
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: to solve this problem.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: So every house should have a solar panel.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Well, I think we should start with those that can
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: least afford electricity and help them out, because we know
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: that when people can't afford in us electricity at home,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: they're really doing it tough, and we end up spending
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: more and more money on treating them in hospital when
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: they don't need to be there.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: So subsidizing solar panels for lower income households is what
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: you're saying. It isn't absolutely will we Okay, let's assume
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: that all of our low income households have a solar
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: panel on them. We will still have we will still
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: have parts of the winter where we won't have enough
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: to cover ourselves. Right, that's the problem.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: We'll still be a bit short. But if we start
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: doing things like that, as well as continuing to insulate
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: our home so that we need to use less energy
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: than what we currently do in order to stay warm
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: and healthy at home, then that would go a long
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: way to solving our problem. The other thing about coal
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: and gas fossil fuel, it's expensive now, but it's expensive
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: in the future too. It's not a climate safe solution,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: and we're seeing more and more extreme weather events from
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: climate change. That's only going to continue if we keep
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: burning fossil fuels.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: So you're saying we need to reduce consumption, as in
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: what freezing you know, sit in the cold.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: No, absolutely not. What we need to do is they're
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: smarter about that. We can build housing, and we can
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: spect our houses so that they don't need to use
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: as much energy to keep us warm at home. At
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: the moment, what we're seeing when we measure temperatures inside
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: our homes is that they track really closely to their
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: abdual tumberatues. So in the winter we really need to
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: use a lot of energy to keep our houses warmer,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: and it doesn't need to be that way. We could
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: make our houses warmer by increasing the insulation, by retrefiting
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: insulation on existing homes, by increasing the technology that we
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: use to make new homes more efficient, and then we
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: could put solar on top. We could solve a lot
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: of problems that way.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, however, that all sounds great, but we've had subsidies
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: to do this before. Not all houses have been done.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, look at this. The government of the state
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: is the worst actually this in terms of insulating state houses.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: But what you're suggesting will take time, will take significant
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: investment in the meantime, we have to use gas and coal,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: don't we, And surely gas is better than coal.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: I think gas is slightly better than coal, but not
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: a lot. It's also expensive, it also takes time, and
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: if we're going to keep looking underground for new gas,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: that's going to take a really long time. We've got
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: solutions that are right here. If we ramped up what
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: we know that we can do now and did a
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: better job, going harder with the insulation and putting even
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: more into our home so that we need to use
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: less energy, then that would go a really long way
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: to helping to solve this problem. If we put solar on,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: then we're going to go even further. And there are
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: consents already in place for the big gent tailors to
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: be building so they could get going with the problem
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: as well and start to make better renewable solutions for us.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: All right, doctor Kimberly O. Saloman, thank you very much
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: for your time this morning. Senior search fellow at the
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Universy of Otago says the prob the solution rather to
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: our energy wose is to sole a panel on the
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: roof insulation in the walls. And Bob's your uncle for
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: more from News Talks, ed B. Listen live on air
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: or online, and keep our shows with you wherever you
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: go with our podcasts on Irradio