By Chris Howe

I’m sure I’m like most New Zealanders when it comes to switching on the lights or the television: it doesn’t cross my mind that there won’t be enough electricity to make them work. Power shortages are something we read about in Fiji or Zimbabwe, not New Zealand. And yet, as recently as 2008, the government was urging people to take shorter showers, switch off towel rails and wash their dishes by hand.

The reality is that there have been serious electricity shortages in New Zealand, most recently in 1992 when businesses had to use liquid petroleum gas and diesel to generate electricity, street lights were turned off and the supply to household hot water tanks was rationed. Many New Zealand houses still have “ripple” meters, which allow the electricity company to send a signal down the power supply, turning off power to the hot water tank.

New Zealand’s heavy reliance on hydro schemes to generate electricity means that in low rainfall years there can be shortages. As well as in 2008, New Zealanders were asked to save power in 2001, 2003 and 2006 because of low hydro lake levels, but each time sufficient rain came in time to avoid forced power cuts.

Unless serious action is taken on energy efficiency, there is no doubt that New Zealand’s energy needs will continue to rise. The government’s own projections show substantial increases in demand for all types of energy by 2030.

Alongside the electricity that powers our homes and workplaces, the other big demand for energy in New Zealand is fuel for transport the demand for which, too, will rise substantially without action to improve efficiency and develop alternatives.

Clearly any responsible government needs a sound strategy to address future energy needs. And, any responsible government would, in its energy strategy, take into account issues such as the likely peak in conventional oil supplies in the next decade or two, our remote location, our abundance of options for renewable energy generation, the need to minimise our greenhouse gas emissions, and come up with a robust, environment-friendly approach to meeting our energy needs.

You might expect, then, that this government’s draft energy strategy would focus on low or no carbon energy development, proposing investment in renewable electricity generation, research into clean fuels, development of extensive public transport systems and investment in developing alternatives to diesel and petrol for road and rail transport. And this would not be pie-in-the-sky – New Zealand has more than enough potential to meet its energy needs without depending on fossil fuels.

However, the government’s draft strategy does none of this. Not only does it focus on increasing oil and coal extraction, presumably mainly for export, it has no coherent approach to transport and is woefully short of real targets and timeframes. The one target is does contain – achieving 90% renewable electricity generation by 2025 – is not backed up by a credible strategy of how we are going to get there.

The way New Zealand deals with its future energy needs is critical to our way of life, our international reputation and our impact on the environment. It is very important that all New Zealanders who care about our future have a say on the strategy. You can go to here for help on how to do this.

Power shortages have happened before, and they can happen again, but it would be negligent of the government to pursue an energy strategy that ignores our abundant renewable resources and focuses on environmentally damaging and increasingly costly fossil fuels.