The greenest battery in the world
Water at height is one of the greenest ways to go, but we’ll still power down.
Idon’t usually venture into politics.
But for the first time, I can see a leader from a generation younger than mine who is serious about Climate Change. Maybe we have a chance to go some distance in the direction we need to be going. Not far enough, but a step is a step.
Climate Change is the background drumbeat to the energy depletion, overpopulation, degradation, pollution and debt issues the world faces. But in addressing Climate Change, some of those items will be addressed collaterally.
To be in power means assuring voters that life will go on and get better. But instead of a discussion about no cars, we talk about shifting seamlessly to electric ones. We still have a Minister for
Trade Growth, 50 years after the need not to grow has been clearly explained. Inevitably, we will not actually ban petroleum exploration or anything else which turns a buck.
But the push towards a greater reliance on renewable energy is the best thing I’ve heard from New Zealand politics in years. There will be squandered efforts and missed opportunities, but it would be churlish to knock it.
It’s great to see the first moves away from a ‘ free’ market which is anything but. It is vaguely possible that we might see a proper debate about interest and debt, although unlikely. The ramifications for ACC investments, pension funds, and loan and mortgage repayments may be too abhorrent for anyone to want to investigate very far.
Have we got time to achieve much? The Government is talking about 90 per cent renewable electricity by 2025, and near-to 100 per cent by 2040. Crunch time looks to be somewhere between now and 2030.
Their targets are too little, too late, and they probably know that. It’s possible they’re waiting for momentum to build and anticipate giving things a later shove.
We still rely on fossil fuels for 60 per cent of our energy. Things get a little fuzzy when we ask the hard questions about that. Electric cars may seem a panacea, but only in Norway, Iceland and New Zealand is there even a possibility that they can be powered with renewably-sourced energy.
Organised and efficient Germany has a target of 35 per cent renewable electricity by 2050. That means 65 per cent ‘something else’, ie fossil fuels.
One debate NZ may shy away from is energy storage. It seems that no politician wants to push for another hydro lake.
But the alternative is batteries which require energy to make, energy to transport, and energy to recycle. Batteries are also very dirty.
The most chemically-benign, easiest-to-maintain battery of all is water at height. There are bonuses too. Dams help to even-out flood events and to store downpours for low-impact irrigation.
But maybe we will decide to go with the hydro storage we have. In which case, you can forget cheap power or addressing poverty.
And if we’re overtaken by events? We’ll be heading in the right direction, which is a lot better than we’ve been doing the last few years. I wish them well.
The most chemically-benign battery is water at height