Kiwi homes miss healthy temperatures
A third of New Zealand homes are too cold in the winter and too warm in the summer, a new study has found.
Statistics NZ measured the temperature four times a year in 6700 New Zealand homes in 2018 and revealed yesterday that 36 per cent were 25 degrees Celsius or more during the summer and about a third were under 18C in the winter. It was the largestscale temperature measurement carried out in New Zealand.
The World Health Organisation recommends indoor temperatures should be a minimum of 18C but ideally 21C.
The figures, part of the 2018 General Social Survey, found the average summer temperature was 23.9C and the winter national average was 19C.
Wellbeing and housing statistics manager Dr Claire Bretherton said of most concern was that the winter temperature was under 18C in a third of homes.
Canterbury medical officer of health Dr Alistair Humphrey said respiratory illnesses and cardiovascular disease were more prevalent in cold homes. People could also suffer from cardiovascular problems during heat waves.
He believed insulation was the key to helping resolve temperature spikes in homes because it kept homes cool in summer and warm in winter. ‘‘Heat pumps can cool homes down as well as warm them up, but ideally people should be aiming to minimise the amount of electricity needed to warm or cool their home.’’
The study also found that people living in rental properties and those who did not have enough money for everyday needs experienced colder indoor temperatures in winter.
Tenants Protection Association (Christchurch) chairman Anthony Rimell said sadly there were no surprises with the outcome of the study. ‘‘It’s true that our rental stock is not as good a quality as the houses that people own and live in.’’
He hoped the Government’s move to ensure landlords insulated properties would start to lift home temperatures in the winter. Ceiling and underfloor insulation has been compulsory in rental homes since July 1, 2019, but only where it is reasonably practicable to install.
However, Rimell said the only way to enforce the legislation was for the tenant to make a complaint to the Tenancy Tribunal, which required them to be publicly identified. Some landlords checked tribunal cases and often would not rent to anyone who has had a case with the tribunal.
He believed names of people making complaints to the tribunal should not be made public and he wanted the Government to randomly check rental homes.
An 1885 locomotive has been lifted from its watery grave at the bottom of a riverbed where it has been for the past 93 years.
The Lumsden Heritage Trust had hoped to remove two partlysubmerged locomotives from the Oreti River in Northern Southland ysterday.
They were able to lift one of the locomotives from the river but the other was deemed too difficult to pull out.
Speaking at the work site yesterday, trust chairman John Titter said the experience had been unbelievable.
New Zealand Railways tipped two 1885 V class locomotives into the Oreti River near Lumsden in 1927 for flood protection, after they were deemed as surplus stock and because the price of scrap metal was low after the war.
They have lain there ever since, but yesterday, a crane lifted one of the former freight and passenger locomotives out of its resting place, which is now a tributary of the Oreti. Several tonnes of silt was removed from the 32-tonne locomotive so it could be lifted.
The trust decided to try to retrieve the locomotives about six years ago, with the plan to display them at nearby Lumsden.
Fifty per cent of the $158,000 retrieval project came to fruition yesterday. The decision was made not to attempt to remove the second locomotive because of the magnitude of the task.
‘‘Wow, unbelievable, that’s a mammoth task,’’ said an emotional Titter as the locomotive emerged from its resting place.
On Tuesday night, a coal tender was lifted from the same location, with Titter saying the tender and locomotive would be cleaned and displayed adjacent to the railway station precinct at Lumsden in northern Southland.
There were no plans to restore them, he said.
The retrieval operation, on property belonging to Roger Hamilton, was six years in the making and possible only with local funding and a lotteries grant.
Trust secretary Rob Scott said it was exciting to see the task come to fruition.
‘‘The dream is being fulfilled.’’