Element 30th March 2015

Monday, March 30, 2015

BUSINESS

PLANET

WELLBEING

POWER JUGGLE How solar is transforming the energy landscape

On the road The future of electric cars

The organic opportunity How we’re missing it

PLUS: Te Radar / Organics / Autism breakthrough your new digital marketplace.

First the lightning. Then the thunder.

The new Cayenne S E-Hybrid.

Two types of drive system. One result: pure power flow. Owing to plug-in hybrid technology, the new Cayenne merges driving fun with efficiency. Its pure electrical range: up to 36 km (NEFZ). Fuel consumption: on average 3.4 litres per 100 km (NEFZ).

MAG16154/EL

That‘s how the Cayenne reinvents itself and forges ahead. Straight into the future.

For more information on the new Cayenne S E-Hybrid contact your OfямБcial Porsche Centre or visit www.porsche.co.nz

GILTRAP PORSCHE Auckland Ph 09 360 3200 CONTINENTAL CARS PORSCHE Auckland Ph 09 526 8991 ARMSTRONG PRESTIGE Wellington Ph 04 384 8779 ARCHIBALDS Christchurch Ph 03 377 5200

contents Leading the charge Element profiles the newest electric vehicles Page 14

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James Russell Element editor

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t’s rare, and generally accepted as foolhardy, for an editor to direct readers to another newspaper for their news but, given our remit, it would also be negligent not to point readers in the direction of The Guardian’s recently launched ‘Keep it in the ground’ campaign.

Eloquently announced by the UK newspaper’s editor in chief Alan Rusbridger, the campaign is designed to build public pressure on the world’s politicians attending The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change talks in Paris at the end of the year. Rusbridger is also leaving The Guardian after 20 years, so it’s a fitting swan song for a man who, through years of strong opposition to the very idea of climate change, has been at the helm of the world’s best journalism on the issue.

Speaking of his tenure, he said he had few regrets, except one: “We had not done justice to this huge, overshadowing, overwhelming issue of how climate change will probably, within the lifetime of our children, cause untold havoc and stress to our species.”

The campaign is information based – making use of The Guardian’s specialist environmental team; seven environmental correspondents and 28 external specialists. There is a podcast series, a petition to encourage divestment from fossil fuel assets and hundreds of articles, infographics and videos. Sign up for updates at theguardian.com/keep-it-in-the-ground Oh, by the way, of course we’ll play our part too.

Sign up for the Element weekly newsletter at elementmagazine.co.nz/signup

Business

NZME finds a new green home .............................8

Catch a tiger Numbers on the rise Page 10 Mexican dolphin protected ..................................11 Zero poaching achieved in Nepal ........................11

Sun power The rise of solar Page 20 Launchpad People’s Choice .................................13 Organics .................................................................33

10 Planet

Editor: James Russell editor@elementmagazine.co.nz Co-founder and brand publisher: Gavin Healy, Viridian Media Product manager: Alex Greig Design: Suzanne Denmead and Nick Kean | Online: Amelia Reynolds Cover photograph: Ted Baghurst Contributors: Ted Baghurst (photography), Adam Gifford, Gavin Healy, Janet Luke, Mike O’Connor, Te Radar, Rebecca Reider, Rachel Riley, Quijing Wong.

Advertising enquiries: gavin.healy@nzme.co.nz | 09 373 6096

The next issue of Element is out on April 27, 2015.

Follow us:

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The content of Element magazine is organised around the triple bottom line philosophy – that of people, planet and prosperity.

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Element is a monthly supplement published by The New Zealand Herald in association with Viridian Media.

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upfront All smiles

Bee hoteliers get just desserts The gorgeous summer honey made by the bees of the six hives in Auckland City’s Victoria Park is about to be harvested and a jar given to the people who planted ‘bee hotels’ – patches of pollen-rich plants within striking distance of the park.

The central focus of ‘The Park’ project is a line drawing which has been created on a map of Auckland at makethepark.info. Here the public have been invited to help create a safe bee food inventory of Auckland City.

They do this by posting a photo of bee food that is close to where they work or live.

On Saturday afternoon on April 4 there will be a Honey Harvest Event alongside the six beehives.

An electric motor is 4 times more efficient than an internal combustion engine.

24 stations 25 minutes The time it takes to charge an electric vehicle at one of charge.net.nz’s charging stations.

The Secret Garden of Pukekohe is behind much of the artistic foliage you may find on your plate at Auckland’s top eateries, but now they are bringing their edible flowers to the mass market.

Nature dictates the product range – that’s why each season brings variety to the edible flower selection.

Summer boxes offer a combination of fresh edible flowers, including cornflower, dianthus, viola, coriander, edible chrysanthemum and okra flowers, alongside a variety of complementary seasonal blooms. Wild garlic, rosemary, sweet violet, dianthus, Queen Anne’s Lace, fennel, viola, busy lizzie, brassica and pea flowers typically take centrestage in winter.

WASTE NOT...

4x

Number of charging stations charge.net.nz plans to establish across New Zealand in the next year

Tastes flowery

This month 2,200 A watering can made from recycled primary schools in oral health waste.

New Zealand have taken part in the Colgate Bright Smiles Bright Futures Program (BSBF).

The initiative, a partnership between recycling company TerraCycle and Colgate-Palmolive, encourages pupils to both care for their oral health and recycle toothpaste tubes, floss containers and old toothbrushes. “It is estimated that nine million toothbrushes and 16 million toothpaste tubes are used in New Zealand each year. This is a great community effort to recycle waste that would otherwise end up in landfill,” says Anna Minns, general manager, TerraCycle.

The BSBF Oral Health Education kit has been provided free to primary schools each year since 1997, with over one million children taking part.

290,000+ tonnes tonnes of CO2 emissions saved thus far by EVs driven in New Zealand.

Check out charge.net.nz’s plans to create a nationwide network of EV Rapid Chargers at charge.net.nz.

Source: driveelectric.org.nz

Dairy industry joins predator fight The dairy industry is to join an initiative to tackle the predators decimating New Zealand’s native wildlife.

Five major dairy companies, including Fonterra, have committed $5 million to the Zero Invasive Predators (ZIP) programme, which was founded late last year

by NEXT Foundation and the Department of Conservation.

The partnership intends to find new ways to eradicate introduced predators such as rats, stoats and possums from large areas of land.

The national “Love Food, Hate Waste” campaign launched this month to highlight the amount of food being thrown out by householders in New Zealand, costing the nation nearly $900 million a year. That food is enough to feed almost 263,000 people.

“Food waste sent to landfill also contributes to emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and climate change. Nationally it’s estimated ending food waste would be like taking nearly 120,000 cars off the road,” says Waikato Regional Council’s waste minimisation facilitator Marianna Tyler.

Find out more at facebook.com/lovefoodhatewastenz

VANUATU NEEDS YOUR HELP The effects of Cyclone Pam on Vanuatu have been devastating.

Oxfam teams are on the ground, responding to what is likely one of the worst cyclones ever seen in the Pacific. Entire communities have been blown away.

What happens now will save lives over the next few days and weeks.

“Clean water, sanitation and hygiene supplies are a major issue for those left homeless and for those in evacuation centres,” says Oxfam’s country director for Vanuatu, Colin Collett Van Rooyen.

DONATE AT: oxfam.org.nz

Find out more at secretgarden.co.nz

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Photo: MR Roderick J. Mackenzie

The numbers

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

New eco-friendly home for NZME The shiny new premises of NZME, the parent company of The New Zealand Herald and Element, will hold a five-star Green Star Rating, providing a more eco-friendly workplace for the media corporation’s almost 1000 Auckland-based employees

By Rachel Riley

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atural lighting, fresh air, passive solar heating and ventilation cooling all feature in the plans for NZME’s new headquarters, along with extensive cyclists’ facilities, reduced waste initiatives and office layouts designed for exercise and social interaction.

The new building, currently under construction at 151 Victoria Street West by property developer Mansons TCLM Limited and due for completion in June, consists of six stories – three levels of basement parking and three office floors – encompassing over 20,000 square metres.

Nearly half of the available space will go to NZME, with the relocation is planned for the end of the year.

The design for the new building has achieved a fivestar Green Star design rating, ensuring the plans for its construction meet Green Star criteria. The project team is currently applying for a ‘Built’ rating that guarantees

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the building will meet requirements once constructed, says Miranda James, director of communications for the New Zealand Green Building Council.

“Green Star rates environmental aspects of the building across nine categories: energy, water, indoor environment quality, transport, materials, land use and ecology, emissions, management and innovation,” James says. “Building rating systems such as Green Star are an internationally recognised way of ensuring low environmental impact and better performance.”

Under Green Star rating criteria, the building design was awarded an extra point for innovation for its target goal of reducing landfill waste by a substantial 90 per cent, James said.

The structure’s lobby boasts a 20-m high glass atrium which extends upwards through all the levels of the building, allowing for convective ventilation and impressive views.

Each story, connected via interlinking staircases, contains an internal sky bridge spanning the atrium.

Cyclist facilities include a bike park in the basement of the building, as well as shower and changing areas for those cycling to work. Design plans also establish a designated area for recycling.

The building’s plumbing system ensures reduced water usage, with low-flow fittings used for taps, toilets, and showers. Other eco-friendly materials have been selected for construction, such as timber from sustainably-managed forests and steel partially composed of recycled materials.

Exterior design of the building balances access to natural light and insulation with external shading panelling

to keep the building cool. Blueprints also ensure tons of fresh air for NZME employees working indoors, with an outdoor air ventilation rate 1.5 times that of building code requirements.

The move will encompass much of the media company’s operations in Auckland, including NZME Radio, The New Zealand Herald newsroom, and digital operations such as New Zealand’s leading deals business GrabOne. Air conditioning has been contracted to McAlpine Hussmann, a member of the NZ Green Building Council that specialises in sustainable refrigeration and air conditioning. The system uses water chillers and air handling units selected to ensure optimum efficiency and uses refrigerant that will not be harmful to the ozone layer. A fully automated control system (BMS) offers zone-by-zone control and energy saving options for heating and cooling the building after hours.

NZME transformation danager Sarah Judkins, who is in charge of overseeing the move, says features of the new building are significantly more energy efficient than those of the old building, which was purchased by Manson TCLM last year.

She also points out that the design will encourage more interaction. “The floor plan designs that are being developed are open-plan to encourage the sharing of ideas, learnings and opportunities,” says Judkins. “It is important, however, that there is adequate space for people to think and have quiet time. To this end we have created break out spaces and staff hubs accessible to all staff.”

ELEMENT PROMOTION

Redefining solar energy in New Zealand ZEN Energy Systems is redefining the solar energy market in New Zealand. From creating Australasia’s first fully integrated solar energy system to offering the most technically advanced energy storage systems on the market, ZEN specialises in tailored energy solutions

by Gary Farrow ypically solar energy systems consist of a range of components made by a variety of brands. ZEN has turned this model on its head, removing the guesswork and making it easy for those wanting to go solar. The company has worked with the world’s top solar manufacturers to design the ZEN product range, enabling ZEN to provide the most efficient and reliable solar energy systems on the market, with integrated components optimised to work together.

For ZEN’s customers this means a worry-free process – from initial contact and system installation, right through to the end of ZEN’s 25-year manufacturerbacked warranties.

With precision at the core of ZEN Energy Systems, the company believes in taking the extra steps to tailor solutions for each individual customer and has developed advanced tools to analyse and make recommendations based on the best financial outcomes. However, according to ZEN, it’s not always about the financial return. “We have created the analytical tools to balance customers’ emotive, environmental and social drivers with their desire for a superior return on investment,” says Jeff Albert, system design analyst for ZEN. In fact, it has been ZEN’s customers that have helped the company create their three main residential offerings.

ZEN Off-Set seeks to match solar generation with household consumption, maximising the level of solar generation used within the home. These off-set systems tend to produce the best return on investment and ZEN’s analytics make it easy for customers to monitor the results specific to their home.

ZEN Net Zero is designed for customers wishing

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to generate as much electricity as they consume, making their home energy neutral. Under this scenario the timing of consumption and generation won’t necessarily match, resulting in a greater level of solar generation being sent back to the electricity network.

Live Free is for those customers aiming to eliminate their electricity bills altogether. This involves a larger system, with solar generation used to negate the full range of charges on their bill.

Where on this spectrum a ZEN customer sits is completely up to them. “Our customers call the shots,” says Stefan Teat, general manager at ZEN. “Some are strictly financially minded, others are more environmentally or family oriented. No matter the drivers, we have developed our tools and unique approach to solar so that our customers are well educated and in a position to make fully informed decisions. The nature of our business means we have long-term customer relationships, so it’s important they have a complete understanding of what their solar energy system will do for them.”

“After working through the options with ZEN and getting a proper understanding of the benefits of solar energy, we opted for a 2.0kW ZEN Off-Set system,” says ZEN customer Nicki Henshaw. “It has delivered everything they said it would. In fact, generation so far is well in excess of ZEN’s original estimates. As a growing family, we really appreciate the impact the system has had on our electricity bills, reducing them by up to half over the last few months. Performance of the system is so easy to understand, with the ZEN Energy Manager web-based monitoring right at our fingertips when we want it. They’ve covered it all really.”

For more information about ZEN Energy Systems visit www.zenenergy.co.nz or call 0800 936 695.

Energy storage solutions To advance on ZEN’s solar capability, the company is preparing to release the ZEN Urban PowerBank in the second half of 2015, which will enable home and small business owners to store and utilise their solar generation 24/7. All ZEN solar energy systems will be compatible with the Urban PowerBank, allowing customers to reap the maximum benefits of solar now, and then adopt energy storage when the time is right.

“We are excited about the release of ZEN’s Urban PowerBank,” says ZEN customer Nicki Henshaw.

“This will be the clincher in really making us energy self-sufficient.”

For ZEN, the pending release will be a big moment in the company’s evolution. “We believe we can launch the Urban PowerBank into the market for an installed cost that will be within most people’s expectations,” says Stefan Teat. “This represents a remarkable price breakthrough that will activate the home market for energy storage.

These are exciting times.”

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How to protect our living planet

Forensics revealed the organic substance contained a chopped blend of tiger, bear meat and bones prepared for herbal medicine.

The jaw belonged to a tiger cub.

Element and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) begin a content partnership this month, with a close look at how some of our most endangered species are faring.

By Mike O’Connor

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arefully watched by their mother, two Amur tiger cubs play in the snow. At first glance, the footage seems a little unassuming – however the grainy black and white video is much more significant than you might think. Released by WWF staff in February, it’s the first time ever that wild Amur tigers have been caught on camera in China.

To gather the 10-second-long video, conservationists laid camera traps across a tiny portion of the tigers’ massive 3,600km range and hoped for the best. Amur tigers are thought to roam across remote parts of the Russian Far East, small pockets in the border areas of China and possibly even North Korea, but few know for sure. With a population of about 400, every sighting is precious– but it also means to protect the family from poachers, the location where they were spotted must remain secret.

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Just four months earlier, a tiger also tried to enter China, but in a much different way. A routine search of a truck at a checkpoint in Blagoveschensk, Russia, alerted a sniffer dog nicknamed Navigator. Signaling to his handler that something was amiss, bags were quickly discovered filled with an organic substance weighing 1.2 kilograms, and a transparent bag with two fragments of animal jaw weighing 50 grams. Both were hidden beneath the driver’s seat and were bound for China.

Forensics revealed the organic substance contained a chopped blend of tiger, bear meat and bones prepared for herbal medicine. The jaw belonged to a tiger cub.

Sometimes it may seem that for every hard-earned win for the environment, there are two equally heartfelt losses.

For every species saved, another is threatened. So after decades of dedicated conservation effort, are we going backwards or forwards? And importantly, what does all this mean for our kids?

In 2014, WWF released the latest edition of the Living Planet Report, the world’s most comprehensive report on the health of our planet. The report tracks the changing state of wildlife, habitats and our demand on natural resources.

The results were startling. Globally, species populations have declined 52 per cent since 1970. In New Zealand, the population of our native Maui’s dolphins has dropped from 1500 to just 55 over the same period. We cut trees faster than they mature, harvest more fish than oceans replenish and emit more carbon into the atmosphere than forests and oceans can absorb.

It’s sobering and. frankly, a little overwhelming. It’s easy to think that protecting the environment should be treated as a luxury—but our societies and economies depend on a healthy planet. All of us need nutritious food, fresh water and clean air, as well as an acceptable level of health, well-being and opportunity. We are all invested in this world we share.

Our kids can inherit a better world than the one we live in now. To do this requires practical actions, such as shifting investment away from the causes of environmental problems and towards the solutions; making fair, farsighted and ecologically informed choices about how we manage resources; preserving our remaining natural capital, protecting and restoring important ecosystems and habitats; and producing better and consuming more wisely.

As an example, earlier this year it was reported that through close management and the creation of new reserves, numbers of wild tigers in India had increased by more than 57% since 2006. It’s a huge step in the right direction.

We are all connected, and collectively we have the potential to find and adopt the solutions that will safeguard the future of this, our one and only planet.

A copy of the WWF Living Planet Report can be downloaded from panda.org/lpr

The Mexican government has made a bold commitment to protect the vaquita, the world’s smallest porpoise, with the announcement of a ban on gillnet fishing in the upper Gulf of California from March.

Mexican authorities will also invest US$36 million each year to support affected fishing communities and boost conservation efforts. The funds will compensate fishers for abandoning gillnets and pay for surveillance work by local communities in support of federal law enforcement efforts. It is thought less than 100 vaquita remain.

Nepal, the small country that likens itself to a yam caught between two stones with China to the north and India to the south, has been able to achieve 365 days of zero poaching for the second time: in 2011 for rhinos, and for 12 months ending February 2014, for rhinos, tigers and elephants.

Nepal has 10 national parks, three wildlife reserves, and six conservation areas that cover more than 13,000 square miles—23 per cent of the country.

Smart land-use planning has helped restore the Mondi wetlands in South Africa, and uniquely, allowed for commercial tree plantations and a world heritage site to thrive side by side.

As well as protecting a critical wetland, this unique model of conservation and government partnership has resulted in the creation of hundreds of new job opportunities and also inspired central government to commit over half a billion Rand towards wetland conservation in the area.

In March, China’s once-a-decade survey revealed the wild panda population has risen by 268 animals, or 17 percent, to an estimated 1,864 individuals.

Giant pandas, a global symbol of wildlife conservation, are found only in China’s Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.

Much of the success in increasing the panda population comes as a result of conservation policies implemented by the Chinese government with the support of WWF. Since the last survey in 2003, an incredible 27 panda reserves have been established in the country.

In an amazing tale of recovery, Amurm leopard populations have more than doubled in just seven years. New census data reveals the numbers of the world’s rarest cat in Russia’s Land of the Leopard National Park has increased to at least 57, up from just 30 in 2007. An additional 8-12 leopards were counted in adjacent areas of China.

With the support of WWF, scientists reviewed 10,000 camera trap images and identified nearly 60 individual animals, judging by the distinctive pattern of spots on the leopards’ fur.

More than 36,000 predators were eradicated in 2014 by community led conservation group Kiwi Coast in Northland, including 16,386 rats, 14,295 possums and 864 stoats.

A total area of 71,758 hectares are now actively looked after with traps or toxins, helping protect New Zealand’s precious native birds.

Kiwi Coast’s goal is to create New Zealand’s first kiwi corridor, which will protect kiwi over 175km from Bream Head to Hihi in East Northland.

Photo: Michel Gunter

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SOCIAL CHANGE

Talita De Lange and her son Michael (three years) implementing the Way to Play strategies.

Playing nice Parents of autistic children are experiencing profound change in their parent-child relationships through the initiative ‘Way to Play’ Opinion: Qiujing Wong

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he greatest barrier to any social change is society’s complacency and acceptance of the majority-driven norms. It takes extraordinary and visionary change makers to view the world differently, challenge the status quo and introduce the need for positive change.

In previous Element articles, I discussed principles for creating positive social change movements – from capturing and implementing the Great Idea; to reframing issues with a positive outlook; to the use of Nudge theory to bring about changes in attitudes.

A key attribute of creating social change is known as “micro-mobilisation” – the development of small, localised groups focused on finding a solution to a particular issue or challenge, which is part of the greater whole. It may not be possible to change everybody’s attitudes and preconceptions overnight, but a small group with a particular micro-version of the greater issue can eventually mobilise big change over time.

Sociologist Margaret Mead once said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has!”

One group in society making great advances through

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micro-mobilisation are parents and families of children living with autism.

Families and caregivers of children living with autism have told many stories of the struggle to understand and engage with their children. They therefore struggle to build relationships with them and help their children build trust with the world around them.

A real breakthrough for New Zealand parents of children living with autism is Way to Play – a programme developed

by Neil Stuart and Tanya Catterall (from Autism New Zealand) in collaboration with a number of families and professionals. Way to Play is a programme that works with parents to offer strategies for them to play joyously with their child – something every parent dreams of doing.

Through Way to Play, parents are encouraged to see the world through the eyes of their child. By shifting what they perceive as “normal play” and finding a new way to play, a new norm emerges.

The Way to Play approach is built on trust. By seeing the world from a child’s perspective, the parent is able to establish certain patterns of play based on predictability and variation. The child in turn develops confidence and trust and is then able to explore and enjoy variations of play patterns and build a more joyous bond of play with their parent or caregiver.

As one parent has described the process of understanding their child – “You go from being a mad interventionist and ‘trying to make them better’ to appreciating the person they are.”

Former police officer Vicki Gibbs, who has a son with autism, was reported in a Mindfood article as saying: “Having a child with autism helps you appreciate the small things. They teach you to look at things differently. When

you stand back and listen to them, often they are making complete sense, it’s just a different way of looking at something.”

Small changes like this contribute to an overall better understanding of others.

Borderless has worked with Neil and the Autism New Zealand team to build a web portal that will be launched on April 2, World Autism Awareness Day. Way to Play provides an online resource for parents and professionals who have completed the Way to Play programme with online coaching and links to other members to create support networks and forums for online discussion groups.

Way to Play is an exciting initiative for families living with autism. It is a world-first: a life-changing and societychanging programme.

As a micro-mobilisation within the greater challenge of our perceptions, attitudes and behaviours towards all people living with autism, it is a brilliant contribution.

Visit waytoplay.org.nz to find out more.

Qiujing Wong is the CEO and co-Founder of Borderless, a social change company activating change through storytelling and social movements. In 2012 Qiujing was awarded a Blake Leadership Medal by the Sir Peter Blake Trust and in 2014 she was a finalist in the Women of Influence Awards for her contribution to leadership, entrepreneurship and social change.

Visit borderless.co.nz to learn more.

Qiujing Wong

LAUNCHPAD – PEOPLE’S CHOICE

Levi Armstrong, Kia Diamond and Jackson Waerea of Patu Aotearoa. Photo: Ted Baghurst

And the winner is...

Following nearly six months of intense startup training and ďŹ erce competition, one lucky team of 11 social enterprises nurtured by Contact Launchpad, the Akina Foundation’s social enterprise accelerator programme, has emerged victorious with a grand prize of $20,000 from Contact Energy and a winning idea â€œďŹ tâ€? for social change

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atu Aotearoa, a group exercise programme franchise for Maori and PasiďŹ ka, has won the Contact People’s Choice award after 5500 people cast their votes online at elementmagazine.co.nz over the month-long voting period.

The social enterprise is led by Levi Armstrong, Jackson Waerea, and Kia Diamond, a trio passionate about bringing ďŹ tness and wellbeing to communities that struggle with obesity and other health-related issues.

The $20,000 grand prize from Contact Energy will be used to purchase equipment for new program sites. “Personally this will be a massive injection into the operations of our organisation as we have been operating on a very small budget,� says Armstrong. “It will help us create more impact at a nationwide scale.�

The program applies Maori concepts, using Te Reo Maori and cultural traditions or tikanga to motivate Maori and PasiďŹ ka to adopt a more active lifestyle in a group setting. “Patu Aotearoa is a whanau-based gym that delivers group exercise sessions in a fun environment,â€? Armstrong told Element earlier this year. “We aim to reduce health and social issues and inspire healthy, active lifestyles within communities, marae, workplaces and schools.â€?

While Patu Aotearoa currently operates out of Hastings, the team hopes to expand the franchise nationwide and open regional satellite gyms. In addition, they aim to one day provide a selection of NZQA accredited courses in

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health and ďŹ tness to create employment opportunities in Maori and PasiďŹ ka communities. “We want to transform Patu into a nationwide, franchiseable ďŹ tness model, so that irrespective of location, we can provide the tools and support to whanau who are willing to make positive changes in their lives.â€?

And with an extra twenty grand in their pocket to further their ďŹ tness endeavours, the future looks bright for Patu Aotearoa.

The last word

By Nicholas Robinson, general manager – corporate affairs, Contact Energy It’s been a blast, but it’s almost over! What better way WR FHOHEUDWH WKH HQG RI WKH YHU\ À UVW /DXQFKSDG VRFLDO HQWHUSULVH DFFHOHUDWRU UXQ E\ WKH ĄNLQD )RXQGDWLRQ than by announcing the winner of our Contact 3HRSOH¡V &KRLFH SUL]H ZKR LV QRQH RWKHU than... Patu Aotearoa! %DVHG LQ WKH +DZNHV %D\ 3DWX $RWHDURD DUH DOO DERXW LQVSLULQJ KHDOWK\ OLIHVW\OHV DQG ZKąQDX ZHOOEHLQJ 7KH\ KDYH EHHQ RSHUDWLQJ D J\P LQ +DVWLQJV DQG DUH QRZ ORRNLQJ WR UROO RXW D PRGHO RI JURXS H[HUFLVH GHVLJQHG VSHFLÀ FDOO\ IRU 0ąRUL DQG 3DVLÀ ND IDPLOLHV QDWLRQZLGH :H FRQJUDWXODWH WKHP IRU WKH ZLQ DQG NQRZ WKDW WKH SUL]H ZLOO JR D ORQJ ZD\ WRZDUGV VXSSRUWLQJ WKHP WR JURZ WKHLU VRFLDO HQWHUSULVH DQG WKHLU LPSDFW on our communities.

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THE FUTURE OF MOTORING

Element goes for a spin in the newest pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars on the market

By James Russell

B

ack in 1990, a US telco conducted a study which forecasted the company’s potential mobile phone sales over the next decade at 100,000 units.

By 2000 they had sold 100 million.

That’s what happens when a sexy new technology marries an absolute, unarguable practicality.

I’m going to come right out and say it: the electric vehicle (EV) market will follow a similar trajectory.

OK, it’s a hunch, but it’s backed up by a fortnight of driving a number of EVs over the past weeks.

I now have a feel for their performance, range, running costs, maintenance and feel-good factor. More, I can see the possibilities.

The vehicles reviewed here are an elite bunch, and financially out of reach for most of us. Then again, so were the first black and white TVs back in the day. The great thing about top-of-the-range technology, however, is that it provides a glimpse into what will soon be available to all – just like televisions and the mobile phone.

Every car maker on the planet is in the race to produce EVs which go further and faster, more efficiently, than the generation before.

It’s happening at astonishing speed, with regular breakthroughs, particularly in the area of the vehicles’ batteries.

It’s no longer heavily bearded men in dimly lit garages developing this technology– the heavyweights are getting involved. Tesla founder Elon Musk and his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive of Solar City are currently building the world’s largest battery plant in Buffalo, US, and just last week tech darling Dyson announced it was joining the fray by claiming it was working on a battery which would propel a car for 1000km on a single charge.

The news last month that Apple is rumoured to be developing an electric vehicle should, alone, be enough to prime the market for an avalanche of EV sales if and when that car comes to fruition.

Consider this: the average Kiwi spends around $2500 on petrol each year, with perhaps another $1000 (in an exceptionally good year) on maintenance. Keep your car for ten years – that’s $35,000 on running costs.

Studies show that both running and maintenance costs of pure EVs are about 1/5th of their petrol-powered cousins – that’s $7,000 over ten years. Which works out to $28,000 in the difference over the decade you might hold onto your car.

Right now, then, if you could purchase an EV for $48k, you’re purchasing the equivalent of a $20,000 petrol model – as long as petrol prices stay as they are. Unlikely.

How long will it be until an EV retails for under $50k, under $40k, under $30k? Not long, methinks.

Meanwhile, feast your eyes on the future...

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PORSCHE CAYENNE S E-HYBRID

Photo: Ted Baghurst

It looks like Porsche might be getting serious about electrical energy powering its cars. A couple of its flagships – the $1.7m 918 Spyder has an electric motor (two of which are on the boat here, eagerly awaited by excited buyers) and the Panamera E-Hybrid now boasts a gleaming 130kg lithium ion battery. That drive train has also been implanted into the popular Cayenne to become the S E-Hybrid.

The result is a machine which will travel around 30km on a full charge, or deliver an extra 95 horsepower to the Cayenne’s 333 horsepower combustion engine.

As a driver presses the throttle, it graduates up through the stages – from all-electric driving, to combustion engine only, to ‘boost’ mode, where the whole lot joins forces to give you the push you’d expect from a vehicle from this iconic brand’s range – and a speed of 100km/h in under six seconds. Even when the battery is depleted enough is left so that the drive isn’t left without the boost when it’s needed.

Torque is delivered to all four wheels whether driving under electric power or engine via the limitedslip center differential with a rear-biased (58-per cent) torque distribution.

Much of the time the combustion engine is

unnecessary, with a top speed gained purely from the electric engine (provided you don’t go too heavy on the gas) of 123km/h.

That 30km will cover 95% of New Zealanders’ average commute each day, leaving the engine lying in wait purely for longer drives on the weekend which, frankly, is a treat you’d look forward to after a week of jostling around the city in a car which offers so much on the open road, or indeed off it.

Otherwise, the car is exactly the same as the latest petrol and diesel Cayennes, bar the colour scheme.

The hybridisation of this vehicle is announced with a fluorescent green which pops up unexpectedly in different places on the vehicle, including the brake calipers and, dial needles and the hybrid badge on the side on the car.

As well as the necessary charging equipment, Porsche deliver a stylish wallbox as standard – a nice touch considering this often comes with an additional charge. From a regular three-point plug the battery will be full in four and a half hours, which comes down to 2.7 hours with the industrial unit. Expect an onboard fast charge function to be available soon, which brings it down to 1.3 hours. That’s not bad going for 30km of E travel.

“That’s what happens when a sexy new technology marries an absolute, unarguable practicality.”

Element editor James Russell takes the Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid for a spin. Photo: Ted Baghurst

FAST CHARGING NETWORK Tesla owner Steve West is into EVs in a big way.

He owns a Nissan Leaf and two Teslas – a Roadster and a Model S – with another, the latest Model S P85D (the one with the ‘insane’ mode), on the way.

He has also launched charge.net.nz, an initiative which will install a nation-wide network of Rapid Chargers that lets any EV owner quickly fill their ‘tank’, typically in 10-25 minutes.

Owners will be charged by the minute from the (initial) 23 charging stations, with an estimate of a 25-minute charge costing around $10.

The roll-out begins in June 2015.

West’s initiative has somewhat taken the wind from the sails of the Electricity Networks Association (ENA), which this month announced it is conducting a scoping

study for a ‘Renewables Highway’, with the same end goal as charge.net.nz.

The ENA has formed a working group with representatives from lines companies along with Contact Energy, Mighty River Power and Drive Electric – the new face of the Association for the Promotion of Electric Vehicles.

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BMW I-SERIES

Re-charge Electricity is already the most widely distributed form of energy, not only in New Zealand, but around the world. Petrol stations are few and far between by comparison.

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BMWi3

BMWi8. Photos: Ted Baghurst

The simultaneous launch of the BMW i-series – a sports car – the i8, and a hatchback (i3) powered to differing degrees by electric motors is a statement of intent that the German automotive maker means business in this space.

With a brand of cars which rarely disappoint in terms of style and performance, it was always unlikely that the driving experience of the i8 and the i3 wouldn’t be totally awesome. And so it proved. What did come as a complete surprise, however, was that I would end up liking the i3 hatchback more than the rocket-fast i8.

So, the i8 first. It’s electric for the first 37km only, after which the petrol engine will fling it happily along the road for the next 563km. It’s truly incredible that its 1.5l, three-cylinder engine can propel it with such power and enthusiasm, and it’s pure frustration adhering to the speed limit. This car cries out for the European autobahn or the racetrack. In electric mode, it purrs along silently like an drowsy cat, but engage the engine and it roars like a lion.

Next, the i3: Stepping into this car feels like the future.

Unlike the i8, the i3 has diverged completely from its traditional dash. A small high-resolution TV-sized screen feels like the talking computer brains from a sci-fi show, a feeling which is only heightened when the navigation is engaged. It’s all softened, however, by the timber veneer dash (an optional extra), which somehow gels perfectly with the black carbon fibre mesh and the electric blue, tan and cream colour scheme.

Almost to the same degree as the i8, the i3 draws a lot of attention – by its great looks, thin but large circumference wheels but, mostly, when it zips away from the slack-jawed boy racers at the lights with nothing more than the quiet whine of its powerful electric motor (0-100 in 7.2 seconds).

The Herald motoring editor nearly ran out of electrons on the autobahn in this car (the i3 has a 130km electric range) – something to do with her tendency to gun it while enjoying full air conditioning but, the knowledge that the NZ models have a 9-litre petrol tank fueling a 650cc twocylinder electricity generating engine as a range extender takes the anxiety of being stranded somewhere away.

The i3 retains some semblance of practicality which the i8 doesn’t have (and obviously hasn’t aimed for) purely by virtue of the spacious interior and even a little boot space. It seems that the standard test is to see if you can fit your golf clubs in it but, not being a golfer, I’m looking for storage for two children and lots of assorted other stuff.

Of course only the i3 delivers here.

This is going to sound ridiculous but, if I were offered either car free, I’d take the i3. With seat covers. That cream unholstery wouldn’t last a day under the onslaught of children.

TESLA MODEL S

Photo: Supplied

VOLVO XC90 Photo: Ted Baghurst

When rumours spread about Apple creating an electric vehicle, pundits immediately said it would give Tesla a run for its money. That’s the regard in which this American car maker is held around the world.

There are just six Teslas in New Zealand, and there’s no showroom. A Tesla must be ordered from the factory and shipped here, like a book from Amazon you’ve never read.

After travelling in one, I’ve come to the conclusion that the risk of not liking it when it arrives is low to non-existant. It certainly didn’t disappoint owner Steve West, and was part of his inspiration for founding Charge.net.nz, a new network of EV rapid charge points across the country (see page 15).

The latest iteration is the Model S P85D, which boasts 515kW of power. It’s the reason it has an ‘insane’ setting, which will bring it from a standstill to 100km/h in 3.1 seconds.

So new that there isn’t one here yet, we had to make do with the P85+, which performs the feat in 3.9 seconds.

The first thing that comes to the attention is the room. Open the bonnet, and there’s a half wine barrel’s worth of room in there – enough for a picnic hamper and a lilo.

Open the boot, and there’s so much room the ‘+’ model has an upgrade option of putting two more fold out seats in there for the kids.

There’s no central tunnel in the car at all. It’s extraordinarily spacious.

The touch screen computer console on the dash is the size of, well, a computer screen – a normal one.

The result is that there’s barely a button to be seen anywhere. Tesla would hate this, but it’s like a giant iPhone, from which absolutely everything can be controlled. It’s hard not to feel like Capt. James Kirk.

The Tesla Model S may also be the safest car ever made. It aced the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s test, and actually broke a machine attempting to crush its roof.

At $180,000 for this model, it ain’t cheap, but nor should it be.

Alongside the Volvo Ocean Race yachts forced to wait out Cyclone Pam in Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour was the latest land-lubbing showpiece from the auto company – the plug-in hybrid XC90.

Try as I might to get a test drive in this car, it wasn’t to be. I had a good look around it, though, and was impressed. It’s claimed to be the world’s first plug-in hybrid seven seater SUV, which effectively removes another barrier from EV uptake – that of capacity (although, while not a seven seater, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Tesla Model S and Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid do well on this score too). It has a 50km electric-only range.

The first of the production vehicles is already on sale, but you won’t see your new wheels until June, when they arrive off the boat. It’s not cheap, at $134,900, but it’s unashamedly targeted at the premium end of the market, and designed to take on the BMWs and Mercedes of the world.

The XC90 features a two-litre petrol engine, and a 60kW electric engine. When applied together, this SUV will reach 100km/h in 5.9 seconds.

The driver can choose one of three options – electric only ‘pure’ mode, ‘hybrid’ mode or ‘power’ mode – which provides the aforementioned acceleration.

ON THE GO The PlugShare app locates the nearest EV charging station – anywhere in the world. PlugShare shows both commercial charging stations and those installed in private homes. Not shown, of course, are the millions of three point plugs in homes and businesses around New Zealand – also suitable for charging EVs, albeit slowly.

“The beauty of EVs is that it’s like having a petrol station in your garage. How awesome is that? It’s almost too good to be true,” says Steve West, Tesla owner.

AUDI E-TRON Photo: Supplied

The plug-in hybrid Audi A3 e-tron went on sale in New Zealand last month.

With a 50km electric-only range, it comfortably covers the average Kiwi’s commute – about 35km a day – before the petrol engine kicks in.

An interesting aside to the launch is a partnership with Mighty River Power and retailer Mercury Energy which allows e-tron owners signed up with Mercury to receive a 30 per cent discount on off-peak power (11pm-7am), which brings the cost of a full charge down to about $1.

Charging the A3 e-tron can be done from a standard three-pin, 10-amp wall socket, which takes just under four

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hours. Install a 16-amp supply and that drops to 2 hours 15 minutes.

Customers dubious about the technology will be reassured by the 160,000km/eight-year warranty for the batteries. It also has 96 individual cells which can be replaced individually.

Regrettably I was unable to test this car, but Herald writer Colin Smith articulately describes its handling: “In terms of performance the A3 e-tron responds like you’d expect of a front-drive hatchback boasting a maximum combined output rated at 150kW and an impressive 350Nm of torque. It uses a modified version

of the six-speed dual clutch S-tronic transmission and has 0-100 km/h acceleration in a brisk 7.6 seconds.

“The A3 e-tron accelerates strongly and the immediate 330Nm electric motor torque delivery from standstill gives it impressive response. The top speed in electric mode is 130 km/h and 222 km/h in hybrid mode.”

“You can select from electric mode, hybrid auto mode which includes recuperative charging, a charge mode – which recharges the battery using the engine while driving – and hold mode which lets the e-tron run on petrol and save its battery charge for later in the journey.

MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER PHEV The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) is the car that the average Joe might imagine buying second hand a few years from now.

Brand new this vehicle will set you back $60k – an extra $15k on top of the price of the petrol-only model, but you can expect to save at least $2500 a year on running costs.

Where Mitsubishi has really succeeded here is in ensuring that the transition for customers to an EV is as painless and easy as possible. The 52km electric-only range is generous for a plug-in hybrid – covering not only the NZ average commute but a couple of trips to the shops as well – while you can pack the kids and the kitchen sink for a road trip without a second thought. In terms of pure practicality, the PHEV is currently peerless in New Zealand.

Rough calculations show that the electricity required to re-charge the PHEV could be supplied from just 1kW of solar panels (four average 250W panels) during sunlight hours, which would reduce weekday running costs to zero.

Herald car reviewer Damien O’Carrol described the PHEV’s handling: “It weighs more than a standard Outlander, but with all that weight down in the drivetrain it actually improves the Outlander’s handling. The extra weight also improves the feel of the Outlander on the road. The extra grunt from the electric motors is felt as well, with Mitsubishi’s claim that the PHEV is also the performance model of the Outlander range certainly holding true on the road.”

Photo: Supplied

BY THE NUMBERS...

CAR

ELECTRIC RANGE

FULL RANGE

0-100KM/H

CHARGE TIME

PRICE

Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid

30km

unavailable

5.9 seconds

2.7 hours (fast charger); 4.5 hours (standard plug)

$175,000

BMWi8

37km

563km

4.4 seconds

2 hours (fast charger); 5 hours (standard plug)

$278,000

BMWi3

150km

(with 91 range extender tank): 250km

7.2 seconds

6 hours (fast charger); 12 hours (standard plug)

$83,500

$110,000 (base model)

Tesla Model S

400km

400km

3.9 seconds

4 hours (three-phase Type 2 fast charger); 1.5 hours (rapid charger to 90% charge) (planned for national network – see sidebar); 120km in 12 hours (standard plug)

Volvo XC90 plug-in hybrid

40km

unavailable

6.4 seconds

3.5 hours (standard plug)

$134,900 (inscription model)

Audi e-Tron

50km

800km

7.6 seconds

2.5 hours (fast charger); 4 hours (standard plug)

$74,990

Outlander PHEV

52km

Unavailable

11 seconds

3.5 hours (fast charger); 5 hours (standard plug)

$59,990

THE SOLAR SHOW Step right up! You won’t believe your eyes! Free energy for all! Gavin Healy takes a wild ride through an exploding technology.

Jonas Karsten, the owner of the Lucky Star Cafe, which is, in part, powered by solar panels on the roof. Photo: Ted Baghurst

T

he Lucky Star caravan café and its staff in their circus attire are a kaleidoscope of colour. Extending from the vintage caravan, complete with three ceramic ducks, is a pop-up retro furnished living room. Here a family dressed as rabbits sip green smoothies while watching a hula hoop lazily circle the hips of girl wearing a psychedelic skeleton costume. Ambient music floats from a marquee, and under its eves a serene crowd practice ‘Yoga Rhythms’ under the dual influence of a yoga teacher and a DJ. This surreal experience is my first morning at Sundaise, a relatively new music, arts and sustainability festival put on in the beautiful Dicky Flats at Waihi. It’s a family friendly event which merges nature, workshops, a magnificent kid’s zone, art installations, quality food, wacky costumes, and a great line up of live music and DJs. It also boasts a 97% diversion of waste from landfill, 100% compostable toilets, and a stage run by solar power. In a nutshell, if you’re a greenie and you love music you must experience Sundaise.

The Sunship housing development in Freiburg, Germany. Photo: Getty images

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Jonas Karsten, the owner of the Lucky Star, and resplendent in a ring master’s jacket, denim cut-offs and little else, sits beside me and comments on the quality of the sound system – even though it’s cloudy.

Jonas is a solar PV enthusiast originally from Bonn, Germany but living in Taranaki for over 14 years. He spends a lot of the year travelling around New Zealand to festivals in a bus that looks like a hybrid between Mad Max and Caption Hook. The three solar panels on the roof add to the theatrical spectacle, while also charging a battery bank that runs the lights, water pump and appliances.

“We adapted well to using little amounts of power living in our mobile home so it made perfect sense to use the same concept on our house. All our lights are LED and there is a very efficient DC fridge. Most people don’t read the energy labels on appliances and would be very surprised how little energy efficient things like washing machines actually consume.” Jonas continued by rattling off the exact energy

consumption of a myriad of appliances he uses.

“It was also cheaper to setup a small stand-alone solar system, with additional wind power at home, than to hook up to the grid and pay line charges for most of the year, when we are away travelling and working.”

The curved roof of the Lucky Star Café is also discreetly covered in thin flexible solar panels. “They are charging a 440 ah battery bank which is then converted to 240V by a Xantrex 2400W inverter. Basically the flexible panels power most of the appliances in the café: a juicer at 1100w, blenders at 650w, coffee grinder at 350w, machine electrics at 400w, LED lights at 25w, paging system at 10w, and a sound system often cranked to 350w. The espresso machine – which makes a glorious cuppa – is powered by gas.

“I wanted to have a self-sufficient set-up that could be operated any time at the flick of a switch. I also wanted to showcase the ease of solar set-ups and to inspire other people to get away from using petrol-burning, noisy generators. It seems so wrong to bring dirty generators to places like this.”

The ring master was obviously a solar master too. He had even installed a 6kW system on his parents’ home in Germany. “My brother and I completed the whole installation – right down to the grid-tie hook-up which had to be certified by an electrician. It was straightforward. Prices are slightly cheaper here in NZ but don’t buy cheap grid-tie inverters or regulators as they are always the weak link.”

The major difference with his parents’ system was that they were guaranteed 0.15 Euro for every kWh they pumped back into the grid, while here in NZ there is little support from the Government to support the market. The German government’s investment was also really apparent to Jonas: “Councils are using solar everywhere to cut their own operational costs alongside roads and bridges. It’s fantastic.”

Solar power in Germany accounted for an estimated 6.9 per cent of the country’s net-electricity generation in 2014. About 1.4 million photovoltaic systems are installed

DJ Issac Aeseli powers up his set with pure sunshine. Photo: supplied

SOLAR SOUNDS

in Germany from small roof-top systems to gigantic utilityscale solar parks. Yet Germany has a just a fraction of the solar energy in terms of favourable sun conditions compared to New Zealand.

According to the Sustainable Energy Association of New Zealand (SEANZ) there are just 4500 homes connected here, but its research shows that solar will contribute 10% of the energy mix by 2040. According to researchers Nielsen Media, 28,000 people intend to install solar over the next 12 months.

NZ company Harrisons Energy Solutions, for example, has experienced huge growth in the last 12 months. “Consumers can now see the returns on their investment. Power prices are rising, solar technololgy is well advanced now and, best of all, solar prices are now affordable for many. We have customers from all over New Zealand and from all walks of life, so it’s not a trend but a real lifestyle and economic choice,” says Phil Harrison, director.

Solar panel prices in New Zealand have dropped 75% in the last five years. People can now invest in solar simply for a ROI that is better than the bank can offer.

A study in 2012 from SEANZ showed that solar was already competitive with mainstream energy and that panels’ efficiency (ability to covert sunlight into energy) is increasing.

Meanwhile in the US over the past four years there has been an 86% increase in jobs to cope with demand, with over 174,000 people now employed by the industry. Solar is looking great from a business perspective.

Globally we are seeing an enormous increase in solar power and cleantech investment. Data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance states that clean tech investment soared 16% in 2014 to $310bn. This is a step in the right direction but we need to leap. According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, that needs to increase to $1 trillion by 2030 to stay within the safe 2C rise in global temperatures.

The PA and lighting system for Sundaise was powered by Sunsonics, a mobile, off-grid, solar audio and visual system. It has a large battery bank of stored power that ensures it runs right through the night without the need for a generator, and was founded

by Al Sorley. “It shows that solar can exceed industry aspirations in power excellence, with large capacity storage and generation, providing pure sine wave; the cleanest power, plus no noise and no stinky diesel. It’s obviously mobile, and offers a real solution to the events industry’s sustainability needs, explains Sorley. Just last week Sunsonics ran a 6000W PA and full band, as well as blow-up cinema, PA and projector at Earth Hour, held in Mount Maunganui.

Sunsonics recently bought its solar setup to Splore festival. Photo: supplied

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The panels on the roof of Colenso BBDO, installed by Sunergise. Photo: supplied

SOLAR: A NEW MODEL Solar panels on your home or business for absolutely nada.

How does that work?

By Adam Gifford

T

he equation for going solar is getting simpler.

Meridian’s unilateral decision to cut the amount it pays customers for power going back into the grid may seem a disincentive for local renewable energy.

But it’s a new calculation when the solar firms own and maintain the equipment and the customer buys the power cheaper than they could get it from the grid.

That’s the deal Nelson-headquartered Solar City is pushing into the Auckland market as its solarZero package, and other firms are looking at similar offerings.

It’s a model that has worked with great success for the other SolarCity, the United States business with over 40,000 customers.

Solar City (New Zealand) chief executive Andrew Booth says his firm is able to exploit a number of economic advantages, including falling technology costs and the fact generating power from the sunlight falling on your roof is as local as it gets.

“When Meridian provides power to Auckland from its dams in the South Island, 30 per cent of the power is lost on the way, whereas we have no loses whatsoever.

“The price our customer pays for power pivots off the price of the technology,” he says.

Booth says Meridian’s existing customers have been besieging Solar City for alternatives since learning the buyback rate dropped by two thirds.

“I worked out on the back of a fag packet the [Meridian] chief executive is paid more annually that the amount they have to fork out to customers for those small amounts of power they buy.

“They argue it’s about economics, but it’s about that they want to regulate solar out of the market because they know it will out-compete them.”

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Booth says Solar City is using the same financing mechanism used to create the hydropower dams to allow ordinary families to put solar on their roof to generate power.

“We know 85 per cent of New Zealanders want to go solar but the vast majority can’t afford to do it because the upfront capital cost is too big.”

About 100 customers signed up in the first month, and Booth expects demand to grow quickly.

To make the shift, Solar City raised $25 million in additional capital from its shareholders, who include investment fund Pencarrow and Stephen Tindall’s K1W1.

“You need to have shareholder backing from individuals and organisations willing to take a long-term view,” Booth says.

“...it’s a new calculation when the solar firms own and maintain the equipment and the customer buys the power cheaper than they could get it from the grid.”

He says established power companies are trying to slow adoption of solar, but it’s an unstoppable change.

“Right now for 75 per cent of all homes in New Zealand we can deliver power up to 30 per cent cheaper than the retailers and that’s the rub,” he says.

Sunergise has also been raising extra capital to fund a lease programme, which it aims at the commercial sector.

Co founder Lachlan McPherson says the first phase of solar power, where individuals bought systems, may be on the way out.

“When you lease you don’t need to worry about the technology as it improves, you are not caught in old technology, you are not concerned with maintenance so the decision to go solar is easy – do you choose cheaper power or not?

Most of Sunergise’s business is done in the Pacific Islands, where it has access to United Nations development funds, but McPherson says directors are committed to the goal of having New Zealand on 100 per cent renewable power by 2025 – the same year we all give up smoking.

What they can achieve can be seen from the 60KW system on the Colenso BBDO building at the top of College Hill.

McPherson says since it was installed at the end of last year it has saved 60 tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere.

Systems are sized for daytime use, supplying about half a customer’s needs.

“The reason we don’t provide more than 50 per cent is we don’t want to be feeding too much back into the grid,” he says.

That may change once the customer base builds up so it has a large enough amount of power to negotiate a better price.

Brendon Winitana from the Sustainable Energy Association says at least three other companies are looking at the rental model.

“It’s about removing a barrier, the up-front capital cost,” he says.

“To do that you have to contemplate the technology, the cost of supply and installation and load in a monthly rate where you buy the power, not the technology. All you need is a defined period to secure the deal.”

That’s bringing solar into line with commercial vehicle fleets and IT hardware and software, where lease deals are the norm.

“We are delighted. SEANZ said two years ago finance and funding mechanism will open the doors to many more consumers, residential or business.”

He says it’s ideal for commercial customers because it is an operating expense off the balance sheet, there is no capital tied up and it’s tax-deductible.

As of August 2014 New Zealand had just over 50 commercial and 3300 residential installations.

That’s a long way behind Australia, which has passed 1.2 million installations.

SOLAR POWER.

WITH NO UPFRONT

COSTS. ZERO DOWN. ZERO IMPACT.

It’s time to push back against electricity prices that have increased by 69% in ten years, by reducing your dependence on fossil fuel generated power.

There’s a better way to power our homes and businesses. Simply by switching to solar power for your daytime energy needs.

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ON ISLAND, OFF GRID

By Lindsay Wright

In June last year cyclone strength winds battered the Auckland region overnight and brought down much of the urban infrastructure. More than 85,000 houses lost mains electricity: heat, hot water and cooking facilities.

Foodstuffs festered in defunct freezers, traffic lights died and reduced commuter traffic to a cautious crawl, computers became useless and panic buying stripped supermarket shelves. Civil defence officials fretted about declaring a state of emergency while power line workers were still struggling, two days later, to reconnect some suburbs.

But 86 kilometres to the east, Great Barrier Island sustained the same battering. Almost every road on the island was washed out and the network of DOC tracks which weave round the convoluted coastline and mountainous hinterland were decimated but nobody lost power, food stayed frozen and some people rejoiced at the job opportunities that repair work would bring to the island. Afterwards they took to chainsaws and shovels to clean their island up.

Despite it’s proximity to Auckland, Great Barrier is one of the most remote locations in the country. Those 86 km traverse the frequently turbulent Colville Channel which has imbued island residents with hardy self reliance and a pride in their independence. Unlike Stewart Island, where mains power is reticulated from a diesel generating plant, every household on Great Barrier provides it’s own power.

“It’s part of the Barrier’s tradition of independence and ingenuity,” says Murray Willis who has installed many of the Island’s sustainable energy solutions, says.

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About 500 households on the island are completely self sufficient in energy – using either solar, wind or water power,” he added. I’ve installed about 350 of those.”

Many of those systems were installed under the auspices of the Rural Electrical Reticulation Council, a 1987 government initiative which used .1% from every unit of electricity bought in New Zealand to subsidise power supplies to remote areas.

“It was great,” he smiled, “we were putting power on for people who had only ever used candles or kerosene lamps and wood fires for cooking. Old ladies who had never had electricity – they would turn the switch on – and their faces would be awestruck. They couldn’t stop grinning.…they would go away….then come back and switch it on again to make sure it was still working.”

A subsequent government wiped the scheme so the islanders were back on their own – manufacturing their own energy systems. Wind generators which were locally made in the 70s from washing machine motors, scrap car wheel hubs and propellers made of aluminium pipes are still in use.

Later on, Great Barrier residents were canvassed to find out how many of them would use mains reticulated electricity from the mainland if it was made available – and 98% of them voted to stand alone.

“Why change? – we’re years ahead of the rest of the country,” Willis explains.

DOC’s island headquarters have been sustainably powered for years and all the emergency services, including police and Great Barrier Maritime Radio are solar powered.

Willis proudly points to the success of Aotea FM. “We’re the only place in the world with a solar powered FM radio station,” he says. The delightfully quirky community broadcaster features, among others; Adam from Okupu,

Nikki of Angels Love of Horses and Henry’s Happy Hour over 94.6 and 104 mHz frequencies.

“Renewable energy systems are always compared, in price and reliability, with mains power – so they have to work properly,” Willis said.

“You have to consider the power system as an integral part of the building. The battery capacity is the heart of the system so always use the best quality you can afford.”

He and wife Jan installed a solar and wind-powered system at their Whangaparapara cottage 25 years ago and used it to run the power tools needed to build their adjacent house. “We’ve got a diesel generator as back up – I start it once a month to make sure it still works – but we haven’t used it in years.”

Summer weather has been getting wetter, he says, so he also installed a Pelton wheel generator in a nearby creek.

“Fridges and lights are the only components made to run off sustainable power,” he says.

“Water heating is a big power user – we used a wetback off the wood stove – but we don’t run heat pumps, underfloor heaters, heated towel rails and haven’t got a heated pool. But so what – they’re a small price to pay for being self reliant.”

“In power supply terms, Great Barrier is already where the rest of the western world is struggling trying to achieve.”

An “Off the Grid” energy event will be held on Great Barrier Island from May 8-10 for those looking to reduce their electricity consumption. Participants will learn more about alternative energy choices from a forum of experts and tour of local commercial and residential properties employing energy-saving technologies.

BUY A BETTER WORLD Welcome to ShopGreen, the new marketplace from Element. Here’s where the power of your wallet can bring about social and environmental good, through choosing to purchase from New Zealand’s most sustainable and ethical companies. Read all about this month’s offerings on the following pages, and visit shopgreen.co.nz to purchase.

26 Go Green Expo A weekend of sustainable living

27 NZ Organics magazine Aotearoa’s definitive voice on organics and green living

28 Benetto chocolate Fairtrade, organic, all-natural, blissful drinking chocolate

29 Sunergise A Kiwi company bringing solar relief to Vanuatu

30 Green Kleen A new range of eco-friendly household products

Buy now @ shopgreen.co.nz element

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PUBLIC EVENT

GO GREEN EXPO

Get to the Go Green Expo With over 140 exhibitors, the 2015 Go Green Expo takes place on April 18 - 19 at Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds.

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n upcoming event features all that you need for a more sustainable lifestyle.

Auckland’s 2015 Go Green Expo is a one-stop-shop for consumers looking to live green. The show offers the best brands of eco-friendly merchandise, as well as a host of speakers and seminars designed to help kiwis embrace healthier living options.

“The purpose of the expo is to showcase everything from organics to natural, sustainable and green living products – everything you need for better living,” says Go Green Expo show organiser Damien Hochberg.

The Go Green Expo boasts of keynote speakers such as all-natural cleaning aficionado Wendyl Nissen from Green Goddess, space-saving environmentalist Bryce Langston from Living Big in a Tiny House, and representatives from all-natural Sleep Drops New Zealand.

Also featured at the expo are an array of presentations and demonstrations, from juicing and baking to LED light and solar panel installation. Notable presenters include Poland’s Minister of Environment Marcin Korolec and author Janet Luke from Green Urban Living.

Categories of consumer goods available at the expo include health, beauty, fashion, pets,residential building and renovation,heating, energy efficiency, water, recycling, travel and transportation,

renewable energy, organics and gardening.

“We have over 140 exhibitors,” says Hochberg. While some of the products come from medium-to-large-sized Kiwi companies, others come from larger distributors such as ecostore and overseas companies.

Organic cafe-style food, coffee, beer and wine are also available.

Tickets to the 2015 Go Green Expo are available online at the price of $10 each. Children under 16 get in free. The expo runs from 10am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday, April 18 and 19.

For an additional fee of $10, visitors may also attend TV personality Claire Turnball’s “Feel Good for Life” workshop, where the renowned nutritionist will reveal her tips for eating right, sleeping well and making the best choices for strong health and wellbeing. Turnball’s workshops will take place Saturday and Sunday morning at 10:30am – space is limited.

Over 10,000 people attended Auckland’s Go Green Expo in 2014.

Hochberg says they are anticipating a similar crowd at this year’s show.

Other notable exhibitions include a hydrogen-powered Harley Davidson and the ELF bike, a solar-powered bike recently featured on local news.

“There’s something there for everyone,” Hochberg says.

Visit GoGreenExpo.co.nz for more information.

Buy your Go Green Expo ticket for just $10 at shopgreen.co.nz

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ORGANIC LIVING

ORGANIC NZ MAGAZINE

Organic NZ a manual for good living Organic NZ has been a treasured Kiwi title since 2001 and continues the publishing tradition of the Soil & Health Association which stretches back to 1942.

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or trustworthy advice on organic living, there is nothing like the bedrock publication of the organic movement in New Zealand: Organic NZ magazine. In fact, it’s the only magazine in the country that is 100% devoted to organics. Whether you’re interested in growing your own food, or simply living an urban lifestyle and raising a healthy family, the magazine is an indispensible source of independent information on all aspects of organic living.

Regular topics include organic farming and gardening, food and nutrition, natural health, eco-building and consumer information on how to choose safe products. It’s one of those magazines that many subscribers seem to have trouble putting in the recycling bin, because much of the information on both health and gardening is timeless.

Originally more of a gardening magazine, Organic NZ has grown into a trusted friend for many health-conscious consumers as well.

With an ever-growing number of products decorating supermarket shelves, as a society we have never had more choice of foods – yet amidst a storm of vague eco-labels and mysterious food additives, it has never been harder to know what to buy. With an editorial staff committed to integrity and backed by scientific research, Organic NZ

publishes information on products to avoid, from electrical pollution by ‘smart meters’ to particular ingredients in cosmetics. Yet the pages still brim with celebration of the country’s most shining examples of healthy living. Infused amidst all the facts are DIY guides to the alternatives – including information on how to keep yourself healthy with herbs, foods and natural products; and if you’re growing your own, how to nourish your soil so that your plants nourish you.

Organic NZ is published by the Soil & Health Association, a notfor-profit registered charity with a deep commitment to an organic future for Aotearoa. Founded in 1941, Soil & Health’s motto of “healthy soil – healthy food – healthy people” has never been more relevant than it is today. Subscriptions to Organic NZ magazine support the work of Soil & Health as well.

The association has been a strong voice at the front lines of the fight for a GE-free country, lobbying government and participating in court actions to maintain our GE-free status. Through its Project Gro, Soil & Health also provides funding to school and community groups to start new organic gardens – making us a more organic nation from the ground up.

For more information visit organicnz.org.nz

Visit shopgreen.co.nz to subscribe to Organic NZ for just $45 (one year, six issues), and save over 15% off the retail price.

www.shopgreen.co.nz element

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FOOD & WINE

BENNETTO

Not all chocolate is created equal Organic. Fairtrade. 70% cocoa. Award-winning. Bennetto drinking chocolate is the biz.

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ucy Bennetto was never able to enjoy traditional brands of drinking chocolate because the high amounts of refined sugars and soy additives triggered her migraines. That’s when she came up with the idea for a sustainably sourced, all-natural dark chocolate bar designed to dissolve in steamed milk to create a rich, flavourful hot drink of pure high cocoa chocolate.

“The aim of this particular chocolate is to create a world-class drinking chocolate brand that reflects high standards of ethics, integrity, and quality,” Bennetto says.

Bennetto Natural Foods Co. Drinking Chocolate is organic and contains only three ingredients: cocoa beans, raw sugar, and vanilla.

The high-quality dark chocolate, made of 70 per cent cocoa solids, is gluten and dairy-free and contains no additives, preservatives, or refined white sugar.

The chocolate’s ingredients are ethically sourced, with the cocoa and sugar coming from Rainforest Alliance Accreditation Fairtrade cooperatives in Peru and Paraguay.

After she began making chocolate, Bennetto travelled to the Dominican Republic in 2011 to experience the origins of cocoa beans first-hand. By visiting several Fairtrade cooperatives and cocoa processors in the Santo Domingo area, she learned how cocoa beans were produced, from the harvesting and drying processes to the pressing of cocoa butters.

“I was shown the different community housing that had been built. I

talked with many farmers and got to see that Fairtrade is really making a difference to people’s lives,” says Bennetto.

The bars are made and hand-wrapped in New Zealand in eco-friendly packaging that uses vegetable ink. Bennetto says she is currently working on wrapping that is also fully compostable.

In 2014, Bennetto Drinking Chocolate was awarded best new retail product by Fine Food New Zealand and won the title of Fairtrade’s best small business.

Each year, the company supports a different cause. Five cents from the sale of every drinking chocolate bar is currently donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Association of New Zealand. “Part of the premise of doing this is creating a brand that gives back,” Bennetto says.

Bennetto is now working on three spice blends to incorporate into the chocolate, with one flavour, chai, already available for sale in a ceramic grinder which allows customers to sprinkle the spice mix on top of the chocolate. “We have combined some fantastic flavours such as clove, cardamom, bay leaves, black pepper and orange that balance the chocolate beautifully, especially with milk.

“Right from the beginning it was this driving desire to create something that’s previously been perceived as junk food, or a naughty treat,” says Bennetto. “But if you’re using good ingredients, if you’re considering the environment, if you’re considering the growers and suppliers, you can actually produce something that’s not really naughty at all.”

Visit shopgreen.co.nz to get one carton (25 bars) of Bennetto premium organic, Fairtrade drinking chocolate bars for $84.90

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www.shopgreen.co.nz

SOLAR ENERGY

SUNERGISE

Bright ideas for Vanuatu Kiwi company Sunergise is rushing to the rescue of the people of Vanuatu, by bringing solar electricity solutions to the repair. You can help too.

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unergise, the first pan-Pacific solar power utility, helps businesses and communities to save money on power by going solar for no capital down. When Cyclone Evan swept through Fiji in December 2012, Sunergise had just installed a major solar installation at the Port Denarau Marina. While the marina was extensively damaged, the only damage to the system was one loose panel.

Following the devastation wrought by cyclone Pam, Sunergise is now bringing solar to Vanuatu to help power the recovery effort. The company was scheduled to install a 1.2 MW system at Iririki Island Resort just off Port Vila when the cyclone hit. With major damage to grid infrastructure throughout the country, Iririki and other leading employers are facing acute power shortages and a prolonged delay in restoring electricity.

Sunergise is currently working with the resort to begin restoring power, as part of the ongoing repair efforts. The company will also use Irikiki as a depot for an ambitious project to offer basic power at village level, with help from Element and Shop Green. CEO Paul Makumbe says Sunergise is sending up 1000 simple solar lighting and phone charge kits. “We’ve donated 150 kits ourselves, and would love to expand to reach more villages. The scale of the impact has been significant. Through ShopGreen, we are inviting Kiwis to partner with us in this important initiative,” he says. “Anyone can purchase a solar kit online and this will be donated to people in desperate need

Terms and Conditions: Offer includes shipping and distribution. Limited to 1000 units. Distribution is to be decided

by Iririki Island Resort Management.

Offer ends April 10, 2015.

www.shopgreen.co.nz

of power as they rebuild their lives. If we get one in each village, it will produce enough electricity to charge mobile phones and allow some lighting at night so people can keep working. It’s something to give them a head start on the road to recovery.” Makumbe says the company always intended that Iririki be an example for other resorts and large sites in Vanuatu.

Sunergise’s mission is to make cleaner, cheaper solar energy available to businesses and communities throughout the Pacific Islands and New Zealand. “We sell power, not panels,” says Makumbe. “We are the first company in the region to offer solar for no capital down.” The company finances, designs, installs and maintains customised solar arrays. It retains ownership of the equipment, includes all maintenance and servicing and customers simply buy power for less than they would otherwise pay. He says it’s a compelling proposition for companies, “especially if you are an offthe-grid resort running diesel generators. We have a resort customer in Fiji who is saving over $100,000 a year in diesel.”

Solar also helps companies to boost their brand, and make a tangible impact in mitigating climate change. “Particularly working with commercial customers, we are able to make a bigger impact faster,” says Makumbe. “One conversion of a large company can save as much carbon as 100 residential installations. We measure and collect all this data too using our unique app, so our customers can easily quantify their contribution to the environment.”

Sunergise, Element and Iririki Island Resort Vanuatu are working together to help the people of Vanuatu get up and running sooner.

With your help, we will provide portable solar power lighting and phone charging kits to families in Vanuatu. Visit shopgreen.co.nz and for just $40 you can buy a family in Vanuatu a SunKing Pro2 portable solar power kit. This is the cost price of the unit.

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NATURAL CLEANING

GREEN KLEEN

A clean slate ǡ ǡ ϐ Ǥ

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t seems an unlikely new direction – that a paper business should suddenly move into the production of eco-friendly cleaning products.

Yet Kiwi company BJ Ball’s Green Kleen range has arrived on the market fully formed, with no fewer than six home cleaning products, along with a full range of auto cleaning products. The eco-friendly range is priced just below big global brands that use traditional formulations.

“We think it’s a breakthrough in eco-friendly cleaning in terms of effectiveness and pricing, which means that more Kiwis can embrace healthier choices for cleaning inside and outside the home,” says Simon Yandall, national sales manager of Green Kleen.

The company traditionally distributes paper products, but has diversified its offerings to provide consumers with affordable, effective cleaning options that aren’t harmful to people and the environment like traditional cleaners.

Green Kleen products are made of plant-based, non-hazardous ingredients and feature local scents such as Hawke’s Bay Apple and Gisborne Orange.

“The ingredients are based on renewable resources,” Yandall says.

“Not only are they non-toxic, so they don’t harm people or the planet, but they’re also sustainable.”

The Green Kleen Home Care collection includes all the essential products to keep a household spotless, including dishwashing liquid, glass cleaner, bathroom and shower sprays, and a practical multipurpose cleaner.

The products have outperformed traditional spray cleaners in headto-head independent lab tests.

Members of / Certified by:

“There has been a perception that natural is not as effective,” says Yandall. “We’ve come up with some innovations in the way we use ingredients, and consumer testing has confirmed the products perform exceptionally well.”

Also available is the Green Kleen Auto collection, which offers products such as Tyre Shine made of natural oils, lanolin and fruit extracts; interior cleaner containing natural anti-bacterial agents; and biodegradable wheel cleaner, car wash and wax, and windscreen washer.

Except for the spray trigger, Green Kleen products are made entirely in New Zealand. Because the cleaners are manufactured locally, BJ Ball Group is able to offer Green Kleen products at extremely competitive prices. “We’re operating within a larger company, so we don’t have the start-up costs associated with other companies,” Yandall says.

With the projected growth rate for eco-friendly cleaning brands at 10 per cent compared to two per cent for traditional cleaning brands, the market is poised for change in a sustainable direction.

“We’re proud to be bringing to market a clean, green product that is almost entirely New Zealand-made,” says general manager Ken Collin.

“But what’s more important is that in its affordability and effectiveness, the Green Kleen range advances the potential for New Zealanders to live in ways that are more environment-friendly and sustainable.”

All Green Kleen products are 99% natural and certified to New Zealand’s highest eco-standard Environmental Choice, and all are septic tank and grey water safe.

Find out where you can purchase Green Kleen products at greenkleen.co.nz

Visit shopgreen.co.nz to purchase the Green Kleen Home Care Pack for just $19.95.

Each pack contains: 1 x Dazzling Dishwash 420ml 1 x Sparkling Shower Cleaner 500ml 1 x Crystal Clear Glass Cleaner 500ml 1 x Beautiful Bathroom Cleaner 500ml 2 x Multi Purpose Cleaner 500ml

www.shopgreen.co.nz 30

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GARDENING

Season of plenty JANET LUKE GARDENING

Autumn is closing in. The mornings are definitely darker now and there is a crispness to the air, but the garden is still cranking Ripe for the picking Golden queen peaches, field grown tomatoes, rock melon, pears, watermelon, chilli, aubergine, new potato and the last of the sweetcorn are all in season.

In the vegetable garden This is a wonderful month in the garden as the late summer harvest is in full swing. Gather the last tomatoes, dig potatoes, yams and kumara and Jerusalem artichokes.

If you still have unripened tomatoes on your vines you can dig up the whole plant roots, fruit and all, and hang the plant upside down under cover. The last tomatoes should ripen this way.

Insects can do a lot of late season damage. Keep a close eye on the health of your plants. If you see holes being chomped in leaves or the tips of plants wilting it might pay

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to investigate further. A spray of neem or pyrethrum may be in order.

Now is the time to get some early winter crops in.

Plant seedlings of broccoli, kale, cabbage, carrots and leeks.

It may seem early to be thinking about winter crops, but if you get them in the soil now, they will race ahead in the autumn warmth and be ready to harvest before the really cold and wet weather descends on us.

Vegetables to sow: broccoli, cabbages, carrots, Chinese cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuces, spinach, silverbeet and Swedes.

Urban orchard Get the remaining stone fruit off your trees. Any dew or rainfall will cause an explosion of fungal spores rotting the remaining fruit. When you have harvested these stone fruit, get to work and prune out any overcrowded limbs.

The shape you are working towards is an open vase shape.

Don’t be shy; hack back half to two thirds of this year’s growth. Pruning your peach, plum, nectarines and apricot trees now while they are still in leaf minimises the risk of silver leaf disease. These fungal spores are at their highest during the cool, wet winter months.

Harvest grapes as they ripen. All grape vines will need netting from the birds and other critters. At our place our chocolate Labrador has developed a taste for fresh grapes!

Obviously she hasn’t read the manual which states that raisins are poisonous to dogs!

Lay straw, newspaper and flattened cardboard boxes under your passionfruit. This way as ripe fruit falls it won’t be lost in the undergrowth.

Backyard Top Bar Bees Keeping bees is allowed under most of the country’s council bylaws. It is, of course, best to check so visit your own individual council’s website. Most councils allow you to keep up to two hives in an urban area as long as they do not cause a nuisance to neighbours. To keep bees you also have to register with AsureQuality. There is a yearly fee of around $35. Every beekeeper must submit a yearly Certificate of Inspection. This piece of paperwork is to state that your hives have been checked for diseases by a trained beekeeper. You can become a trained beekeeper by attending a half-day course and sitting a test. If you are yet to do this and need your yearly paperwork filled in, you can contact your local beekeeping club, and there may be a person there who can do these checks for you.

Eco Tip On a clean tennis ball drop a few drips of lavender essential oil and place in dryer. The tennis ball will infuse your clothes with a lovely scent as it separates and helps to dry your clothes faster as the dryer is on.

FOOD

WRONG TURN: New Zealand’s food future One of the world’s foremost food experts has a stark warning for New Zealand.

Element sat down with Dr. Vandana Shiva to speak about the TPPA, corporate power in agriculture and the future of New Zealand Interview by Rebecca Reider

RR: The TPP [Trans Pacific Partnership] is a big issue right now. A lot of people aren’t educated about it because none of us know exactly what’s in it. What would you caution New Zealanders about if this agreement is signed?

Vandana Shiva: I don’t think people in New Zealand have an excuse to say: ‘we don’t know what’s in it.’

Even before I saw the text of the TTIP [Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a proposed EU-US free trade agreement], I could predict: it will be about pushing GMOs [genetically modified organisms], pushing even stronger from the perspective of corporations’ intellectual property rights, and pushing deeper corporate rights versus sovereignty. The texts of the TTIP have been leaked out. TPP is just a different geographical reach, but it’s the same corporations, so we can make a very good guess that this is what will be in it.

Looking at this side, Japan is GMO-free; most of the other Asian countries aren’t growing GMO food; China is sitting on the fence; New Zealand is GMO-free. One aspect that the citizens of New Zealand should be very worried about is this will be used for pushing GMOs, and therefore deregulating biosafety. You won’t be able to have labelling [of GMO food]. Labelling will be treated as an interference in trade.

The second thing that New Zealand should worry about is this: basically the US has decided its way of growth into the future is rent collection. It’s not a production economy any more. Even in agriculture, its primary growth is revenue collection through patented seeds, which are GMO seeds. And so they will push laws to prevent farmers from saving seed.

For example, last year there was the case of a farmer called Bowman who went to the market, bought soya grain and planted it. Monsanto sued him: ‘It’s ours, and every time you grow it, you’re infringing our patent’. And the [US] court ruled that, basically, a farmer, by growing a crop out, was stealing a self-replicating machine; that seeds are machines, and every generation of the seed renewing itself in the fields of the farmer is a theft from the company.

And the third thing, which I think is the most serious thing – the centerpiece of both TPP and TTIP – is ‘investorstate dispute settlements’. They created this anonymous word ‘investor,’ but it’s about corporations. A corporation can sue any government making decisions according to its democratic obligations and its people’s will…. They’re basically going to these very secretive trade dispute panels, which have been constructed by the corporations themselves, and where the so-called judges are about corporate rights and free trade.

RR: The current New Zealand government is in favour of agricultural intensification, more industrial inputs, commodity exports, milk powder, with export dollars being the goal. How can we find economic prosperity without harming our rivers, our ecosystems and our biodiversity?

VS: Even though the dairy industry is so big for New Zealand, it’s very small compared to the Indian dairy industry. But the Indian dairy industry is not an industry; it’s a woman with a buffalo or three goats or two cows, that’s the basis of production.

Given that New Zealand is 6% of the global dairy trade, anyone reasonable would say: ‘Okay, if I’m only 6%, do I do what the 94% is doing? Or do I go as a 6% market for what is unique to me – which is a good environment – and build on quality and sustainability?’

Going the intensification way to compete with the 94% is stupidity. It’s stupidity because in no system has intensification worked for the producer. It has wiped out the small producer. First it’s that four cows aren’t good enough, then it’s that 400 aren’t good enough, then it’s that 4000 aren’t good enough.

So has there been a discussion among the small dairy units to say, ‘Do you want to get wiped out?’

Also, in all of these systems, the cost of production is more than the value of the product. The politicians might fool the public to say: ‘we are exporting so much’; they will never give you the figures of how much they’re importing to make that industrial system work.

You have great internal resources. You can have the best national economy on grass-fed [dairy]; that unique niche is what the world is seeking.

The way the politicians are pushing New Zealand, you will have tenfold more cost of imports, which will be GMO soya, and your incomes off your exports will drop for the simple reason that you’re producing bad quality. It doesn’t make sense.

RR: When companies, government, the whole industry are pushing farmers to go down this intensification pathway, how do we shift? How do we support farmers to shift? Any lessons from Navdanya (see Shiva’s bio, below right)?

VS: The first thing is that the 50 years post-war were really about building systems of national sovereignty based on the public good. And because that was the project, people could get busy with small things, and leave the rest to government. They left good agriculture policy to government; they left shaping of markets to government; they left research to governments; they left

Photo: Kyraxavia.com

safety analysis to government, because governments worked for the public welfare.

The beginning of ‘free trade’ is, in effect, a return to the 1930s of the United States…. It was the 1% controlling 99% of the wealth. With these welfare economies, it came down, the share of the 1%; and now it’s back. In that phase, we could delegate a lot to governments. In this phase [now], we cannot.

RR: Because they’re owned?

VS: They are owned by the corporations.

So what do we do? There are two ends of any production system; there’s nature, and there’s people’s needs. That meeting has to take place.

That’s the economy.

The challenge of what can we do today is, in the period of government failure, start engaging more in making this link [between nature and people’s needs] in other ways. We can no more work on this just as a farmers’ issue, or just as a consumer issue, or just as a health issue, or just as a sustainability issue. It’s the linkages, the more robust the linkages we build. Because there is a desperate need here for healthy food for sustainable livelihoods. And if we meet those two… that’s how we serve the farmers. In Navdanya that’s exactly what we’ve done. We’ve reclaimed the seed, and every time they try and get the laws passed, we say: ‘sorry, we won’t obey.’

There are two ways this link will get made: autonomous sovereign producers linking to autonomous sovereign consumers – that’s where you are not among the excluded part of the society.

But there’s a class that is below that level, and there what you have to do is redirect and say: ‘You’re spending money on feeding programmes for the schools; so don’t serve poison and junk and pollution; you serve healthy local food.’ So in that way, the public expenditure becomes the second side. A lot of my friends in the organic movement say: ‘let’s vote with our dollars.’ I say that’s fine for those who can vote with their dollars; but there are those who have no dollars to vote with. There we need the public policy debate to say where does our money go.

Dr Vandana Shiva is one of the world’s most incisive and eloquent critics of industrialised agriculture.

She’s written more than 20 books and inspired over half a million farmers. She’s also fiercely advocated for farmers’ livelihoods in her native India, where she founded Navdanya, a national movement which has conserved thousands of seed varieties.

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Office memos finally of use TE RADAR RADAR’S RANT

Long days spent in the office can sometimes be crap, but all is not lost

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have no idea what the toilet paper bill is for a large office building or how much they might use per person on average, but I’d like to know, because toilet paper has been described as one of the greatest excesses of the modern age.

Fortunately a Japanese company has invented the “White Goat Machine.” This contraption converts used office paper into toilet paper.

The machine stands 1½ metres tall, weighs 600kgs, sells for a mere $130,000, and can regurgitate a toilet roll created from 40 sheets of A4 in a mere 30 minutes. That makes for some very expensive toilet paper. Assuming you aren’t stockpiling them, or selling them as a new venture, you might just break even after a quarter of a million rolls, so long as you don’t factor in the electricity needed to run it.

However, you may not have to, because the White Goat Machine could be self-powered. By installing an in-house system to capture the office’s bio-waste, then passing it through a bio-digester to harness the methane, it could

provide fuel to generate the electricity required to power the White Goat.

Small-scale systems like this are often suggested for developing nations, but maybe it is time for the developed nations to do their bit too. The time has come to literally stop flushing valuable resources down the toilet.

In the future office the White Goat could sit next to rows of urine-powered cell phone chargers. A team at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory managed to figure out a way to charge smartphones using microbial fuel cells, which convert pee into power.

Admittedly it’s not a lot of power at this stage, but just think of the teambuilding potential the HR department will endeavor to instill into their manufactured interdepartmental rivalries to compel people to produce more power per quarter.

Quite how one injects the fuel into the chargers I do not know. Still, it can’t be rocket science. That would be using anaerobic ammonium oxidizing bacteria to convert the ammonia from urine into hydrazine, which is a rocket fuel.

Who would ever have thought that we all contained a fuel source to power humans into the final frontier?

Quite possibly anyone who can understand the previous paragraph.

It’s not as if the call to harness urine as a resource is new. In ancient Rome collection vessels were commonplace in the streets, and when they were full the contents were diluted and used as a very effective laundry liquid. Others used it as a tooth whitening

treatment, but I’m pretty sure that won’t catch on again.

It has to be a better idea than reusable toilet wipes.

These washable strips of soft fabric are touted as a modern eco-friendly alternative to toilet paper.

One of the benefits mooted on a website touting the wipes was that they saved you a late night trip to the shop to buy toilet paper. This is not true.

“The machine... sells for a mere $130,000 and can regurgitate a toilet roll created from 40 sheets of A4 in a mere 30 minutes.”

You will be making more trips than ever to buy the laundry liquid required to wash the wipes and restore them to somewhere near reusable.

Even the thought of all of the plastic required to manufacture the ziplock bags needed to haul your used wipes home in order to launder them is enough to put most planet-loving people off the idea.

At least the White Goat Machine can bring a great deal of pleasure to office staff, knowing that all of those redundant HR memos they are feeding into it are being put to a fitting use. They might just want to make sure the staples are removed first, though.

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