“This raises serious questions for New Zealand’s long-term energy security, given the absence of realistic alternatives to natural gas to power industries, heat our homes and keep electricity prices down”.
John Carnegie, CEO, Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of NZ, 2021
Naked self-interest much? I bet John is laughing all the way to the bank under the current regime.
(1/?)
Back in the real world, oil has sweet F all to contribute to our "long-term energy security". What John conveniently avoids mentioning is;
“The Worldometer global statistics website suggests that ... 'The country has proven reserves equivalent to 1.1 times its annual consumption' ... 'This means that, without imports, there would be about 1 year of oil left (at current consumption levels and excluding unproven reserves)'.”
#NikkiMandow, 2022
https://newsroom.co.nz/2022/02/27/russia-ukraine-war-changes-fundamentals-on-nz-fuel-supplies/
(2/?)
So *if* we had refinery infrastructure suitable for the "light, sweet" crude in our reserves (Marsden Point isn't), we could fuel ourselves for a year at current rates of usage. Or for 5 years using only 20% of it a year for essential services. Is that John's idea of "long-term"? Really?!
(3/?)
So it seems obvious that the best way to mitigate the risk of oil shortages is to stop depending on it for energy. Which means developing more of our many potential renewable energy sources, like solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and tidal.
(4/?)
We don't even need as much renewable energy to do the jobs currently done by fossil fuel energy, because ...
"When we burn petrol and diesel, around three quarters of the energy created gets lost as waste heat, noise and vibration. This means that a large chunk of our energy use provides no useful service."
#DominicThorn, 2024
https://www.rewiring.nz/watt-now/energy-use-in-new-zealand
(5/?)
So it's more energy efficient to electrify our railways. To have the ferries moving train carriages between islands using renewables (ie the iRex deal). To boost coastal shipping, using a fleet that runs on them too. To reduce our dependence on fossil fuel powered air travel, eg by subsidising affordable passenger rail instead of oil refineries, and supporting experiments in new modes of travel, like the Ocean Flyer;
https://www.oceanflyer.co.nz/news-regent-and-ocean-flyer
(6/?)
Honestly, anyone who thinks domestic fossil fuel reserves are important to our "long-term energy security" in Aotearoa is living in the 19th century. In fact, even in the late 1800s, kiwis looking to our future energy needs were investing in renewables in the form of hydroelectric schemes, and many of the hydro plants we still use today were commissioned in the early 1900s;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_stations_in_New_Zealand
Many could still be running in 2100. How's that for "long-term energy security" John?
(7/7)
This is a bonfire demo instance for testing purposes
