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Newsroom
12 hours ago
- Business
- Newsroom
Geothermal Strategy can be catalyst for transformational change
Opinion: The launch of the Government's draft Geothermal Strategy, 'From the Ground Up – a draft strategy to unlock New Zealand's geothermal potential', a first for our country, is a watershed moment. It signals that geothermal energy is no longer the quiet achiever in our energy system – the revived focus on its potential recognises that geothermal can be central to our national vision for a sustainable, resilient, and economically empowered future. We have worked in the geothermal sector with engineers, scientists, Māori trusts, and industry leaders for decades, here and globally, and it's clear his strategy is welcomed with enthusiasm and optimism. The direction is right. The language is ambitious. And the need is urgent. At the Geothermal Institute at the University of Auckland, we see this as more than a policy milestone – it's a long-awaited catalyst for transformational change. Hearing Ministers Shane Jones, Louise Upston and Shane Reti tell it, educating our young people and providing compelling career opportunities in geothermal needs to be at the heart of it. The importance of signals One of the most powerful aspects of the strategy is what it signals: that geothermal matters. That it has a future that can rival its storied past. That government sees the long-term opportunity and is willing to put its weight behind it. That's no small thing. As any developer or technology innovator will tell you, long-term certainty is the foundation of long-term investment. This strategy builds on tangible commitments already made – particularly in the Government's investment to accelerate research-backed supercritical geothermal technology development. This technology aims to harness extremely high-temperature fluids from deep underground to generate renewable energy more efficiently than conventional geothermal technology. That backing will keep New Zealand at the forefront of technology to tap ultra-hot geothermal fluids to produce radically more energy per well. This is complex science and engineering with high stakes and high rewards. If we get this right, we not only unlock more clean energy, but also more industrial process heat, more energy-dense sites, and more export opportunities for our solidified globally leading expertise. The ripple effects for regional economic development are significant: the creation of highly skilled, highly paid jobs in engineering, geoscience, subsurface modelling, advanced manufacturing and programme and environmental management in regions including Taupō, Kawerau and Rotorua, from Northland to the Central Volcanic Plateau. The students at the Geothermal Institute will be the first to tell you: these are real jobs that future-proof careers and bolster local economies. From field to frontier – the role of innovation, research and education Geothermal is a mature sector, but it's also a frontier sector. What struck me at the New Zealand Geothermal Week in Taupō this year wasn't just the technical excellence on display, but the dynamism. I had conversations with rangatahi curious about career pathways, with iwi-led developers eyeing up direct heat projects, with engineering consultants pitching AI-assisted reservoir models, and with international visitors in awe of the collaborative NZ Inc spirit in the room. Future skills were a strong emerging theme throughout, where the message was loud and clear: the sector is hungry for talent, and young people are hungry for purpose. We need to meet them in the middle – with curriculum pathways, internship pipelines, scholarships targeting local communities and a long-term commitment to Stem education throughout the education value chain. But building a globally competitive innovation pipeline requires sustained support. Training world-class geoscientists and engineers doesn't happen overnight. It needs the right investment and long-term partnerships. And to meet the Government's ambition to double geothermal energy use by 2040 will require scaling up education and training. That's why the strategy's success will ultimately rest not only on the high-level vision of geothermal growth, but also what sits behind it to fuel that growth. Reinforcing New Zealand's global leadership New Zealand already enjoys a stellar reputation in geothermal internationally. Our engineers and consultants are in demand in Southeast Asia, East Africa, North America, Latin America, the Pacific, Europe and beyond. Our training programmes and postgraduate education programmes have produced alumni who now lead geothermal policy development, regulation, production and scientific research on every continent. This strategy, if paired with smart investment and coordinated delivery, could elevate that leadership to the next level. We could be the first country to commercialise supercritical geothermal knowhow. We could be the global centre for geothermal workforce training, standards and certification. We could supercharge the export of integrated geothermal solutions, from power plant designs and drilling capability to stakeholder partnering frameworks, carbon capture innovations, critical minerals extraction, cutting-edge digital modelling and real-time assessment tools, and more. This is the soft power of geothermal – and it's rooted in decades of practical excellence, technical ingenuity, and manaakitanga. A call to action The Government's draft Geothermal Strategy establishes a clear framework for the growth of geothermal. At the launch this week, ministers set a challenge for our geothermal community to turn it into a bold, coherent vision for the future. The geothermal sector is ready – meeting challenges is what we do.
Scoop
12 hours ago
- Health
- Scoop
Raising The Bar Serves Up Fresh Thinking In Auckland Pubs
Raising the Bar is back, pouring the University of Auckland's most fascinating and future-shaping research straight into bars across the inner city. Among the topics on the menu at this year's event on Tuesday 26 August are the power of urban design to create and connect communities, how cutting-edge science is personalising health treatment like never before, the science of safer drug use and why big tech's unchecked AI development is a code red for democracy. With 20 talks held across ten bars in Auckland's CBD on one night, Raising the Bar gives alumni and the general public a chance to directly engage with top academics from the University of Auckland, all while enjoying their favourite drop. 'At its heart, Raising the Bar is about making research real and relevant,' says Mark Bentley, Director of Alumni Relations and Development at the University of Auckland. 'These talks bring important ideas into everyday spaces, sparking conversations about health, technology, culture and more – conversations that extend far beyond the University.' Originally launched in New York in 2013, Raising the Bar is now a global initiative – and the University of Auckland has proudly brought the event to local audiences since 2017. This year's talks will be held at bars across Auckland's CBD, including in Wynyard Quarter, Victoria Park and City Works Depot. Each venue will host two sessions, starting at 6pm and 8pm, with punters free to move from one bar to another to catch their preferred talks. All talks are free, but with the event expected to sell out early registration is recommended. Visit the Raising The Bar website to register your place now. This year's full line-up: Merryn Tawhai – Reimagining healthcare with human digital twins Rhys Ponton – From lab coats to late nights: the science of safer drug use Simon Young – Broken knees, bionic fixes and the rise of robot surgeons David Krofcheck – Out of this world: the smallest and most surprising liquid in the Universe Justin O'Sullivan – Swab, sequence, surprise! How science is personalising your health Mohsen Mohammadzadeh – Robo-rides and city life: what could go wrong? Andrew Erueti – The limits of liberal equality and the future of Māori self-determination Christina Stringer – Closer than you think: migrant exploitation and modern slavery in Aotearoa Olaf Diegel – 3D printing the future Darren Svirskis – The quest to find a cure for spinal cord injury Claire Meehan – Not just jokes: how misogyny online is shaping teen culture Alexandra Andhov – Code red for democracy: when big tech becomes bigger than government Sophie Tomlinson – 'Tragical-comical-historical-pastoral': Shakespeare's Cymbeline Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere – We know animals are sentient. What does that mean for their legal status? Chris Ogden – Global authoritarianism: how to spot it and how to stop it Joel Rindelaub – Breathing plastic: Aotearoa's invisible pollution problem Antje Fiedler – Rewriting the playbook: how Kiwi businesses can thrive in a changing world Lee Beattie – Beyond buildings: urban design's power to create and connect communities Laura Burn – A human history of looking up: from stargazing to space lasers Tom Allen – A carbon fibre yarn: weaving fossil fuel roots into a sustainable future
Scoop
a day ago
- Health
- Scoop
Study Calls Time On Vague ‘Drier' Homes Claims
As many New Zealanders contend with condensation, drafts, and mould this winter, a recent study challenges assumptions about what makes a home 'drier'. It urges green building rating tools to clarify how humidity and dampness are measured and understood. University of Auckland senior property lecturer Dr Mike Rehm, researcher Dr Rochelle Ade, and Dr V. Vishnupriya (Massey University) examined winter humidity levels in a 40-unit Auckland apartment building for residents aged 65 and older. The building is 7-Homestar certified under New Zealand's green building rating system (v4), which promotes warmer, healthier, and drier homes, representing best practice for New Zealand housing. The study found that relative humidity within the apartments often exceeded the recommended 40 – 60 percent range, which is commonly used to minimise condensation and mould risk. However, the researchers stress that elevated relative humidity doesn't necessarily mean the building is 'damp' or unhealthy. In fact, when the same apartments were assessed using absolute humidity - a measure of the total moisture in the air - they fell consistently within the epidemiologically acceptable range for health and comfort. 'Humidity and dampness are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same,' says Rehm. 'A building can have high relative humidity without being damp. That nuance is often lost, including in how certification tools like Homestar communicate 'drier' living conditions.' The findings raise questions about which humidity metrics best reflect health and comfort, particularly in New Zealand's naturally ventilated housing and humid coastal climates. Despite relative humidity being outside the ideal range, most residents in the study reported feeling comfortable in their homes. The researchers say this suggests relative humidity alone may not reliably reflect health risks or occupant satisfaction, especially for older people. The authors argue that green rating systems could improve clarity and effectiveness by explicitly defining 'drier' and considering both relative and absolute humidity. 'In cities like Auckland, where outdoor air is often humid, natural ventilation may not reduce relative humidity. But that doesn't automatically mean a home is unhealthy or inefficient,' says Rehm. He proposes relative humidity be used as a primary performance metric, with absolute humidity included in some cases, to better reflect actual indoor conditions. 'Certification systems like Homestar already play an important role in improving New Zealand's housing stock. Clarifying how terms like 'drier' are defined and measured could enhance their effectiveness and help align performance goals with occupant wellbeing,' he says. The paper, What is Drier? Understanding Humidity in Green-Certified Dwellings, is published in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand and is part of a growing body of work calling for more precise, performance-based humidity guidelines in building standards.
RNZ News
a day ago
- Automotive
- RNZ News
Buses, not EVs, could be the real solution to health and climate change
Fast, reliable buses and safe lanes for e-bikes could be better than switching one type of car for another, researchers say. Photo: Supplied/ Auckland Transport A mass switch from petrol-powered to electric vehicles will result in more road injuries, a study out of Otago University has found. That's because the fuel savings provided by EVs will prompt people to drive more. Transport and climate researchers say rolling out other measures - like fast, reliable buses and safe lanes for e-bikes - would be a better way to get both health and climate benefits than switching driving one type of car for another. Otago University's Dr Caroline Shaw led the study calculating the health impacts of switching from fossil fuel to electric vehicles, if nothing was done to help people access better alternatives to driving. Otago University Associate Professor Caroline Shaw. Photo: SUPPLIED She found a gradual shift to around three quarters of vehicles being EVs by 2050 would lower carbon emissions, but could also cost the country millions more in health costs. While previous studies focussed on tailpipe emissions, this one also looked at driver behaviour . "When the price decreases of petrol and diesel people drive a bit more, so we basically said ok we know electric vehicles are quite a lot cheaper to drive so let's make the assumption it's a similar kind of change, and what happens is when the price decreases and people drive more, the risk of injury increases," she said. More driving also increased air pollution from vehicles' tyres, she said. EVs lowered health impacts and deaths from tailpipe air pollution, but that was balanced by increased motor vehicle injuries and deaths from more driving. Dr Shaw said there were other ways to get quick wins for living costs, health and the climate, namely by making it easier to e-bike and catch faster, more convenient buses. Rail was also very helpful, but harder to roll out quickly at scale, she said. "Buses are great because we can put buses in and we can do it quite quickly they don't need a whole heap of hard infrastructure like trains or light rail , not that I'm against either of those," she said. University of Auckland senior planning lecturer Dr Tim Welch agreed. He said just switching out one type of car for another without changing anything else only worsened congestion, meaning fossil fuel cars, EVs and buses sat in traffic longer. He said the transport system needed re-balancing to give people real alternatives to driving. "It makes sense that things like electric buses, operated by the government, and owned by the government, are a much more efficient way to reduce emissions than asking people to open their wallets and buy a new car, and buy the charging infrastructure, because otherwise they should feel guilty or whatever." Both researchers said the key to getting people to want to ride buses was providing fast, dedicated bus lanes - which cities such as Auckland already did on some routes, with plans for more. On Auckland's North Shore, the Northern Express bus to the CBD, which has its own dedicated busway, clocked 7 million passenger trips over the year to June. Figures from Auckland Transport or AT show total monthly bus patronage on routes between west Auckland and the CBD grew rapidly after the western express or WX1 and two other new bus routes, replaced previous, less convenient routes in late 2023. The popular double decker WX1 bus clocked almost one million passenger trips over the year to June, while all western express routes combined reached 1.8m. The researchers said even diesel buses were more efficient and climate-friendly than driving because each buses carried so many more people and reduced congestion for cars on the roads. Auckland Transport has 224 zero-emission buses, and plans to have 450 by August next year, about one-third of the total fleet. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
1News
4 days ago
- Automotive
- 1News
The red light some Auckland drivers treat as a suggestion
Auckland's motorway on-ramp signals play an important role in managing traffic and improving safety, but some motorists seem to treat the red light as optional. Ramp signals, installed on the city's motorway network in the late 2000s, aim to manage the rate at which vehicles move down the on-ramp and onto the motorway. With 91 ramp signals across the Southern, Southwestern, Northern and Northwestern motorways, Auckland has the largest system of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. Since their introduction, NZTA says travel speeds have improved by 12%, merging-related crashes have reduced, and throughput onto the motorway has increased by 18%. NZTA said it was illegal for a motorist to go through a red ramp signal. ADVERTISEMENT "Ramp signals are a legal traffic signal and running a red light holds the same penalty as a regular traffic light." Failing to stop at a red light will set you back $150 if you get caught. Prakash Ranjitkar, a transport engineering expert at the University of Auckland, told 1News there could be many reasons for motorists not complying with ramp signals. "Many drivers may not fully understand their purpose, perceive them as inconvenient, or believe they can safely merge without waiting." Ramp signalling controls the rate at which vehicles enter the motorway. (Source: Getty) The signals control the rate at which vehicles entered the motorway and help to prevent "sudden surges" that could cause shockwaves, bottlenecks and unstable driving conditions, he said. "This metered entry allows vehicles already on the motorway to maintain consistent speeds and reduces the risk of rear-end and side-swipe crashes near on-ramps." ADVERTISEMENT Ignoring these ramp signals could "undermine the entire motorway system", he added. "Uncontrolled merging can disrupt mainline flow, significantly raising crash risk, increasing congestion, leading to localised delays and a breakdown in coordinated traffic management, especially during peak periods." Ranjitkar suggested public education campaigns could help drivers better understand why the signals exist and how they benefit drivers. Police said in a statement that officers actively watch priority lanes and the stop-go lights on the on-ramps when out on the road. "If our officers see breaches they respond accordingly. "We urge anyone with concerns around dangerous driving to report it to police immediately on 111 if it's happening now, and on 105 after the fact."
