A project to harness wave energy on the Chatham Islands has been awarded funding under the government's Marine Energy Deployment Fund, Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee announced today.

The proposal put forward by Chatham Islands Marine Energy Ltd (CHIME), to install a shore-based device to capture wave energy, has been awarded $2.16 million, subject to conditions, including receiving resource consent.

Grants to assist households to invest in solar water heating will continue under a new programme which will also include heat pump water heaters, Minister of Energy and Resources Gerry Brownlee announced today.

"The government is helping New Zealanders reduce their electricity and gas costs by investing in technology to improve energy efficiency.

"Solar water heating is an investment that pays itself off through lower energy bills over time," Mr Brownlee said.

New Zealand households and businesses will find that taking easy energy saving actions can far outweigh any increased energy and transport fuel costs as a result of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), says Mike Underhill, Chief Executive of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).

“Not only can businesses and households offset any prices increases, they have the opportunity to go further and significantly reduce their energy bills,” Mr Underhill said.
 

An innovative, Invercargill-based commercial laundry has cut the greenhouse gas emissions from its boiler by a massive 97% by becoming one of the first laundries in the country to install a wood chip boiler for heat.

JA McCallum and Son Limited (known as McCallum Group) provide laundry and dry cleaning services in Southland and Otago. Their old industrial boilers, which were operating at full capacity, were running on LPG and light fuel oil which was expensive. Plans to move to a new site presented McCallum’s with the ideal opportunity to look at alternatives.