Submissions are due by Thursday 2 September at 5pm.

My submission:

Please accept the following as my submission on the draft Energy Strategy and draft Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy for New Zealand.

I wish to make a number of general comments.

The Draft Energy Strategy is an inadequate and inappropriate response to the challenge of tackling climate change and to providing a sustainable, clean and secure energy future for New Zealand.  There is no plan to protect New Zealanders from the rising costs of oil in the future, nor to set us on a path to lower our greenhouse gas emissions.

The stated goal of 90 per cent renewable electricity by 2025 will not be achieved by this strategy, which fails to provide clear policy goals and incentives.

New Zealand must start real work on achieving a 40 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (on 1990 levels) by 2020. This has to include mandatory emission reductions, and a renewable energy strategy that supports the development of resources like wind, marine, geothermal, biomass and solar.

I therefore call on the Government to:

• Shift the priorities in the draft strategy towards research, development and greater use of new clean energy technologies and away from fossil fuels (coal and oil). New Zealand has the potential to be a world leader in the development and use of home-grown biofuels.
• Set out a clear strategy for facilitating a transition away from New Zealand’s current reliance on petrol and diesel for transport. Initial priorities should include expanding public transport in order to provide real alternatives when oil prices rise, and introducing fuel economy regulations (as has been done in several other countries) to gradually make cars sold in New Zealand more efficient.
• Set out a clear strategy and progress indicators for achieving the goal of 90% renewable electricity generation by 2025. Policies such as ‘feed-in-tariffs’ should be implemented to achieve the desired goal of increased local electricity generation.
• Clearly state that coal-fired energy generation will not be expanded. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) may not become viable and will almost certainly not be in place during the life of this strategy. Expanding coal-fired energy generation over the next 5 to 10 years therefore not only runs counter to the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions but would also be a risky and potentially obsolete investment.

Your sincerely,

Pippa Coom

Emailed to: nzes@med.govt.nz

Further reading

Have your say on NZ’s energy future. More information here on Lynda Brendish’s Good Magazine blog.

More details about the strategy and how to make a submission here on the MED website.

But please don’t call me a cyclist. I would no more put “cyclist” on my CV than a person who commutes by car would put “motorist”.  I ride my bike every day just for transport and I’m involved with Cycle Action Auckland to improve cycling conditions in Auckland but I rarely go on purely recreational rides.

However over the last weekend there were a couple of special reasons to be out on my bike just for the sake of cycling. On Saturday I joined the  BIG Auckland Ride,  a lesiurely pedal around central Auckland in warm spring weather organised to profile the benefits of cycling in the inner city. Here is an account of the ride by Antoine (and more photos) on the wonderful cycling blog Cycling in Auckland.

One of the reasons I am motivated to stand for the Waitemata Local Board is a desire for better cycling infrastructure in Auckland. I’m on the City Vision team committed to prioritising  public transport and the provision of better bus and train services together with integrated ticketing and timetabling, cycleways and safer walking routes. Read more about City Vision’s policy here.

On Sunday it was necessary to dodge the rain showers to experience the only opportunity to cycle across the new Newmarket Viaduct before the switch next weekend.  As fellow Waitemata Local Board candidate, Chritopher Dempsey commented ” what a fantastic cycleway! Wide,  broad, smooth concrete – I asked if NZTA was planning to continue this  cycleway through to Orewa and south to Hamilton. Wry smile. There’s hope yet!”

Cycle Action’s chair Mark Bracey puts the ride in the context of Auckland’s burgeoning cycling culture on his Cycling in Auckland blog here.

We can thank Cycle Action Auckland for working with NZTA to  give cyclists as well as walkers the opportunity to cross the new Newmarket Viaduct.

Walkers will be able to access the bridge from 9am – 2pm, followed by  cyclists from 2:45pm – 3:30pm.  We will have 45 minutes to enjoy the 1.5km ride up and down the new viaduct.

In a media release from NZTA, Barbara Cuthbert from CAA says “Cyclists will love this ride in the sky, over the city, and its panoramic views. It has the added allure of being in easy cycling distance from the Newmarket train station. We are delighted the NZ Transport Agency has invited cyclists to help celebrate the project’s progress.”

The Newmarket Connection: Southbound switch is happening for 36 hours over the weekend of 4/5 September. There are major concerns about the disruption this will cause. NZTA’s advice is to switch the mode of transport or to keep it local.

A group on Facebook are calling for free public transport for the weekend to give Aucklanders the chance to “try out public transport for free to help encourage our city to get out of their cars and into more sustainable, less congestive forms of transportation”. Auckland Transport blog agrees. ARTA are preferring to encourage Aucklanders to take trains as an alternative with NZTA not convinced that free travel will ease congestion (Viaduct closure will hit bus services).  It is disappointing that ARTA, NZTA and the Auckland City Council weren’t willing to take this rare opportunity of a motorway closure to create a lasting impact on car use in Auckland.  A weekend of free travel can encourage a longer term switch to public transport.

Like  Unity Finesmith and thousands of others I plan to just carry on as normal and travel on my bicycle!

I love living in central Auckland and appreciate the beautiful nartural surroundings of the City but sadly the built environment is making us fat. Even in Zone 1 the design and lack of public transport encourages us to drive short distances and to feel unsafe cycling.

Why has so much bad urban planning been allowed to happen in Auckland? Why is our CBD cut off by motorways and many of our shopping streets welcoming only to cars?  I think the problem has been a lack of visionary leadership in Auckland, weak planning and developments driven by the desire to make a quick buck.

Barb Cuthbert, spokesperson of Cycle Action Auckland, sums up what we could be aiming for:

I see scope to make our one way street system less forbidding torrents of cars, and more alluring entry points to our city. Our city could be home to more distinctive businesses, walkable, colourful streets, connected with cycling and frequent public transport routes, lively markets, active places full of people, rather than voids full of cars.

I am hopeful that the new Auckland Council structure, with a requirement to put in place an overall spatial plan, will mean that Aucklanders who want the city to be liveable and supportive of a healthy lifestyle  will define the design of the city rather than property developers and car obsessed traffic planners.

The structure is intended to give the local boards and Auckland Council complimentary and non-hierarchical decision making functions. However much of the decision making will be delegated or allocated from the Council as the governing body. Through the select committee process, my community group Grey Lynn 2030, like many others, argued that the local boards should have powers and responsibilities prescribed in legislation so they could act as a counter balance to the powers of Auckland Council.

The lack of prescription could in fact end up being a good thing if the first mayor sets the framework for local boards that provides for real local decision making functions. Len Brown’s policy document on local democracy &  local boards gives a clear commitment on the extensive role he would like for the local boards.

Local boards should be involved in planning and policy related to their communities. They should develop long term community plans and annual plans, as well as contributing to regional policy-making and giving effect to regional plans. They should then develop local policy within the regional framework in areas like, for example, dog control, gambling and gaming machines, licensing of cafes, bars and liquor outlets, brothels, and the development of town centres.

Local boards should be responsible for local decisions on local roads, footpaths, pedestrian zones and bus stops, speed limits for local roads, public transport, crime prevention (where CCTV cameras should be sited, for example), community engagement, beautification schemes, building consents, local economic development, animal control, environmental protection, local parks, recreation and sports facilities, libraries and pools, community houses and advisory services, town centre promotion, galleries and museums, beaches, camping grounds, liquor licensing, and more. I also want local boards to be involved in resource management hearings for their areas. Read the full document here.

It is a big list of responsibilities, which are potentially far wider that we could have hoped for from the Super City legislation. We just have to make sure Len Brown is elected so that strong Local boards become a reality.