Tagged: emissions

New Zealand wants to build a 100% renewable electricity grid, but massive infrastructure is not the best option - Guest Work

Guest Author • Jul 31, 2020 •

• climate change,
• electricity,
• emissions,
• hydro power,
• infrastructure,
• renewable electricity

Janet Stephenson, University of Otago A proposed multibillion-dollar project to build a pumped hydro storage plant could make New Zealand’s electricity grid 100% renewable, but expensive new infrastructure may not be the best way to achieve this. New Zealand’s electricity generation is already around 80% renewable, with just over half of that provided by hydro power. The … Read More

The sun is setting on unsustainable long-haul, short-stay tourism — regional travel bubbles are the future - COVID-19

Guest Author • Jul 03, 2020 •

• Climate,
• COVID-19,
• emissions,
• flying,
• tourism,
• Travel

James Higham, University of Otago Unprecedented border closures and the domestic lockdown have paralysed New Zealand’s $40.9 billion a year tourism industry. In the process, the vulnerability of the sector to external shocks and the tenuous nature of tourism employment have been exposed. While New Zealand’s handling of the pandemic has been hailed as a global masterclass, and the … Read More

Will the COVID-19 lockdown slow the effects of climate change? - Climate: Explained

Guest Author • Jul 03, 2020 •

• climate change,
• COVID-19,
• cycling,
• emissions,
• Fossil Fuels,
• lockdown

Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz Do you think the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown will slow or possibly reverse the effects of climate change (due … Read More

Which countries are likely to meet their Paris Agreement targets - Climate: Explained

Robert McLachlan • Dec 18, 2019 •

• climate change,
• emissions,
• Paris Agreement

Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz Which countries in the world have met or bettered their Paris Agreement targets? Robert McLachlan, Massey University The … Read More

How volcanoes influence climate and how their emissions compare to what we produce - Climate: Explained

Guest Author • Oct 23, 2019 •

• climate change,
• emissions,
• super volcanoes,
• Volcanoes

Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz Everyone is going on about reducing our carbon footprint, zero emissions, planting sustainable crops for biodiesel etc. Is … Read More

I’m so fly, I’m #NoFly! - Planetary Ecology

Robert McLachlan • Oct 21, 2019 •

• #nofly,
• climate change,
• emissions,
• flight,
• Transport,
• Travel

#NoFly: Walking the talk on climate change, by Shaun Hendy. BWB Texts, 2019. Reviewed by Robert McLachlan In June 2018, Swede Maja Rosén founded We stay on the ground with a pledge not to fly in 2019, and a goal of persuading 100,000 other Swedes to join her. In August, her compatriot Greta Thunberg began her school strike for … Read More

Fly less, Kiwis! - Planetary Ecology

Robert McLachlan • Sep 05, 2019 •

• air travel,
• climate change,
• emissions

Something’s happening here: Climate crisis: ‘We don’t fly to go on holiday now – and it doesn’t cost the earth’ (The Guardian, 10 August 2019) No-fly zone: Could you give up flying if it meant protecting the planet? (Adventure.com, 21 August 2019) Travel the world without destroying it (The Conversation, 22 August 2019) Harry and Meghan … Read More

Emission Impossible? - Planetary Ecology

Steve Trewick • Aug 26, 2019 •

• climate change,
• emissions,
• fuel economy

Everyone knows about climate change and it’s a real drag. All of a sudden most of the things we liked doing are considered wrong. Some people even say we have to give up cars but that’s crazy talk isn’t it? With around 70 million new cars produced each year around the world and a total of about  1.4 … Read More

A long time between drinks: Mercury will build the Turitea wind farm - Planetary Ecology

Robert McLachlan • May 02, 2019 •

• emissions,
• emissions trading scheme,
• Meridian,
• renewable electricity,
• Turitea,
• wind energy,
• wind farm

We know what we have to do to beat climate change: electrify everything, and stop investing in things that burn fossil fuels. In New Zealand, that has been hard to do. Thirty years of climate policy have left us with only two main tools: the Emissions Trading Scheme, and an ‘aspirational’ target of 90% renewable electricity by 2025. The ETS … Read More

The bacterial jungle of your car - Chthonic Wildlife Ramblings

Brendan Moyle • Feb 04, 2019 •

• Air Pollution,
• bacteria,
• car care,
• car emissions,
• car safety,
• emissions

A recent article on car cleanliness described the bacteria that abound on car interior-surfaces. The results were shocking, with the headline announcing steering wheels had on average four times the amount of bacteria that public toilets did.  It inspired some to clean their cars . Nonetheless I confess I felt no surprise reading this. This is one of my … Read More