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Speaker 1: We've got some more to add to the country's energy crisis.

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Speaker 1: New data from MB shows between April and June this year,

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Speaker 1: extra coal and gas was needed to generate enough power.

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Speaker 1: Not surprising our suppose given recent coverage, Low hydro late

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Speaker 1: levels meant that electricity generated from renewable sources drops to

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Speaker 1: eighty one point three percent of total generation. That's eight

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Speaker 1: point six percent lower compared to at the same time

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Speaker 1: last year, and for the first time since June twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty one, coal generated more electricity than wind. Senior research

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Speaker 1: fellow at the University of Otago, doctor Kimbery O'Sullivan's with

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Speaker 1: me this morning. Good morning, Shutda, thanks for being with me.

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Speaker 1: What's I suppose this is just part of the course,

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Speaker 1: right when we don't have enough in the lakes, we

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Speaker 1: have to go somewhere.

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Speaker 2: We have to go somewhere. Ryan, You're right, but I

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Speaker 2: really think that it's time to stop looking underground to

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Speaker 2: the solution to our problems. It's gotten cheaper and cheaper

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Speaker 2: for us to put solar on houses, and that's what

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Speaker 2: we really need to start doing urgently if we want

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Speaker 2: to solve this problem.

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Speaker 1: So every house should have a solar panel.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think we should start with those that can

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Speaker 2: least afford electricity and help them out, because we know

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Speaker 2: that when people can't afford in us electricity at home,

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Speaker 2: they're really doing it tough, and we end up spending

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Speaker 2: more and more money on treating them in hospital when

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Speaker 2: they don't need to be there.

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Speaker 1: So subsidizing solar panels for lower income households is what

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Speaker 1: you're saying. It isn't absolutely will we Okay, let's assume

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Speaker 1: that all of our low income households have a solar

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Speaker 1: panel on them. We will still have we will still

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Speaker 1: have parts of the winter where we won't have enough

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Speaker 1: to cover ourselves. Right, that's the problem.

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Speaker 2: We'll still be a bit short. But if we start

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Speaker 2: doing things like that, as well as continuing to insulate

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Speaker 2: our home so that we need to use less energy

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Speaker 2: than what we currently do in order to stay warm

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Speaker 2: and healthy at home, then that would go a long

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Speaker 2: way to solving our problem. The other thing about coal

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Speaker 2: and gas fossil fuel, it's expensive now, but it's expensive

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Speaker 2: in the future too. It's not a climate safe solution,

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Speaker 2: and we're seeing more and more extreme weather events from

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Speaker 2: climate change. That's only going to continue if we keep

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Speaker 2: burning fossil fuels.

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Speaker 1: So you're saying we need to reduce consumption, as in

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Speaker 1: what freezing you know, sit in the cold.

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Speaker 2: No, absolutely not. What we need to do is they're

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Speaker 2: smarter about that. We can build housing, and we can

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Speaker 2: spect our houses so that they don't need to use

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Speaker 2: as much energy to keep us warm at home. At

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Speaker 2: the moment, what we're seeing when we measure temperatures inside

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Speaker 2: our homes is that they track really closely to their

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Speaker 2: abdual tumberatues. So in the winter we really need to

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Speaker 2: use a lot of energy to keep our houses warmer,

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Speaker 2: and it doesn't need to be that way. We could

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Speaker 2: make our houses warmer by increasing the insulation, by retrefiting

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Speaker 2: insulation on existing homes, by increasing the technology that we

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Speaker 2: use to make new homes more efficient, and then we

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Speaker 2: could put solar on top. We could solve a lot

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Speaker 2: of problems that way.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, however, that all sounds great, but we've had subsidies

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Speaker 1: to do this before. Not all houses have been done.

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Speaker 1: I mean, look at this. The government of the state

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Speaker 1: is the worst actually this in terms of insulating state houses.

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Speaker 1: But what you're suggesting will take time, will take significant

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Speaker 1: investment in the meantime, we have to use gas and coal,

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Speaker 1: don't we, And surely gas is better than coal.

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Speaker 2: I think gas is slightly better than coal, but not

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Speaker 2: a lot. It's also expensive, it also takes time, and

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Speaker 2: if we're going to keep looking underground for new gas,

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Speaker 2: that's going to take a really long time. We've got

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Speaker 2: solutions that are right here. If we ramped up what

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Speaker 2: we know that we can do now and did a

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Speaker 2: better job, going harder with the insulation and putting even

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Speaker 2: more into our home so that we need to use

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Speaker 2: less energy, then that would go a really long way

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Speaker 2: to helping to solve this problem. If we put solar on,

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Speaker 2: then we're going to go even further. And there are

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Speaker 2: consents already in place for the big gent tailors to

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Speaker 2: be building so they could get going with the problem

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Speaker 2: as well and start to make better renewable solutions for us.

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Speaker 1: All right, doctor Kimberly O. Saloman, thank you very much

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Speaker 1: for your time this morning. Senior search fellow at the

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Speaker 1: Universy of Otago says the prob the solution rather to

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Speaker 1: our energy wose is to sole a panel on the

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Speaker 1: roof insulation in the walls. And Bob's your uncle for

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Speaker 1: more from News Talks, ed B. Listen live on air

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