NZ industry burns the equivalent of 108 litres of petrol every second – that has to reduce to meet our carbon targets

Mon, 22 May 2023 22:32:51 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/nz-industry-burns-the-equivalent-of-108-litres-of-petrol-every-second-that-has-to-reduce-to-meet-our-carbon-targets-204525>

"New Zealand burns the equivalent of 108 litres of petrol every second in coal
and natural gas to generate heat for industrial processes. This burning of
fossil fuels for industrial heat generates 28% of New Zealand’s energy-related
emissions.

Industry needs vast quantities of heat for a wide range of activities,
including to process staple foods, to manufacture materials for building homes,
and to produce packaging for everyday goods.

But it’s very clear that to achieve a net-zero carbon economy by 2050, we need
to ramp up the use of renewable energy technology to generate industrial heat,
instead of burning fossil fuels.

The government is using a carrot-and-stick approach to drive the transition to
low-carbon and renewable energy. The “stick” requires industry to phase out
coal boilers for low and medium temperature heat applications by 2037. New
natural gas exploration has also effectively ended, which will lead to future
decreases in gas supply.

The “carrot” is the Government Investment in Decarbonisation Initiatives fund.
The results so far are significant, with industry turning to tried and true
solutions: energy efficiency gains, biomass boilers, electrode boilers and heat
pumps, sometimes combined with electrical or thermal batteries.

These technologies are clean and green, but they are also scalable to
industrial needs. Let’s have a look at what these different options are."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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