Santa's coming to town

Tom Powell

​“Marg, this year I want us to have a real Christmas display!  I want bright lights, dancing reindeer, Santa in a sleigh, the whole thing.  It has been such a difficult year with Covid and such.  We need to make this Christmas special.”

Marg looks up at Tom, perplexed, “Okay… I’d agreed that it would be nice to make this Christmas special, but do we need to put up a big light show to do that?  You know, the South Island supplies electricity to the North Island through an undersea cable, so any power we use here is less power we can export to the North Island, and they are still burning coal at the Huntly Power Station up there.  In a sense, the power we save here prevents coal being burned at Huntly, and we’ve simply got to stop burning coal for electricity!  The country’s emissions this year are through the roof!”

Tom: “HEY Google, is that true?  Can our electricity use here change what goes on in the North Island?”

Google Assistant: “The country’s electrical power generation and distribution system is complicated but cuts in our electricity consumption would ultimately decrease the demand to burn coal on the North Island.  Electricity conservation nationwide would decrease the amount of fossil fuel burned and the greenhouse gas emissions that go with it.”

Marg: “And Tom, we might as well get used to using less energy.  As we replace fossil fuels with electricity, there is going to be a lot less electricity to go around.”

Tom: “What do you mean?  We’ve got plenty of electricity here on the South Island and nearly all of it is from renewable sources.”

Marg: “Yes, that’s true, but I’ve read that only about half the country’s energy use comes from electricity.  The rest is from fossil fuel.  There’s petrol for cars and trucks, coal and gas for industrial processes and heating buildings, diesel, aviation fuel, bunker oil for ships…  What are we going to replace all that fossil fuel power with?”

Tom: “Well, we’ve got all that Manapouri power coming available when the Tiwai Point smelter closes down.  That should boost our electricity supply.”

Marg: “But will it?  There is lots of talk about using that power to make green hydrogen or running a big data centre.  And, I’m sure the power company doesn’t want to send much of that power into the grid, because, in our deregulated electricity market, it would lower electricity prices.  Good for us, but bad for them.  We may never get that Manapouri power.

Google: “Manapouri power would represent 13% more power to the country’s electrical power grid.  The Climate Commission has calculated that the country will need to increase its electricity generation capacity by approximately another 28% by 2035 if New Zealand is stay on target to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.”

Marg: “I wonder where all that additional electrical power is going to come from and at what price.”  We’ll need a lot more wind farms and solar farms.  And not everyone wants to live next to a windfarm.”

Tom: “I’ve read that there is huge potential for windfarms offshore Taranaki.  You remember how windy it was last time we were in New Plymouth?”

Google: “Offshore wind generation costs approximately three times that of onshore wind generation.”
Tom: “I don’t like the sound of that.  We pay quite a bit for electricity already.”

Marg: “Well, the best way to keep electricity prices low is to use less of it.  That way, there is more to go around.  Saving electricity is always cheaper than adding new power stations.”

Tom: “OK, well, maybe we can set up the light show in the front yard, but only run it for a few hours in the evening.”
Marg (with a sly smile): “But Tom, if we don’t run it late into the night, how will Santa know where to deliver your Christmas presents?”

Tom: “Hummm.  You’ve got a point there, darling. Maybe we can…”

Google Assistant interrupts: “Data on my servers show that there is no Santa Claus.”
​
Tom: “NOOOOOOO…”