New Zealand: Energy
NZ energy firm finds Aussie scheme profitable
23 Jul 2010
A New Zealand company is making money out of Australian schemes to improve energy efficiency.
Government releases energy update
23 Jul 2010
The Government has released draft updates of the country's Energy and Energy Efficiency And Conservation strategies.
Businesses could carve $2b off energy bills
2 Jul 2010
New Zealand businesses could shave $2 billion off the country’s $16 billion annual energy bill – and cut the country’s Kyoto bill - by adopting some simple, relatively inexpensive measures.
Company tax cut puts $21m on Vector's books
18 Jun 2010
The company tax rate cut from 30 per cent to 28 per cent will provide energy company Vector with a one-off $21 million net profit benefit.
Renewable generation remains high
18 Jun 2010
Renewable electricity generation remained high at 73 per cent of total electricity generation in the March 2010 quarter, Minister of Energy and Resources Gerry Brownlee says.
LanzaTech eyes oil and coal waste gases
11 Jun 2010
Emissions-to-ethanol pioneer LanzaTech is turning its sights on the oil and coal industries.
'Sensible' Norway halts new oil drilling, say Greens
11 Jun 2010
The Greens are calling on the Governent to follow Norway's lead and put a moratorium on new oil exploration drilling until such time as the Deepwater Horizon incident has been fully investigated.
Inventor claims he's beaten energy storage problems
4 Jun 2010
A New Zealand inventor says he has come up with a cheap and practical way of storing solar energy for heating buildings.
Kiwis 'throwing away millions' in electricity savings
4 Jun 2010
New Zealand households are collectively paying at least $129 million a year more than they need to in electricity charges by using inefficient light bulbs, according to new statistics released this week.
Power companies explain ETS price rises
28 May 2010
At least one of the power companies implementing price rises on the back of the Emissions Trading Scheme is basing its calculations on the maximum carbon price.
Big player Genesis turns carbon market builder
14 May 2010
Big-emitting Genesis Energy is using its size to help to build liquidity in the fledgling New Zealand carbon market.
Kiwi companies eye $800m Canberra fund
14 May 2010
New Zealand companies might be eligible for a slice of an $800 million Australian pie.
Gull might import ethanol to meet fuel demand
23 Apr 2010
Gull Energy says it is considering importing ethanol because of a lack of Government support to get the local industry moving.
We're putting $650b into renewable energy
23 Apr 2010
Global Investments in renewable energy are expected to reach $US653.35 billion by 2015, a new report says.
Solid Energy lawyers check out free credits
9 Apr 2010
Solid Energy is investigating whether it qualifies for free credits under the emissions trading scheme.
Coal users count the cost - but how much?
26 Mar 2010
Coal users are about to find out just how much carbon could cost them.
NZ pioneer sells first overseas clean-tech rights
19 Mar 2010
A New Zealand company has just sold the first overseas licensing rights for its clean-tech energy and communications technology.
NZ drags chain on clean-tech, says Crest director
19 Feb 2010
A five-year legal battle to get permission to build a tidal energy plant on the Kaipara Harbour shows why New Zealand is falling behind on clean-tech development, says one of its proponents.
Wind grows share of power generation
12 Feb 2010
Wind generation capacity in New Zealand grew by more than 50 per cent last year and now provides more than 3 per cent of New Zealand's power.
Power stations switch turns off Meridian
11 Dec 2009
A Government-forced swap of power stations between State-owned power companies could damage Meridian Energy’s carbon-neutral status.
OBITUARY: Kiwi pioneered biochar research
4 Dec 2009
A New Zealander who was a world pioneer in advocating the use of biochar to sequester carbon has died en route to the international climate change talks in Copenhagen.
ASX green move means good news for NZ
9 Oct 2009
A move by ASX into the green economy will be good for New Zealanders and New Zealand emitters, says local carbon trader Nigel Brunel.
Renewable power runs at 70 per cent
18 Sep 2009
Seventy per cent of New Zealand's electricity generation in the June quarter came from renewable sources.
Bio-oil from wood trials excite backers
21 Aug 2009
New Zealand’s first wood-to-bio-oil plant is proving the technology is viable, its backers say.
Pioneer Pers is making waves in Denmark
21 Aug 2009
Reporter Angela Gregory continues her series on the greening of Denmark - site of a major international climate change conference later this year.
Meridian buys US solar-farm developer
21 Aug 2009
Meridian Energy has bought an American photovoltaic solar farm developer.
Wind energy key to cutting electricity emissions
14 Aug 2009
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector will be vital in reaching the government’s 2020 reduction target, but policy certainty is needed urgently, says the New Zealand Wind Energy Association.
Crest can't get its hands on million-dollar grant
7 Aug 2009
The first recipient of the Government’s Marine Energy Deployment Fund has yet to see any of the $1.85 million it was granted in May last year because it is still going through the resource consents process for its project.
Coal pushes NZ's emissions up
24 Jul 2009
New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions have risen again, with coal the biggest culprit.
Companies link to hasten biofuel production
24 Jul 2009
Two New Zealand companies are joining forces to clean up water and produce biofuel.
NZ House told to green up its act
24 Jul 2009
The EU’s impatience at New Zealand dragging its feet on implementing the ETS scheme has taken concrete form - NZ must pay to double-glaze its energy-inefficient High Commission building in London.
Straterra goes to bat for mining industry
24 Jul 2009
Straterra, the freshly minted cross-industry resources lobby, has moved into its new offices in the Contractors' Federation premises in the Wellington parliamentary precinct.
GNS sings praises of NZ oil potential
24 Jul 2009
GNS has joined Crown Minerals in being bullishly enthusiastic about New Zealand’s oil resources
Small miner puts case for use of coal
14 Jul 2009
Otago miner Kai Point Coal Co is using mass and boutique retail marketing techniques to sell its product.
Crown Minerals happy with tour of the majors
3 Jul 2009
New Zealand is emerging as one of the top global focuses for oil exploration.
Why Top Energy is sitting pretty
30 Jun 2009
Top Energy is one of the few electricity generators untroubled by uncertainty around New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme.
Emissions from power generation at low level
19 Jun 2009
New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation have dropped to their lowest level in five years.
Last of the coal to be mined at Kimihia project
19 Jun 2009
Solid Energy’s re-development of its Kimihia open-cast mine near Huntly is the last phase of an intensive and expensive environmental project that has turned earlier workings into a public recreational park.
German coal move good for NZ researchers
16 Jun 2009
Accelerated investment by Germany in Australian clean coal will be of interest to New Zealand coal interests because of this country’s investment in coal emissions sequestration development over the Tasman.
Decision near on greenhouse gas emissions rules
9 Jun 2009
The rules that will govern the way in which the stationary energy processes sector works under the emissions trading scheme are nearly complete.
Coal mining takes on touch of the golden days
5 Jun 2009
Sluice mining is to be reintroduced to the West Coast for the first time since the technique was used in the gold rush era - but this time the target is coal.
We'd rather have a tax break, say biofuels producers
22 May 2009
A new government grant to encourage local biofuel production is not as good as the tax exemption bioenthanol producers get, the industry says.
Power companies' earnings 'disturb' minister
22 May 2009
Big energy companies earned $4.3 billion more in earnings between 2001 and 2007 than they would have under "competitive conditions", but the Commerce Commission says there is no evidence that they breached the Commerce Act.
Biodiesel industry gets multi-million dollar boost
19 May 2009
The biodiesel industry will receive a multi-million dollar boost over the next three years.
Consortium wins funding for wave energy device
19 May 2009
The Government has just announced that a consortium developing a device that “extracts” energy from waves is to receive $760,000 from the second round of Marine Energy Development Fund allocations.
Aquaflow keen despite poor share issue response
19 May 2009
The economic recession is not stalling algae-based biofuel company Aquaflow’s development plans, says director Vicki Buck - despite the company raising much less than expected from its recent prospectus.
Forget Australia, urges wind energy expert
19 May 2009
New Zealand shouldn’t follow Australia’s lead when it comes to pouring money into carbon capture and storage research, says Windflow’s CEO Geoff Henderson.
Analysis: Solid Energy reveals its hand
15 May 2009
Solid Energy’s decision to close its Terrace underground mine at Reefton by mid-year points up the way in which the State-owned enterprise intends to focus on the low-hanging fruit of the coal extraction business while diversifying into non-fossil energy generation.
Australians merge to boost NZ coal gas search
8 May 2009
The private Australian coal seam gas exploration company Chartwell Energy Pty, which is involved in New Zealand exploration, plans a merger with listed Brisbane company Comet Ridge partly in order to boost its activities here.
Solid Energy on trail of carbon accounting
5 May 2009
State-owned coal miner Solid Energy says it is well on the way to tracking carbon in its operations, but can’t say yet how the emissions trading scheme will affect the price of coal next year.
Lawyers complain to ombudsman over Govt failure to release LNG modelling
1 Apr 2026
By Liz Kivi | Lawyers for Climate Action has made a formal complaint to the Ombudsman over the Government’s failure to release information about its controversial decision to build a LNG import terminal.
Fonterra admits ‘100% grass-fed’ claim breached law in greenwashing row
2 Apr 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Fonterra has admitted its “100% New Zealand grass-fed” claims on Anchor butter were misleading and breached the law, settling a case brought by Greenpeace Aotearoa over packaging used between December 2023 and April 2025.
Annual emissions fell to lowest in 15 years in Sept 2025
5 Feb 2026
By Pattrick Smellie | New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions fell to their lowest annual total in the year to September 2025 since records began 2010, according to Statistics New Zealand data published this morning.
Free fares call as fuel crisis impacts school attendance
Wed 8 Apr 2026
An open letter is urging the Government to make public transport free for all school children and subsidised for students under 25, as rising fuel costs begin to impact attendance and access to education across the country.
Wellington planting nears one million trees
30 Mar 2026
By Shannon Morris-Williams | Greater Wellington’s parks restoration programme will hit one million native trees this year, with the first dams to rewet peat wetlands in Queen Elizabeth Park now completed after a years-long effort to bring these ecosystems – and their carbon sequestering superpowers – back to life.
Businesses look for ways to cut costs in response to oil shock
1 Apr 2026
New Zealand’s small and medium-sized businesses are looking for ways to ease the pressure as global tensions see rising fossil fuel prices and diminishing supply, with decision-makers mulling measures including work-from-home polices and transport or logistics changes.
