| New Zealand generates energy in various ways, some of which are expensive
and others which are costly to the environment.
It is the sources of the energy generated that are of importance to
RENZ and our main objective is to encourage the use of renewable energy
sources, as they are more likely to be environmentally benign.
RENZ supports investigation of methods of minimising the use of depleting
resources, especially those that cause pollution, however research into
the improvement of efficiencies of use of those depleting or polluting
resources does not fall into the RENZ Charter.
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Electricity Generation
The 'forecasting' chart to the right indicates that the chart's
creators believe future electricity generation will include the significant
use of depleting resources, and their use is likely to be a major proportion
of the total resources exploited.
RENZ hopes to assist in altering the proportions so they are more in favour
of Renewable Energy sources.
It's important to note that the chart relates to electricity generation,
so does not show the volume of crude oil imports providing energy for transportation
and other New Zealand industries.
Crude Oil Dependency
For many years, the use of crude oil-derived products has been considered
a major cause of the increase in Green-House Gases on our planet. International
consensus agrees their use must be reduced and eventually eliminated.
Much of the crude oil and related products used in New Zealand are obtained
from off-shore.
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- Energy Production - as at February 2003
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At present, New Zealand appears to have a good relationship with the
suppliers of those products but we should be aware that this may not
always be the case, which could place the continued supply of those products
in jeopardy, potentially causing great commercial and societal instability.
Hence, from the environmental, commercial and societal perspectives,
there is a pressing need to obtain energy from renewable resources and
to eliminate New Zealand's dependence on imported fossil fuels.
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Energy Production
