Speech by Russel Norman, a co-leader of New Zealand green party, March 15th, 2012
Russel Norman gave a speech at 19th “Energy Shift Japan” meeting on March 15th, 2012.
Russel Norman who is a co-leader of New Zealand green party gave a speech about the energy policy in his country in which renewable energy accounts for 77 percent of all energy, with a self-sufficiency rate of 87.4%.
In Japan, a high proportion of its entire energy needs are supplied by oil, along with nuclear power. On the other hand, in New Zealand, the electrical energy supply comes primarily from hydropower, geothermal power and then coal. The variable renewable energy generation is increasing, while the secure base is provided by reserves of coal. The nation has had a non-nuclear policy since 1950’s and it is expected to pursue the course in the future. The transportation sector uses significant amount of oil in New Zealand and, as the oil demand tends to be more than the discovered oil volumes, so the oil production itself is somewhere near its global peak.
The world wide energy crisis is an urgent matter when we intend to shift, decrease or totally abolish nuclear power, to phase out the use of coal which produces large amount of CO2 and oil production will soon peak. Then Mr Russel listed wind, tidal, geothermal and solar energy as promising energy for the smart grid. He also stated that it is necessary to intervene in the energy sector for inspection, to regulate the energy saving standard, have an access to stored energy in during peak time for maximum efficiency. He also stated, particularly for both Japan and New Zealand, the prospects for geothermal and solar power energy are good. Also he presented the example of the small distributed energy system in Germany, which can be a great source of income for small communities.
Finally, Mr Norman received a question from an audience asking whether economic supremacy and energy policy shift are contrary to each other. He replied that the government was very much thinking of New Zealand’s GDP when they built the backbone of the renewable power of New Zealand’s power supply, but he went on to say that, “It is quite critical to develop what I call Green Economics”. He stated that, “if we do not green the economic discourse we can not succeed as a species living sustainably on planet Earth”. Mr Norman described his work as spokesperson on economics for the Green Party, as he engages with various people in the economics profession, industrial leaders, smaller businesses, and academics to help them move them in a green direction. He does this because he believes that if we do not shift the economic paradigm then we will not be able to achieve a sustainable society.
Translation: Naoko Harada
<-CH6-To the previous articleTo the following articlesTepco press meeting: The status of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant>