‘Flick’ a start-up shaking up the power business in NZ

“Electricity is sexy and very exciting!” Jessica Venning-Bryan, general manager for brand for Flick Electric Co, said. Flick is a start-up that’s shaking up the power business in New Zealand. For most people, the idea of an electricity company doesn’t exactly match up with words like “sexy” and “exciting”. But just like how Flick is changing the way consumers consume energy, it’s also turning the stilted corporate culture associated with big power companies on its head. Their vibrant office is a reflection of that and in this week’s Workspace, we will be exploring Flick’s base of operating in Wellington as …

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The Future of Renewables, Solar, Battery Storage and Electric Vehicles

A global renewable energy transformation is underway. The proposed merger between Tesla and Solar City outlines the shape of things to come. The integration of solar panels with battery storage and electric vehicles is the paradigm for both ecological global economic growth, and reaching the goals of the Paris Climate accord as reported by Roy Morrison. An integrated renewable energy company will combine electric vehicles, battery storage, and solar electric panels, all with rapidly expanding market share and plunging prices. Globally, investment in cheap and carbon free solar energy is already rapidly supplanting fossil fuels. Whether or not Tesla’s corporate …

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Regional Development Conference 2016: Keynote Speaker and Program Announcement

We are pleased to announce Associate Professor Simon McArthur, Deputy Chair, Australian Regional Tourism Network as a Keynote Speaker at the 3rd Australian Regional Development Conference; Participation and Progress to be held in Canberra on 5 – 6 September 2016. Simon will be speaking on; ‘Out with the Plan, in with the Model’. Many standard tourism plans have tried to introduce actions to move tourism towards a more sustainable approach. But plans are like a visitor’s photo – almost as soon as the shot is taken, the people and place changes. Enter a new approach – the Sustainable Tourism Model …

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Hybrid nanogenerator harvests hard-to-reach ocean energy

(Phys.org)—Energy from the ocean, or “blue energy,” is arguably the most underexploited power source, according to researchers in a new study. Although the oceans contain enough energy to meet all of the world’s energy needs, currently there is no effective way to harvest it economically and with reasonable efficiency. The main problem is that ocean waves are irregular and pass by at low frequencies, whereas most energy harvesters operate best with waves that have regular amplitudes and high frequencies. Unfortunately, the calming lull of slow, unpredictable waves beating against the shore that we tend to find so peaceful is not …

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Coal won’t solve energy poverty, but renewables will

Last month, a remarkable story emerged out of Kenya. Not one of violence or unrest that the world is becoming used to, but a lighter one: the national power grid was disrupted by a solitary monkey. The unfortunate primate’s precarious exploration of Kenya’s most important electrical source — a hydro power plant operated by the Kenya Electricity Generating Company — resulted in it falling onto a transformer, short circuiting the nation’s power grid, and causing widespread blackouts and disruption in the process as reported by The HP. While the episode exposed the vulnerabilities of Kenya’s national power gird, it also …

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Energy crowdfunding: the new way to boost renewables

Millions of euros have been crowdfunded in four years to finance small and medium renewable energy projects. And there is still potential to be developed It’s a brand new sector: the first steps date back to 2012. Today energy crowdfunding is a way of financing solar panel or wind turbine projects. For some people, like Andrew Yakub, founder of a US solar manufacturing company, it will save the planet. There is already a big annual conference dedicated to the sector, and a European association that brings together the platforms involved in renewable energy. In March 2016, when one of the …

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Wind farm boom looms as Premier Daniel Andrews looks to boost clean power

Victoria would have 40 per cent clean electricity in less than a decade – nearly tripling the current level – under an ambitious plan announced by the Andrews government. The government has set targets to ramp up wind power and large-scale solar power, paid for through an increase in household and business electricity bills and spending from the budget. With private spending on clean electricity largely stalled due to a lack of confidence in federal government support for a national renewable energy target, the Andrews government believes its policy will make Victoria the centre of a revitalised industry. It estimates …

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Melbourne renewable energy project provides global blueprint

Councillor Arron Wood is the city’s environment portfolio chairman, standing in a rooftop courtyard as the faint sound of trams rises up from Swanston Street down below and the surrounding skyline reaches into a cool autumn sky. Against this backdrop, not to mention the solar thermal panels on the next level, Wood does not hold back when discussing how cities can lead from the front in tackling climate change. In a Guardian interview, he evokes the philosophy of Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire and former New York mayor who has been a major driver of climate change action by the world’s …

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Bringing Venture Capitalism to Sustainable Development

It’s no secret that people are generous. They give their time, talent and treasure to support a wide range of philanthropic efforts. But in many cases NGOs are not achieving the speed and scale necessary to address the key issues of our time. Just like in business, pilots are often created but private and public sector organizations often struggle to go beyond the pilot stage as reported by John Friedman. Today some NGOs are asking if they can create a new model, based on the success of venture capital, which drives innovations to scale? And what would that look like? …

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Remote community transformed after swapping diesel generator for solar panels

Graeme Smith was mulling over a long-standing problem at the end of 2015: how to provide affordable power to his tiny, off-grid community. Despite having freehold title to 170 square kilometres of land east of Tennant Creek and plenty of money in the bank, members of the Munungurra Aboriginal Corporation could not afford to live on their country as reported by ABC News. The cost of providing power to such a remote location prevented them building an economy on their land. “We originally had no power and no water, because we’re not on a grid. We put houses on it, …

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