Gen Less

A message from CE Andrew Caseley

You may have seen  our new “Gen Less” campaign aimed at bringing communities, businesses and people together to address climate change by being clean and clever with energy use.

As you’ve subscribed to this newsletter, I know you’re already interested in the work EECA does in this space, so we’ll continue to send you updates about research, funding and events.

We’ll also keep you up to date with Gen Less, the only generation you can choose to join, united by the intent to take meaningful, ongoing action to reduce your emissions from energy use.

Why Gen Less?

Our research shows 83 percent of New Zealanders know about the importance of climate change but more than half of us don’t know what to do to make a difference.

With those findings in mind, we developed a new campaign that brings together all sectors of society to get more out of life by using less energy.

We’re excited about our new focus and the response to Gen Less. Since launching we’ve already had over 65,000 visits to the Gen Less website.

On the journey we will be sharing lots of ways lifestyle changes combined can make a big difference to our greenhouse gas emissions and help achieve our commitments under the Paris Agreement on climate change.

 Example actions

• Taking the bus or train instead of the car
• Using EV taxis, hire cars or as your own vehicle
• Holiday locally 
• Replace home or office lights with LEDs
• Buy more local products, not those flown in

Gen Less businesses

We have 12 business partners committed to Gen Less. Most were household names already demonstrating what it means to be Gen Less. Their actions also help their consumers use less energy.

We’re keen for any individual, organisation or businesss that is committed to taking meaningful action to reduce carbon emissions to join Gen Less.

The aim is to start conversations about more climate friendly lifestyles - through the launch film’s call to arms by more than 20 historic leaders who all had their defining moments, learning how organisations are lowering their carbon footprint, and by sharing Gen Less tips and stories about making a difference.  

This is our moment to play our part in addressing climate change. Get on board and join Gen Less.   

Ngā mihi, Andrew Caseley, CEO at EECA.

To find out more, visit the Gen Less website.

Follow us on social media, if you don’t already, to join the Gen Less conversation: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

EECA research on process heat

EECA has published more work on the process heat sector, with three significant pieces of work now available on options for switching to renewable energy.

EECA's chief executive Andrew Caseley says there has never been a better time to start switching to renewable energy for process heat needs.

'Innovations in technology mean there are excellent alternatives to using carbon-intensive fuels for process heat activities such as sterilisation, pasteurisation, drying and heating. We;re highlighting the opportunities, applications and case studies of how some of these technologies work in real world situations.'

The research includes:

Cross sector options for reducing process heat emissions

University of Waikato analysis  to reduce   process heat emissions across sectors identifies options, quantifies the potential mitgation, and the capital and operating cost of those options. Find it here.

International Technology Scan  

An inventory of internationally available technologies applicable to New Zealand industry. Find it here.

Technical guides on industrial electric heating

Ten electric heating options to replace, supplement or optimise process heat currently being supplied by fossil fuels. Find it here. 

Inefficient light bulb sales halve

Sales of  energy-hungry incandescent light bulbs are plummeting in a trend welcomed by EECA. 

Since 2015 supermarket sales of incandescent bulbs, which are much less energy efficient than LEDs, have halved.

EECA's  chief executive Andrew Caseley says energy efficient LEDs save people  money by using less electricity, and reduce emissions too as less electricity has to be sourced from burning fossil fuels.

If 100,000 more New Zealanders switched all their household lighting to LEDs, that would prevent 1,669 tonnes of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere per year.

“That’s equivalent to roughly 35,000 people not flying from Auckland to Wellington per year.”

Data* shows 4.6 million incandescent light bulbs were sold in the year from May 2015 to end of April 2016, dropping to about 2.8 million in the year to the end of April 2019.

Sales of LEDs have grown from about 248,500 in 2015 to over 604,000 to the end of April 2019.

Mr Caseley says the lower corresponding sales figures for LEDs is due to LEDs lasting up to 15 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

*Data Source: IRI New Zealand Grocery, MarketEdge Light Bulb category, Unit and Pricing sales, data to period ending MAT to 26/05/19.

See the full story here.

EECA's new people

Introducing EECA's new board and senior leadership members.

Board members

EECA has two new board members after terms expired for departed chair Tom Campbell and Phil Heatley.

Dr Linda Wright  is the current Chief Executive of the NZ Hydrogen Association. Her earlier roles include Solid Waste Manager with Queenstown Lakes District Council and Sustainable Waste Management Specialist with MWH Global.

Norman Smith is a consultant and academic who has worked on energy efficiency and renewable energy start-ups. He’s a foundation member ( and life member) of EMANZ – now Carbon and Energy Manger Professionals New Zealand.

Existing board member Elena Trout is now chair of EECA's board.

Group managers

Mark Davis  - EECA’s new Group Manager Corporate Services.

Mark was most recently Chief Operating Officer for the Retirement Income Group and has held senior roles with the NZ Defence Force, ACC and Capital & Coast DHB. Mark has a legal degree with post graduate study at MIT in the US.

Mark started with EECA in mid-October.

Dr Marcos Palenur - EECA's new Group Manager Strategy & Engagement.

Marcos has held various roles at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment where he is currently Manager of Science Policy.

Marcos is a Qualified  Engineer (Electrical) who gained his doctorate at Cambridge University with his PhD thesis  “Retrofitting the domestic built environment : investigating household perspectives towards energy efficiency technologies and behaviour”.

Marcos will begin his role with EECA in  mid-November.