Release of Sustainable Energy Document

A comprehensive discussion document is released today on the future of sustainable energy in New Zealand.

Released by Energy Minister, Pete Hodgson, the document is designed as the focal point for six months of consultation. The outcome of this process will be the starting point for formal sustainable energy policy development.

"New Zealand, like the rest of the world, faces a significant challenge in how to meet its future energy needs," says Energy Minister, Pete Hodgson. "Climate change and the forthcoming peak in global oil production mean today's ways of producing and consuming energy will not be sustainable in the future. Our challenge is to find a way to continue to meet our needs for energy in a way that enables us to protect our way of life, economy and the environment over the coming decades."

The document explores what a sustainable energy system might look like, and how we might achieve it.

"Energy must be developed with regard to economic, social and environmental impacts. That is why a sustainable approach that encompasses all of these is needed. This document is an excellent starting point from which to develop a truly sustainable energy future for New Zealand," said coordinating Minister for Sustainable Development, Marian Hobbs.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>