At least fascinating to the BayBuzz editor.

Tennis balls give NZ wool a bounce

China recently made tennis a compulsory school sport.

Requiring more tennis balls. Tennis balls use wool.

China’s import of NZ wool for tennis balls bounced from about 1,500 tonnes to around 3,000 tonnes in the three years since. 

Air NZ tests electric plane

A four-month trial of an all-electric plane just ended after more than 100 flights covering 13,000 kilometres fron 12 airports or aerodromes. More than 20 tonnes of mock cargo were carried.

The plane was an ALIA CX300 supplied by Vermont-based Beta Technologies.

The Wellington-Blenheim test flights had an energy cost of $20, whereas the energy cost for a conventional flight in a Cessna Caravan would be $110.

As reported by National Business Review, all parties rate the trial a great success, leaving Air NZ to ponder what next, with a spokesman saying the airline was “in a strong position to make smart choices about the future”.

NZ on path to excess electricity?!

The CEO of power gentailer Meridian, announcing a 97% increase in earnings and the half-year profits of $227 million, matching its highest ever in 2020, revealed that the company was now examining scenarios where NZ would have more electricity than it needed.

The industry forecasts 6 terrawatt-hours (TWh) of demand growth to 2030, with the big four NZ generators planning 8-9 TWH of new generation.

So, Meridian is “actively looking for new sources of consumption” in the form of attracting offshore businesses to NZ with the promise of low cost energy.

Wouldn’t it be nice for NZ consumers to get some of that low cost electricity first?! I just received notice that my Meridian power bill is about to go up.

But No solar subsidy for NZ homeowners

In fact, Consumer NZ predicts a 5% price increase in power prices this year, on top of 12% last year. 

But meantime, the Government has ruled out any solar installation subsidy for NZ homeowners. Australia provides these, reducing upfront costs by 30%, which has encouraged one in three homes to install solar panels. In NZ, about one in 35 households have solar panels.

What might we aspire to? Read our feature article, Chasing a renewable energy future for Hawke’s Bay, in the upcoming March/April edition of BayBuzz magazine.

Premium on organic milk

Fonterra recently issued a milk price forecast of $9.50/kg MS (milk solids), delighting shareholders in the co-operative, NZ’s sixth largest company by market capitalization.

However, the projected price forecast for organic milk was $13.35kg/MS – a premium of 40.5% over the regular stuff!

This lends weight to the argument that long as NZ is built on an economy that literally lives off the land, we’re far better off producing premium foods with credible sustainability stories supporting them. 

In fact, major Fonterra customers Nestle and Mars actually subsidise Fonterra to offer its NZ suppliers financial incentives to reduce their emissions footprint. That’s the real path ahead. Without a doubt, intensive dairying causes environmental problems. That said, Fonterra ‘gets’ it … at least at the leadership level.