Description
Small-scale distributed energy systems — like solar panels and batteries — could transform how we generate and use electricity. For many communities, the push for energy sovereignty is driven by goals of equity and resilience. This book explores the promise of distributed energy, as well as the factors holding it back. Contributors offer a clear picture of the current electricity landscape, share real-world case studies — from apartment blocks and marae to an island — and outline what’s needed to build a future-proof, fair and resilient energy system for all.
Contributors
Rangimaria Aperahama, Mark Apperley, Manutahi Barrett, Nikki Barrett, Geoff Bertram, Ralph Chapman, Maurice Clark, Philippa Howden-Chapman, Biddy Livesey, Luka Love, Guy Penny, Eric Pyle, Jason Quinn, Keriata Stuart, Phoebe Taptiklis, Aubrey Te Kanawa, Jenny van der Merwe, Helen Viggers, David Welch & Josh Yeats
Published with the NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities
About the author
Helen Viggers is a researcher with He Kāinga Oranga/The Housing and Health Research Programme at the University of Otago. Her work focuses on the warmth and energy use and resilience of New Zealand homes, and considers building improvements, heating sources, fuel charges and household income.
Keriata Stuart (Te Atiawa ki Waiwhetū, Taranaki, Ngāti Mutunga) has worked as a qualitative researcher, writer and policy advisor, focusing on the settings – places, communities and structures – that affect Māori wellbeing. Keriata has co-edited several books for the New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities, including Tāone Tupu Ora: Indigenous knowledge and sustainable urban design, which was selected by the Royal Society/Te Apārangi and Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga for their Te Takarangi list of 150 Māori non-fiction publications.
Philippa Howden-Chapman CNZM, QSO, FRSNZ is a Distinguished Professor of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington. She is co-director of He Kāinga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme and director of the New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities. She has conducted a number of randomised community housing trials and evaluations of housing and urban regeneration in partnership with local communities, which have had a major influence on housing, health, wellbeing and energy policy. She has a strong interest in reducing inequalities in the determinants of health and has published widely in this area, receiving a number of awards for her work.
