We don’t need Fossil Fuels we will just use electricity

Electricity is not a source of power it is a conduit of power, you don’t drill a hole in the ground, poke a wire down it and electricity starts flowing.They think electricity just comes out of a socket in the wall. Somebody somewhere is tending equipment that converts some other form of energy into electricity.

From the data below it doesn’t take much intellect to see that ‘Zero Carbon’ and ‘Fossil Free’ is a massive challenge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_New_Zealand

Notice solar is not even visible along the top of the chart and wind has not grown much in a decade.

Notice hydro has not grown for decades, all good opportunities have been used already as hydro is a good EROI energy source. Geothermal also is not situated for easy growth either, most low hanging fruit has been picked. (It should be noted the geothermal is not without green house emissions))

Total generation is about 44,000 GWhr which is about 158PJ

Total energy consumption of New Zealand is 900PJ, some as electricity.

Thus electricity consumption is currently 17.5% of New Zealand’s total energy consumption

It is worth noting that our primary energy supply (891PJs) differs from our actual consumption of energy (589PJs) by over 300PJs. This is because a portion of our primary energy supply (around one third) is used up in the process of 'transforming' it from an initial raw state (like geothermal steam energy) into a useable form (electricity). Significant quantities of energy are lost in the process of energy transformation and in the distribution/energy management process (EROI).

http://www.energymix.co.nz/

New Zealand total Energy supply is 891PJ:

• Oil 307PJ
• Geothermal 188PJ
• Gas 174PJ
• Hydro 95PJ
• Wood 61PJ
• Coal 53PJ
• Wind 7PJ
• Solar 0.7PJ

Energy use per sector:/p>

• Industry 34%
• Transport 36%
• Domestic 11%
• Commercial & Public Services 9%
• Agriculture, Forest, Fish 4.7%

Consumer energy demand:/p>

• Oil 48%
• Electricity 24%
• Gas 12.5%
• Other renewables 9.7%
• Geothermal 1.3%
• Coal 4.1%