BRANZ MEDIA RELEASE

Decade of energy research concluded

17 August 2007

How can we make our homes carbon neutral?

A seminar to be held in Wellington on Tuesday, 28 August 2007will release the results from a major research programme into energy use in New Zealand households and go some way towards answering this question.

“A sustainable society with a carbon neutral economy will not happen just by building more renewable electric generation” said Mr Nigel Isaacs, Principal Scientist at BRANZ Ltd. “It will require understanding today’s energy use and tomorrows’ alternatives”

The seminar will report on the final results from the Household Energy End-use Project (HEEP) which has examined energy use in a random sample of 400 houses from Invercargill to Kaikohe. HEEP now provides new knowledge on living conditions, fuel poverty, household winter and summer temperatures, hot water, lighting, refrigeration, the use of appliances, etc. HEEP terminates at the end of September 2007.

The one-day Wellington seminar on 28 August will be of interest to housing researchers, policy analysts, programme planners, practitioners, researchers and students interested in housing and opportunities to meet the challenges of climate change.

The Prime Minister, Rt. Hon Helen Clark, is set to open proceedings at 9.00 a.m.and the Government Spokesperson on Energy Efficiency, Jeanette Fitzsimons will close the day at 4.15 p.m.

The keynote speaker, Professor Robert Socolow, will join at 9:30 amby video link from Princeton, New Jersey. Prof Socolow is Co-Director, The Carbon Mitigation Initiative – a joint project of PrincetonUniversity, BP and the Ford Motor Company to find solutions to the greenhouse and global warming problem.

Other speakers from BRANZ, CRESA, Universityof Otago, and Beacon Pathway will review current and future research into the energy and environmental performance of New Zealandhouses.

Sponsorship from the Social Policy Evaluation and Research (SPEaR) Committee will provide assistance for travel and registration fees for three students or NGO participants.

The seminar, entitled “Housing into the Future - Stepping Towards Carbon Neutrality” is to be held at School of Architecture, VictoriaUniversity of Wellington, 139 Vivian Street, Wellington. The seminar begins at 9amand concludes at 5 pm.

The seminar is supported by the Royal Society of New Zealand, SPEaR, Sustainable Energy Forum, Building Research and FRST.

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