The Future of Energy – Auckland University

New Zealand is hugely reliant on the rest of the world for its fuels. Technological advancements such as battery operated cars provide us with the opportunity to be more self-reliant. However, the debate about what sort of alternative approaches to generating electricity has not yet
occurred. We need a debate about the appropriate mix of new forms of electricity generation (wind, solar). We also need a debate on whether nuclear energy is an acceptable source of energy for us. While controversial, the pressures of climate change and need for clean energy is forcing other economies to increase reliance on nuclear energy – this is a debate that New
Zealand is still to have. New Zealand also has a large reserve of low quality coal, and we rely on future sequestration technology to enable us to fully exploit these sources.

We need to consider the future of such technologies, and to explore what can be done to speed the emergence of
cost-effective sequestration technologies.
Chair: Rhema Vaithianathan
Senior Lecturer in Economics, The University of Auckland Buisness Schoo
Associate Professor Basil Sharp
Director of the Energy Centre at The University of Auckland Business School
Peter Neilson
CEO of the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development
and a former Cabinet Minister

www.art.auckland.ac.nz/mpp