Choudhary Ashraf: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Choudhary Ashraf: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:640;Page:10332] 
10.  
Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY (Labour) 
 to the  
Minister responsible for Climate Change Issues 
: What reports if any has he received on developments in the deployment of renewable energy? 
Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister responsible for Climate Change Issues) 
: 
 Lines company Vector has commenced trialling a new wind turbine suitable for home and small-business use. Micro wind generation does have the potential to both improve our energy security and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and it also helps interested consumers to reduce their power bills through the use of a free energy source—wind—in a similar way to which reductions are achieved through solar hot water systems. I congratulate Vector on taking this initiative to test the viability of small-scale wind power with a view to bringing it into mainstream use. 
Dr Ashraf Choudhary 
: Can the Minister tell the House of other recent examples of significant renewable energy development? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: Scion and AgResearch have recently announced a joint venture with a US-based firm to develop transport fuels based on the conversion of cellulose to ethanol from forestry and agricultural products. The second similar venture in the biofuels area is LanzaTech where a leading US investor Vinod Khosla is investing $3.5 million in LanzaTech to establish a pilot plant to produce ethanol from carbon monoxide gas. To paraphrase the self-appointed spokesperson for Labour’s biofuels policy Nicky Wagner this is another significant step towards carbon neutrality. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Why should anybody believe this Government’s commitment to renewable energy when the proportion of renewable power has dropped in every year Labour has been in Government to the lowest level ever in New Zealand history; when his Government has built a huge new oil and gas-fired power station; and when the proportion of electricity produced from coal has trebled in just 7 years? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: Should we not have built E3P when we did the country about now would be facing the risk of blackouts. That seems a pretty good reason to have built it to me. In respect of greenhouse gas emissions from thermal generation this year compared with last year assuming that lake levels or inflows into hydro lakes stay as they are at the moment it is likely that thermal electricity emissions will be lower this year than they were last year. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Has the Minister seen the Marlborough District Council’s decision to grant consent to the Wairoa River hydro scheme provided that natural river flows are maintained and there is minimal effect on river ecology and the survival of key endangered birds; and will he undertake that the Crown will not oppose stringent environmental conditions on that project even if it means that there may be some lowering of the electricity output of the power station? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: I have seen brief reports of the decision. I have not read the decision as yet. If the member’s point is that we need to take care to have appropriate environmental constraints around renewable developments as with other developments then I agree. I for one support the principles of the Resource Management Act and do not call for it to be “gutted” to quote one National Party member. I think that the help that councils and the Environment Court give to get the balance right between development and environmental protection has worked in New Zealand in the last decade as evidenced by the fact that new versions of for example Project Aqua and the previous Dobson dam are coming forward that would be viable but with a lower environmental impact.