Plan Proposes Energy WOF For Homes; Greenhouse Gas Emission Strategy

Property owners could be forced to submit their buildings to an energy warrant-of-fitness check as part of the latest attempt to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The Government is having another go at reducing reliance on fossil fuels, amid warnings that greenhouse gas emissions could increase by 30 per cent in the next two decades.

That flies in the face of Prime Minister Helen Clark's stated aim that she would like New Zealand to become "carbon-neutral".

A draft strategy unveiled by Government energy efficiency spokeswoman and Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons suggests a range of actions to cut dependence on non-renewable energy, including requiring both homeowners and commercial buildings to meet minimum energy-efficiency standards. Business groups have panned the suggestions as more regulation and red tape.

Under the proposals, homes could be given "star" ratings like electrical appliances, based on factors such as glazing, water heating, insulation and lighting, with minimum benchmarks required before a "warrant of fitness" could be issued for a dwelling.

The Government also wants industry to produce more for the same amount of energy, farmers to experiment with "low-carbon" farms and motorists to drive with a lighter foot.

Fitzsimons said the building warrant-of-fitness scheme would initially be voluntary but could be made mandatory.

The Government also wants to install 15,000 to 20,000 new solar water-heating units by 2010, introduce fuel-consumption labelling for new and used cars by August 2007 and is considering increasing the tax on imported cars with poor fuel economy.

Fitzsimons said if the Government took no action, New Zealand's use of fossil fuels was likely to increase greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030. Demand for electricity was predicted to increase 40% and for transport fuel by 35%.

The draft plan is the Government's second attempt at an energy- efficiency strategy. It dropped the last one this year after a scathing Ministry for the Environment report found the proportion of energy consumed from renewable sources had fallen since the strategy was adopted.

Former energy minister Pete Hodgson unveiled the strategy in 2001, along with a $79 million, five-year budget that aimed to increase energy efficiency by 20% by 2012 and to increase the use of renewable energy by between 19% and 42%.

Only a quarter of New Zealand's energy consumption comes from renewable sources such as hydro or wind.

National energy spokesman Gerry Brownlee said the plan lacked action. "This is a government that is burning more oil, gas and coal to generate more power than ever before," he said.

"Not even draft action plans, discussion documents and proposed strategies can hide the fact that Labour's climate-change policy and the energy sector have lurched from one crisis to the next."

Business New Zealand said more regulation from the Government was not the best way forward.