February/ March 2017
February/March 2017 News
First – an invitation. On Sunday March the 19th Worik Stanton and Metiria Turei are hosting a fun/fundraising event for BRCT at Almond Castle, 13 Almond St, Waitati. This “Grass-Roots Get-Together” kicks off at 1pm with the band “Painted Blind” opening the event. There’s an opportunity to meet Trustees, find out about Trust projects and services, and eat, drink, dance and be merry! A blind bottle auction will be run, with auctioneer extraordinaire Metira Turei, and face-painting for a gold coin for the kids. "Whisky and the Wench" are the headline act from 5pm. The $10 entry fee (free to under 16) will support the maintenance of community services in your community and don’t forget to bring some cash for the mystery bottle auction and other treats. All interested in what we do and who support creating local climate solutions together – welcome.
I hope the Climate Safe House exhibition is still on at the Gallery on Blueskin when you’re reading this so you can get along before the exhibition closes on the 5th of March. But if you missed it that’s just one part of the Climate Safe House project. We’re also surveying residents in the proposed hazard zones some of whom have received Home Performance Assessments at no cost to them. If you too would like a Home Performance Assessment and you’re in the proposed flood zone, contact us. Interviews with residents in the proposed hazard areas are also underway.
Enphase, a sponsor of the Climate Safe House project, designs and manufactures software-driven home energy solutions that span solar generation, energy storage and web-based monitoring and control. Its Research and Development centre in Christchurch has developed micro-inverter technology together with engineers at Enphase’s California HQ. This technology is spread around more than 100 countries. The sponsorship deal we have with Enphase will demonstrate the potential for great energy productivity at a household level. In other words, how to get more value from the same or a smaller amount of energy. This is just one example of the exciting potential to reduce household greenhouse gas emissions while adapting to our changing climate. (see: www.enphase.com)
As you can imagine, the Climate Safe House project has kept us excited and busy this past month. There’s been some cross-over with our normal work too, as demand for Home Performance Assessments has grown. Our HPA team are working hard to clear a backlog of requests.
We prepared and submitted a submission on the government’s draft Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy. It’s hard, tiring but important work as energy efficiency and energy productivity will help us move towards a low-emission society. You can find a copy of our submission on the BRCT website.
Food, and ‘successful failure’ are the topics of the latest Cuppa Tea article by Sean Connelly. A stimulating thought-piece, it throws us all a challenge to find ways to work cooperatively in order to thrive together. Despite the rise of ‘alternative truth’ and increasing poor behaviour on social media, I believe that we can create collective solutions and that all it requires is the ability to talk openly. You can always find us at the Trust office located in Waitati at Waitati School. The door is open to all.
For Free Cosy Energy Advice local call 03 929 1323.
You can also find us on Facebook as Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust, on Twitter as @BlueskinPower and you can call the office on 03 4822048 or call in to visit and find out more about any of our work. You can also contact us by email at: [email protected].
By Scott Willis