New Zealand Celsias

 The NZ Clean Energy Centre (NZCEC) has just completed an online survey in which respondents were asked – among other things – to identify their interest in living in an off grid housing community in Taupo. Home heating would be supplied via either geothermal or biomass. Electricity would be supplied by solar and wind. Waste water would be drip irrigated to biomass crops which provide future heating fuel for the community, and water would be supplied via rainwater collection.

Respondents were from as far afield as the US and Australia. Of 137 respondents, 12 responded by saying “I’m in, it sounds like a dream come true,” another 33 said they may relocate to Taupo if the price was right, while another 48 indicated a possible interest. Only 32% indicated no interest at all.

Rob McEwen, CEO of the NZCEC, says that people show up at the NZCEC on a daily basis, asking about how they can reduce or eliminate their need to be tied to grid. “They are showing a keen interest in adapting their lifestyles to live in ways that are friendlier to the environment. They want to do their part to help maintain NZ’s 100% Pure, clean green image, they want to find ways of reducing their energy bills, and they want to increase their control over energy supply security” says McEwen.

It is from the enquiries made at the Centre that the idea of an off-grid community in Taupo took seed. “We started to get the feeling that if such a community existed in Taupo, it would become a magnet that gave people who are wondering where in the world they’re going to live next,  a reason to choose Taupo for their new home,” says McEwen. “The kinds of people such a community would attract are those who value clean and green – exactly the kind of immigrants we need to preserve our region’s natural environment well into the future,” adds McEwen.

Despite all the positive feedback, it may be a while before such a community comes to fruition. “We really need to find a developer who’s interested in going down this path and then work with them, alongside Council, to evolve the concept into something that makes sound economic sense for all parties,” McEwen says. “However, wouldn’t it be great if the NZ Clean Energy Centre building was just the first in a whole chain of events that branded the Taupo region as the Clean Energy Capital of New Zealand?” McEwen believes that such a branding would attract new residents from around NZ and from around the world, to live in Taupo. “Taupo’s point of difference is ‘CLEAN.’ Our natural environment is clean and a little known fact is that as a region, we generate 75 times more clean energy than we use, which makes us unique on a global basis. Now we just need to develop concepts – like the off grid community – that reinforce our point of difference, and then communicate our uniqueness to the world,” concludes McEwen.