Emmanuel Macron has signalled readiness to push French leadership on climate even more aggressively to protect the agreement that bears the name of the French capital. He appointed the celebrity environmentalist Nicolas Hulot as his number three.
Sweden’s government wants to give people tax breaks on repairing everything from shoes to washing machines as part of a new green drive to help the environment by making the country less wasteful. Have you ever been upset about a product being designed to fail with no chance of repairing it? The proposal by the ruling…
When independent traders in a small Welsh town discovered the loopholes used by multinational giants to avoid paying UK tax, they didn’t just get mad. Now local businesses in Crickhowell are turning the tables on the likes of Google and Starbucks by employing the same accountancy practices used by the world’s biggest companies, to move their entire town “offshore”.
I sometimes do not agree with what Greenpeace are trying to do, like the one below:
We petition the NZ Government to establish a feed-in tariff which power companies must pay for surplus power fed into the national grid by people with photo-voltaic panels or other generation using grid-tied inverters. The tarriff should be approximately 80% of the national average retail price of electricity.
Looks like Australia is having similar problems as New Zealand is facing.
The widening cracks in Australia’s housing system can no longer be concealed. The extraordinary recent debate has laid bare both the depth of public concern and the vacuum of coherent policy to promote housing affordability. The community is clamouring for leadership and change.
The Productivity commission did a report in 2012 and outlined many issues, actually a very interesting report to read. Another updated draft report was just released two weeks ago and contains pretty much the same findings. Yet again I note that the issues have not changed in 3 years, are well documented and yet not addressed.
I will be presenting at the Green Living Show 2015 at the ASB Showgrounds, Greenlane, Room 3, 10:30 am on Sunday 28 June. The subject will be: “Smarter House Design – Affordable And Sustainable Homes For New Zealand”.Executive Summary: Land and resources become scarcer and more expensive, energy usage hikes while greenhouse gas emission continues to rise.…
The median house price in Auckland is now at $750K, a number that our family would probably struggle to afford with us two parents working in well advanced positions.
Clearly investors are currently setting the market price as they have access to the required funds, and a CGT will reduce numbers of investors, depending on the level it is set at, freeing the market up for owner buyers.
We actually building larger houses with less people in it and complaining about the cost.
Our assumption is that council is passing on all the building consent application and is making it public. You will find it on websites like Whatson. However, there is a privacy act in New Zealand. So I wonder how that ties in.
A nice summary of our sustainability status can be found in the build magazine.
I would generally agree with the article. While we have an abundance of materials, knowledge and tools, we still struggle to deliver.