Andrew Eagles: Green Building Council CEO on increased heat pump use easing pressure on gas reserves

An uptick in heat pump use could ease pressure on the energy system and cut costs. 

A report by the New Zealand Green Building Council reveals if more households opt for heat pumps, it could save Kiwis more than a billion dollars a year. 

It's also revealed this could protect thousands of industry jobs, with three mills closing in the last year due to soaring energy prices. 

Green Building Council CEO Andrew Eagles says more heat pumps in the country will reduce these demand pressures for the gas sector. 

He told Mike Hosking they’ve got an opportunity to free up gas from a sector that doesn’t need it.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So back to the gas crisis. We got to hinter
this on the show yesterday as the calls growth for
the government to do something to help business tackle the
price and lack of gas. So the Green Building Council
entered yesterday. They argue heat pumps might help. There are
potential savings for the country, they claim of one and
a half billion. Andrew Eagles is the CEO of the
Green Building councilors with us Andrew Morning Morning. So part

(00:20):
of you thinking is banning new connections and phasing out.
Do you do that on a climate argument or do
you because I just worry about the risk is if
we discovered more gas, we'd solve our problem, and we
don't know that isn't going to happen. Therefore, by banning
new connections, you might be biting yourself for the future years.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, I can see that. I guess what we're seeing
is a hollowing out of New Zealand industry in jobs.
So at two hundred and thirty jobs, the biggest employer
we're a pay who one thousand staff, Winston staff at
Winston Polp skating down and then great businesses like Feridilizer provider.
In my great region of Paranaki at Capouni, scaling that

(01:00):
one hundred and sixteen people. So people are leaving job losses,
hollowing out communities because they just can't afford the gas.
And what we've got is an opportunity to potentially free
that up from a sector that doesn't actually need it,
so where we can move into electrifying homes and buildings,

(01:21):
you know, we can free that up for industry so
they have more certainty, more availability, and it's pretty sizable.
So if nothing changes, it's unlikely that we find something
in the next five years. Right, the average time ten
to sixteen years to find and then bring it on
for production. So if we look at that, by twenty thirty,

(01:41):
twenty six percent of all the gas we're using in
homes and buildings, and then by twenty thirty five it's
fifty percent. So our sector is just saying, look, it's
actually healthier, it's lower cost, and it's more efficient if
we don't use that, and that makes it available for industry,

(02:02):
keeping our jobs and government income receipts from texts and
keeping our communities alive. Right, we want to keep those jobs,
and we want to keep the exports in New Zealand.
So that's an opportunity I think just putting your hand
up and saying we can contribute.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
All right, good on you, Andrew appreciate it. We'll get
you back on another time for a longer discussion about this,
because of course the argument is that heat pump is
a cost, and running a heat pump is another cost,
and of course then you get to the business do
we have enough electricity on a cold winter's morning to
actually run them at all?

Speaker 2 (02:32):
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