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Greenpeace report urges 100% renewable energy

Updated at 6:00 pm on 11 February 2013

A report commissioned by Greenpeace says an estimated 10,000 jobs could be created if New Zealand boosted its use of renewable energy.

The organisation said some of the world's leading energy forecasters have worked on the report, which looks at how using almost 100% renewable sources for energy would result in a huge boost to the country's books by 2030.

Chief policy adviser Nathan Argent said key findings show that the clean energy sector could give the country a much needed boost in the economy and create 10,000 jobs.

He said the findings estimate that the geothermal industry could be worth $4 billion per year to the economy by 2030 and the use of bio-energy - rather than importing oil - could save almost $7 billion per year.

Greenpeace said the report was prepared by the Institute of Technical Thermodynamics of the German Aerospace Centre; the Institute for Sustainable Futures; University of Technology, Sydney; and Dialogue Consultants Ltd.

Comment

Energy News editor Gavin Evans said although the research is good at highlighting what needs to be done, the job creation numbers were not reliable.

Energy analyst Bryan Leyland was also sceptical about the findings and said they were completely unrealistic.

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