Dr Kelvin Kemm: Solar for the soul or for the senses

The Sun has mystified mankind for centuries. In days long gone, primitive people worshiped the Sun or a Sun God. But much more recently, in the later 1800s, people were still mystified because by then science had advanced a great deal and physicists had acquired a significant understanding of thermodynamics and energy. They knew that thermodynamics states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, and it can only be converted to another form. They also knew how to calculate the heat emitted from burning coal, wood, or anything else.

John MacDonald: Time to think bigger than solar panels on the roof

Whatever happened to this country’s ability to think big on the energy front?

And why is it that we’re not doing the same with solar energy and why are our politicians relying on households to do the heavy lifting?

I mention thinking big intentionally. Because that’s what we did back in the 1970s and 1980s, especially with the big hydro power schemes.

Kerre Woodham: Bring on the solar

Everybody's into the solar energy now. National announced its solar energy policy last week and most people thought it was a sound idea, good common-sense idea. The party, if elected, would launch the Home Energy Fund by tweaking the Local Government Act and committing a one-off $7 million equity investment to secure a 20% shareholding in the new entity with the balance funded by participating councils.