New Zealanders' choice of future energy sources

New Zealanders overwhelming favour wind and solar power as the best energy sources for the country in the next 10 years.

Nuclear power is favoured by 19%, and coal is the least preferred at 8%.

A proposed ban on building new thermal baseload coal and gas power plants in the next 10 years, as part of Government policy to focus investment on renewable energy sources, has 58% support, while 26% oppose, according to a national survey of 3546 respondents conducted by ShapeNZ. The weighted survey has a maximum margin of error of 1.6% on the national results.

70% think New Zealand is not doing enough to encourage renewable energy projects.

Major wind farm support

The research reveals New Zealanders are big supporters of wind farms.

77% prefer wind as the best energy source in the next decade, 69% solar, 47% geothermal, 40% wave power, 35% small and large scale hydro, 19% nuclear, 10% gas and 8% coal.

Within boundaries of the bigger cities, Waitakere residents show highest support for wind farms at 83%, followed by Dunedin 81%, Wellington 75%, Hutt 78%, Christchurch 74%, Manukau 63%, Hamilton 63%, and Auckland 60%. Though smaller sample size results need to be treated with caution, the survey indicates strong support for future wind power in areas where wind farms have already been built.

Nuclear power

Within the council areas with larger response rates, nuclear power has its strongest support in Manukau City (30%), and is preferred by 18% in Auckland, 19% in Christchurch, 17% in Wellington, 18% in North Shore, 14% in Waitakere, 19% in Dunedin and 20% in Hamilton. (Respondents could select one or all of nine options, and 4% said they did not know.)

Trading nuclear-sourced emissions credits

However, more people oppose than support the prospect of allowing emission credits, originally given to power companies overseas which have lowered emissions by building nuclear power plants, to be traded in New Zealand.

Currently the law forbids trading in nuclear-sourced emissions when the country's emissions trading system starts, most likely later this year.

43% say no to trading in nuclear sourced credits, 33% say yes while 24% don't know.

Look of wind farms acceptable

Only 5% say windfarms do not look acceptable (3% really disliking their look).

Some 48% say they like the way wind farms look (19% really liking their look), while 44% say it depends on where they are located.

Asked how concerned they would be, on a scale of 1 to five (one being not concerned at all and five being very concerned) if a wind farm was built in an area visible from their home, 84% give an approval rating (1 to 3): Some 14% give a concern rating of 4 to 5.

Asked about the amount of influence opponents have in whether or not new wind farms get built, 39% say opponents have too much say, 9% say not enough. Some 35% say the amount of influence is "about right", while 17% don't know.

Political management of climate change:

Asked to rate the Government's performance on managing climate change on a scale of one to five (one being poor, five excellent), 36% fail it with a 1 or 2 score; 38% give it a 3 plus mark, including 17% a 4 plus score.

Best coalitions to manage climate change

Asked which of the two main political parties would be best to manage climate change, Labour and National each score 32%, while 36% don't know.

A Labour-Green coalition is best favoured to manage climate change (33%), compared with a National-Green coalition (23%), while a National-Maori coalition by 7% and a Labour-Maori coalition by only 4%. 25% don't know and 7% elect some other coalition option to best manage climate change.

The survey was conducted between February 26 and March 31, 2008. The 3547-respondent survey is weighted by age, gender, personal income, employment status and ethnicity to represent the New Zealand population at the 2006 census, and party vote in the 2005 general election.

At a confidence level of 95% the maximum margin of error is 1.6% for the national results. Caution is needed in using smaller sub-sample results.

The New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development, which runs the 8900-plus member ShapeNZ research panel, says the results show people have embraced the concept of a renewable energy future.

The Business Council, whose 71 member companies' annual sales of more than $44 billion equate to about 34% of gross domestic product, has been advocating for emissions trading since 2003 to put a price on greenhouse gas emissions and help divert investment to lower-emission energy sources.

However, it's Chief Executive, Peter Neilson, says the survey results run counter to some of his organisation's hopes on climate change management policy: it wants the price on carbon, imposed through an emissions trading scheme, to determine what power plants are built, not the proposed 10 year ban on new thermal baseload.

"We don't need both.

"We'll be arguing that policy makers should have confidence that the emissions trading scheme they are setting up will work: it will price carbon effectively and influence thousands of investment decisions on emissions reduction.

"Like the Government, Kiwis want a dollar each way – through pricing and a ban. Yet the market will give us better decisions. A ban rules out the potentially major strides being made in clean coal technology – which would turn coal into one of the country's largest and longest term energy sources," Mr Neilson says.

The survey also shows that New Zealanders overwhelmingly want renewables – and are prepared to accept options like wind farms, even in areas by their own homes.

There is also major support to invest more in renewables, especially wind, solar and wave power.