Citrus tip: Citrus trees are known to benefit from a dose of copper spray.

Sow & grow: mustard, feijoas, walnuts, carrots, garlic, parsley, citrus trees.

Source: www.garden-nz.co.nz

1/2 Cup rolled oats
1/2 Cup baby spinach leaves
1/2 Cup pineapple
1/2 Cup ice
1 banana
2 scoops protein powder

Blend for 30 seconds, makes 500mls. 367 calories, 8g fat, 44g protein, 21g
carbohydrate.

A collaboration between Enviroschools Northland, The Northland Regional Council, the Department of Conservation and the local possum industry, the initiative could also lead to potential jobs, says Regional Enviroschools co-ordinator, Susan Karels.

After an enthusiastic group of 50 young Northlanders took part last year, this month three Project Possum events involving training and an overnight assessment camp will be held in the Far North and Whangarei.

Karels says 81 year 11 to 13 students, many who have learnt about the pests in biology, will take part, supported by their schools’ contributions to training and accreditation costs.

“Schools see this project as a very useful learning tool and extremely good value with students picking up a great deal about possums and possum control in a relatively short time and in a way they find really enjoyable.“

For more information about the Enviroschools Programme: nrc.govt.nz/enviroschools

The Ministry of Environment last week confirmed it has abandoned plans for a National Environmental Standard in order to bring all the councils’ sea level projections into line.

At present, estimates of future sea levels vary wildly between councils around New Zealand. Last week a conference was held in Wellington with a focus on the issue.

Findings shared by Dr John Church, from the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, show a dramatic acceleration in sea level rise during the 20^th century and a continuation of the trend in the new century.

The EQC chair for Natural Hazards Planning, Bruce C. Glavovic, also presented findings in relation to the current concerns and discussed the BP oil spill, climate change and the new governance frontier in sea level rise.

He noted sea level rise as a “wicked problem that requires innovative
transformative governance with new modes of collaboration between the State,
private sector and civil society.”

As we sip our way into the second and final week of the Fairtrade Fortnight, researchers discover fairtrade coffee is not only beneficial to coffee growers, it’s boosting returns for local cafés and increasing customer satisfaction too.

Massey University marketing and senior lecturer, Dr Andrew Murphy, says cafes promoting fairtrade coffee in-store is on the increase and buying fairtrade coffee, both in cafés and supermarkets, is becoming a routine purchase for more New Zealanders.

Detailed in the paper, “Fairly sold? Adding value with fair trade coffee in cafés”, the study also revealed women rated having fairtrade coffee in cafés more important than men.

On the whole customers were generally supportive of fairtrade principles and were willing to pay more for fairtrade coffee, although not always as much as cafés tend to charge.

“There are a greater number of cafés offering fairtrade coffee, but it is still a premium
product, not a mainstream one. If you talk to baristas, fair trade coffee does tend to be better quality, so it is one way for cafés to differentiate themselves if they want to attract a particular type of customer,” he says.

Assisted by his student, Ben Jenner-Leuthart, the pair found respondents to their
survey of 150 Aucklanders using six local cafes were not always aware their usual café sold fairtrade coffee.

In some cases they believed their café served fairtrade when it didn’t.

The conclusion was drawn that more effective promotion had the potential to add value in both coffee sales and overall satisfaction.

Part of the research involved the focus group watching Black Gold, a documentary about the inequities of the international coffee trade, to see if their attitudes changed.

“After watching Black Gold, the group seemed quite shocked by what they saw, and did genuinely seem to change their perceptions – and these were people who, by agreeing to participate, probably already had an above average interest in fair trade issues,” says Dr Murphy. “The group were certainly willing to pay a lot more for their coffee afterwards, and they also said taste became less important to them.”

Dr Murphy says the findings reveal while fairtrade coffee can increase the value of cafes looking to establish themselves at the premium end of the market, the challenge for fairtrade organisations will be to grow the market and stay true to the values of the movement.

“It is a bit like organics – as it becomes more mainstream, you get mainstream suppliers who want to come in and be a part of it. While this might lower price and thus attract a
larger customer base, the danger is that you get someone like Nestlé or McDonald’s heavily promoting fair trade coffee, which might actually devalue the brand in the eyes of committed customers,” Dr Murphy says.

Dr Murphy’s key findings:

• Women rated having fair trade coffee present in a café as much more important than men.
• Customers who thought their café sold fair trade coffee were more satisfied than those who were unsure or believed it did not.
• On average, customers were prepared to pay 44 cents more for a cup of fair trade brew.
• A focus group were willing to pay an extra 50 cents for a cup of fair trade coffee after watching the documentary Black Gold; they were also willing to pay an extra 35 cents for a cup of non-fair trade coffee.
• The focus group also slightly reduced the importance it put on coffee taste after watching BlackGold, and dramatically increased the importance it put on a café offering fairtrade coffee.
• Customers didn’t always know if their café served fairtrade coffee.

The inclusion of these companies’ efforts highlights the energy source as a user-friendly option that’s becoming increasingly applicable to a range of industry sectors and businesses of varying sizes, says GNS Science Geothermal Manager, Brian Carey.

From a paper making plant to a small hotel and a hospital, the three finalists’ efforts contribute to an overall $60 million in annual energy savings made by the award’s 90 entrants.

One of the finalists in the Eco Insulation Large Business Award category is paper and personal product manufacturer SCA Hygiene Australasia.

After the company switched from gas-fired boilers to direct use of geothermal steam, which is in abundance in the plant’s surrounding area, carbon emissions were reduced by almost 40 percent.

Similarly, Alpin Motel and Conference Centre in Rotorua has tapped into geothermal fluids under the motel to heat over half of its 40 units, hot tubs and outdoor swimming pool. Drawing water from a 130 meter deep bore, the motel is a finalist in the Knauf Insulation Small Business Award.

And Taupo hospital has dramatically reduced its CO2 emissions and saved $60,000 a year by changing from coal-fired heating to geothermal energy.

As is demonstrated by these three finalists, GNS Science has developed a set of case studies showcasing the range of uses for geothermal energy, from tourism to home heating and industrial processing.

For more information, go to: gns.cri.nz/earthenergy.

Winners of the EECA Awards and the overall Supreme winner will be announced at a ceremony in Auckland on May 23. For more information go to: eeca.govt.nz

Over the past three years,150,000 households have made use of a government grant to improve the efficiency and health of their homes. The program rolls on – here’s how to get started on your home’s upgrade this winter.


The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) is the government agency whose job it is to promote energy efficiency, energy conservation, and renewable energy. It offers advice and incentives to improve energy use in homes, businesses and in transport. Its highest profile campaign is the Energywise Warm up New Zealand: Heat Smart programme.

It began in July 2009, when the government committed to spending $347 million to support the retrofitting of more than 188,500 homes with insulation and clean heating systems. When completed, this will radically improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of families who otherwise might be left living in cold damp conditions. It will also save them money, save energy, reduce damaging greenhouse gas emissions and save taxpayer spending on unnecessary healthcare and lost working days.

At the same time, the programme has created jobs, and helped to improve product safety, quality and service in New Zealand’s heating and insulation industries. 
The programme has so far helped nearly 150,000 households around the country. EECA chief executive Mike Underhill says: “It’s hard to overemphasise the benefits of a warm, dry home. We would love to see a lot more homes in New Zealand with under-floor and ceiling insulation, and with clean, energy efficient heat sources installed.”

How to keep warm this winter for next to nothing


• Open your windows for a few minutes in the warmest part of the day to increase ventilation and allow moisture to escape
• Close curtains as soon as the sun goes down
• Tempting as it is in winter, try not to dry your clothes inside to avoid increased damp
• 
Block the chimney in any unused fireplaces
• 
Install draught seals around doors and windows
• 
Install DIY window insulation film as a temporary but very effective alternative to double-glazing
• Thick, thermal-lined curtains over all windows and French doors, preferably with pelmets
• 
Use thermostats and timers to control your heaters
• 
Avoid portable gas heaters, they pump moisture and noxious gases into your home, making it damp, unhealthy and more expensive to heat.

You could get help for a warm dry home this winter
:

This is a government programme that really puts its money where its policies are. Regardless of your income, if your house was built before 2000 you are eligible for Energywise funding to install insulation and/or efficient heating.

You can get up to $1,300 (or 33%) towards the cost of ceiling and under-floor insulation, rising to 60% if you have a Community Services Card. And after receiving your insulation funding you may be able to pay off the balance through your rates or mortgage from as little as $7 a week.

Also, if your house was built before 2000 you can get $500 towards the cost of installing an efficient heater like a heat pump or wood burner in your main living area. If you have a Community Services Card, you can get up to $1,200.

To qualify for funding for heating, you must have insulation that is at least 120mm thick in your ceiling and 50mm thick under the floor. A service provider will assess your insulation before installing an efficient heater.

To find out more and get a free no-obligation quote from three local suppliers at the touch of a button, go to: energywise.govt.nz

CASE STUDY 1: Pink® Batts® insulation Roll of Honour:

A household name for over 50 years, Pink® Batts® is a Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart Programme-accepted insulation product.

Pink® Batts® glass wool insulation has been a frontline force in the battle for energy efficiency in New Zealand for many years. Uninsulated homes waste energy by allowing heat to escape and increase damaging greenhouse gas emissions by increasing the energy required to keep them warm.

They also force people to spend more on heat or risk severe health problems: a Wellington School of Medicine study found that households that installed insulation had fewer sick days and doctor visits, yielding economic benefits estimated at twice the value of the installation costs.

Pink® Batts® insulation is one of the best-known products in this business, and has been a piece of New Zealand building history for more than 50 years. But that doesn’t mean it is resting on its fluffy pink laurels.

The company has conducted a full Life Cycle Assessment of its products to the stringent International Standards Organisation’s ISO14040 grade. This identifies and quantifies the inputs and outputs at each stage of the product’s life cycle and assesses the impact of the material, energy and waste on the environment.

This includes the product’s embodied energy, global warming potential and its potential effect on soil and water acidity. 
This work, and the range of certification schemes the company is signed up to, informs and guides continued efforts to minimise waste, manage energy use, remove potentially polluting processes and materials from production and continually improve the product’s durability and performance.

Tony Te Au, general manager, says: “Energy conservation is at the core of what we do, so working so closely with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority is a natural fit, and something we are proud of. But we also take this much further than our legal commitments: we want to be leaders in this sector in terms of the safety, effectiveness and sustainability of our products.”

Customers like Juliet and Ben Herlihy, noticed the difference immediately. The Herlihy’s place had no insulation and was cold and damp until they fitted Pink® Batts® ceiling insulation and SnugFloor® insulation under their floorboards.

They also had a vapour barrier installed to prevent rising damp, and a heat pump. 
Juliet said: “It’s like a different house now, so warm and dry. Our home is very easy to heat and stays warm all day, even if it has been empty. It’s lovely to come home to. We would thoroughly recommend putting in insulation. It is certainly the best money we have ever spent on a house and has improved our comfort and quality of life significantly, while saving us money.”

A Wellington School of Medicine study found that households that installed insulation had fewer sick days and doctor visits, yielding economic benefits estimated at twice the value of the installation costs.

INSULATION BY NUMBERS

18°C The World Health Organisation minimum recommended temperature for a healthy home
25% approximate proportion of New Zealand homes still uninsulated
33% estimate of number of New Zealand homes that fail to meet the WHO standard


50% the amount of energy a fully insulated home requires to heat it compared to one which is uninsulated
80% proportion of recycled glass in Pink® Batts® insulation

Pink Batts are recommended by:

New Zealand Asthma foundation’s Sensitive Choice programme – safe for installation into the homes of asthma sufferers
Environmental Choice New Zealand certification holder
Kiwi Made Pink® Batts® is made locally in Auckland and Christchurch
Warm Up New Zealand scheme accepted product
Finnish M1 standard the toughest standard for building materials with the lowest levels of emissions from substances like formaldehyde and ammonia

CASE STUDY 2: EcoSpring Cylinders - The future of water heating

Save money on hot water with the latest heat pump technology.

An efficient hot water system represents the single largest opportunity to reduce your power bill. The EcoSpring next generation heat pump hot water cylinder can cut your water heating costs by up to 75%. 
With capacities up to 300 litres, EcoSpring cylinders are suitable for any building, anywhere in New Zealand.

They are as easy to install as a traditional cylinder, and can be mounted outside under their own raincover if space is at a premium. EcoSpring cylinders even incorporate a back-up electrical element to ensure ample hot water in even the coldest of cold snaps.

Why are people choosing EcoSpring?



Melissa Jakich installed EcoSpring. We asked her why.
“We wanted something as energy efficient and money saving as possible,” she says. “A hot water heat pump seemed to be the answer, as it requires less electricity and provides savings all year ’round. This also makes it kinder on the environment.

“We needed a system that could be installed outdoors, but we had issues with high winds and overall height restrictions, so installing solar panels would have been too complicated.

“I really like that this model has a display so I can control the heating times and tell exactly what is going on. I know it has a Hybrid setting for lower temperatures, in case the water heating needs a boost. But with the climate here in Piha we haven’t needed to use it, even with the additional summer guests and regular after-beach showering.

“We don’t have bills much beyond $150 a month even in the depths of winter, and considerably less in the height of summer. That’s why we are keen to stay with this technology.”

How EcoSpring’s heat pump can cut your power bills



The air outside your home is warmed every day, whatever the weather. Heat pumps use small amounts of power to transfer that heat from outside to where you need it. They are more consistent and reliable than solar panels, and many times more efficient than electrical elements. 
If your current yearly water-heating bill is $800, an EcoSpring water heater will save you approximately 
$500 per year at current electricity prices.

Depending on whether we find a cure for our addiction to plastics, they may prove to be a lifesaver for the planet.

A group of students from Yale University made the startling discovery while on a field trip to the jungles of Ecuador. The micro-organisms they discovered are able to break down those plastics which are becoming the bane of the earth.

The fungus, called Pestalotiopsis microspora, is the first anyone has found to survive on a steady diet of polyurethane alone and – even more surprising – do this in an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment that is close to the condition at the bottom of a landfill.

Just be sure to keep young plants in sheltered spots if the temperature has started to decline.

Sow and grow: liliums, violas, dianthus, calendulas, and marigolds

Fruit tip: Frosts can make lemons dry and bitter so harvest them now to get the best from the fruit.

Where did you get your furniture? If it’s a chair from local design company Union, the answer could be complicated. The materials could’ve come from old camp stretchers, post office bags or vintage tapestries picked up on road trips.

“We’re all about the story, the theatrical aspect of design,” says Sue Haldane, one half of the Union design team with Paula Coulthard.

“We really wanted to make something here in New Zealand using sustainable materials and recycling cool stuff we find.”

For instance, the green settee we’re sitting on, one of many Union pieces at the Boiler Room in Kingsland, is a re-covered original frame found in Whanganui that Haldane suspects would’ve been burned had they not salvaged it.

Rather than its original paper-thin leather, it’s now a hard-wearing hemp. Union’s signature designs and bespoke pieces take weeks to create, and are manufactured from sustainable southern beech, and upholstered locally, the finer details embroidered by hand. 
Wherever possible they recycle materials found in army surplus stores, warehouses or club rooms.

The leather settee in the hallway of the Boiler Room was inspired by horse-racing, after Haldane came across racehorse signs from the Ellerslie Racecourse. 
In other words, Union pieces are the antithesis of mainstream furniture, much of which is imported or reproduced en masse and brand new.

Nor is it what you’d call conventionally luxurious. Union are unapologetic about using items some might consider junk. Much of their vast collection of vintage bits and bobs is worthy of a second life, says the pair, as it comes from an era that places more value on material things, a time when disposability and speed were not part of the vernacular.

“A lot of modern furniture pieces get thrown out because they’ve deteriorated,” says Coulthard. “The stuff that’s 100 years old is still around because it is so good. I also love the story of what its life has been. There’s a romantic idea of what it’s seen and the past. I like things that are a little aged. I don’t like them bright, shiny and new.”

The pair first worked together at the Boiler Room when it was in Grey Lynn. Owned by Haldane and her husband Gary Willis, the shop sells large-scale furniture and repurposed and restored furnishings and demolition materials found in New Zealand power stations, railways and factories.

Haldane and Coulthard enjoyed working together so much they decided to start up a new line that would call on both their skills. Haldane has a theatre and furniture design background and Coulthard has her own eponymous label for clothing and homewares. Union Furniture is stocked at the Boiler Room’s new premises on New North Road in Kingsland.

Creating furniture from scratch in New Zealand comes with its own challenges. As well as the hours spent trawling for materials, designing the layout and hand-embroidering, finding hemps is becoming increasingly difficult, and the company they used to vat-dye the hemp recently closed.

The time and care taken to create their furniture is reflected in the price. Chairs range from around $4300 to $5700; settees from $10,099 to $12,800, depending on the materials, which can be tailored to clients’ tastes.

“I just wish we could make more but they do have to be art pieces because of the cost – that’s the reality, and we’ve tried so hard to keep the cost down,” says Haldane. “If someone chooses a chair like this, they’re choosing an art piece.”

By Rebecca Barry Hill