Nine To Noon for Wednesday 28 August 2024

09:05  Electrification could save NZ $95 billion by 2040: report 

New Zealand households could save as much as $95 billion dollars by 2040 if the country fully electrifies the economy, according to an international renewable energy advocate. Dr Saul Griffith founded Rewiring America, and Rewiring Australia - and is in New Zealand presenting a report pushing the case that electrification is ultimately cheaper than using fossil fuels. Dr Griffith and his co-authors, including the Reserve Bank chief economist Paul Conway, say there should be a systemic approach to adopting solutions like widespread rooftop solar uptake. Tax incentives and Government finance would be tools to be used, but also addressing workforce change, and consenting. Dr Griffiths' 'Investing in Tomorrow' report says New Zealanders are spending about $20 billion a year on imported fossil fuels but could save over four times that by swapping out fossil fuel burning cars and appliances - for electric equivalents. His proposal comes at a time when the government is moving to accelerate the importation of liquified natural gas, to deal with an energy supply shortfall. Dr Saul Griffiths, an engineer, is chief scientist at Rewiring Aotearoa. 

09:30 Assisted dying law under review: both sides line up

It is nearly five years since the End of Life Choice Act became law, and nearly three years since it was implemented, allowing some terminally ill adults with fewer than six months to live to be helped to die by a doctor. As of the end of June, 895 people have done so. Built into the law when it passed was a statutory review, which will begin in November, and both sides of the debate are lining up. The End of Life Choice Society says while the law is working very well for some, in its current form it excludes some of the suffering dying who need it most.  The Society has just commissioned a nationwide opinion poll - conducted by Horizon Research. Kathryn speaks with National President, Ann David and Wellington Palliative Care specialist, Dr Astrid Adams, who is a member of the Australia New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine. Click here for a link to make a submission.

09:45 Australia: Union rebellion, student cap, first class fiasco

Australia correspondent Karen Middleton joins Kathryn to talk about the massive protest by construction workers angry at the federal Labor government and in support of a controversial union forced into administration over alleged links to organised crime. A cap has been introduced to the number of foreign students that Australian universities can take, leaving the institutions fearful for their budgets. Qantas accidentally sold 300 first-class airfares at $15 percent of their regular price - but it wasn't too embarrassed to claw the seats back. And organisers of Canberra's spring flower festival are in a panic over unseasonably warm weather has seen a stack of blooms emerge early.

Karen Middleton is Political Editor of the Guardian Australia

10:05 Is Maths Real? The author who's debunking mathematical myths

Many of us associate maths with rigid right or wrong equations and exam-related dread. That's what Eugenia Cheng calls 'maths phobia,' and she's set out to rid the world of it. The Chigaco-residing mathematician, lecturer and author says we should be focusing less on memorising times tables and more on the different possible relationships between numbers - or in other words, focussing less on answers and more on questions. Her book 'Is Maths Real - how simple questions lead us to mathematics deepest truths' - was published last year, but has arrived on shelves in New Zealand for the first time this week.

10:35 Book review: The Voyage Home by Pat Barker 

Ralph McAllister reviews The Voyage Home by Pat Barker published by Penguin Random House 

10:45 Around the motu : Samantha Gee in Nelson 

Nelson's long-awaited hospital rebuild will now be made up of several smaller buildings and include existing infrastructure. The health minister says the government wants to take a standardised approach to the hospital redevelopments There's a warning of higher social cost as Oranga Tamariki cuts funds for a counselling service. Women's Support Motueka says this is putting its family violence services at risk. And Nelson is set to trial collecting soft plastics from the kerbside,

Samantha Gee is RNZ's Nelson reporter

11:05 Music with Kirsten Zemke: Instrumental rock hits

Music commentator Kirsten Zemke joins Kathryn to explore instrumental pop and rock hits over the decades. Some of the greatest artists and bands have released instrumental tracks, and one of the biggest in the genre was surf music. Kirsten shares tracks from an era when instrumental hits really thrived.

11:20 Finding your feet in a new land, father son conversations 

Maxwell Mkoki was born in Zimbabwe and moved to New Zealand almost 20 years ago when his son was four. Inspired by conversations with his son, he's written a book about the challenges and opportunities of life in a new land. He's now studying Global Studies at the University of Auckland, with a view to entering politics. Maxwell Mkoki talks with Kathryn about his book In Behind You, Dad.

11:45 Science: Digging into diamonds, depression + placebos, astrophysicist Brian May

As the second-biggest diamond is dug out of the earth, science correspondent Allan Blackman looks at why we use the term carat to describe them and why they spontaneously turn into graphite. He also details another study which found placebos - even when people knew they were taking a placebo - can have a positive effect on stress and depression. And Queen's Brian May has quite the scientific background - a new BBC documentary follows his decade-long research to understand what's behind bovine TB and whether the continued culling of badgers is really the solution. 

Allan Blackman is a Professor of Chemistry, School of Science, Auckland University of Technology