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Eighteen more schools will be able to say goodbye to coal, courtesy of the government’s decarbonization fund.
At the beginning of the year, the Minister of Climate Change, James Shaw, announced that 200 million dollars would be allocated to change public sector buildings away from fossil fuels. Since then, the cash has allowed eight schools and Ashburton Hospital to dispose of their coal furnaces.
Of the $ 200 million, a quarter of the cash will be spent on schools, including those announced today. By allowing these schools to replace or convert their old boilers, some 36,500 tons of carbon emissions will be prevented from entering the atmosphere, according to government estimates.
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* Two uni coal-fired boilers to run as the government aims to reduce utility emissions
* The government begins to remove the public sector from coal with eight schools and a hospital
Joseph Johnson / Stuff
The government says too many schools still use coal-fired heating systems.
Shaw said that “many of our schools still use old, dirty and climate-polluting furnaces” to heat classrooms and school buildings.
“I have visited some of the schools that we support and in a couple of places I have seen the dirty old furnace that we are replacing, which are in rooms covered in black by carbon deposits that have accumulated over 60 years from someone who literally had than shoveling coal first thing in the morning so the children have a warm place to learn. Then I went to visit another school that had already done the work and saw an impeccable, quiet and highly efficient wood chip boiler, ”he said.
Shaw said the students at the school he spoke to supported the plan.
The 18 schools in today’s announcement are:
- Wairarapa Elementary School, in Wairarapa
- Waitaki Boys High School, Otago
- Big Rock Elementary School, Otago
- Murihiku Youth Parent Learning Center, Southland
- Meremere School, in Waikato
- Miller Avenue School in Waikato
- Newfield Park School in Southland
- Manukorihi Middle School, Taranaki
- Ohakune School, in Manawatū-Whanganui
- Greytown School, in Wairarapa
- Ohau School, in Manawatū-Whanganui
- Pukerua Bay School, Wellington
- Rosebank School, in Balclutha, Otago
- Dipton School, in Southland
- Edendale Elementary School, Southland
- Invercargill High School, Southland
- Pukerau School, in Southland
- Waikaka School, Southland.
The next group of schools to receive funding for decarbonization will be announced before the end of the year, Shaw said.
The University of Canterbury, Lakes District Health Board, MidCentral District Health Board, Inland Revenue, Auckland University of Technology and New Zealand Defense Force buildings have also received clean energy upgrades as part of the funding.
