Description:

This Energy Information Handbook brings together in a single, concise, ready-reference format basic technical information describing the country’s energy resources and current energy commodities. This is the third edition, revised and expanded (previous editions were published in 1984 and 1993), and the first to be published by CAENZ.

As with the second edition, a new Handbook was overdue for several reasons. The original volume was prepared at a time when the gas sector in particular was in a state of rapid evolution. It is a very different now and so are the energy commodities involved. Since 1984, the energy sector has been re-regulated, corporatised and privatised to varying degrees. Access to definitive information, even of a technical rather than a commercial nature, remains problematic for many. Climate Change and the depletion rate of fossil energy resources, more widely recognised now than when the second edition was published, add to the pressure of finding and using energy resources with the utmost efficiency and with due regard to the environmental consequences.

The data contained in this Handbook have been selected as being suitable for analyses and investigations at the planning and policy level, and for general consumer and student enquiries. The two main aims served by this Handbook are to encourage the widespread and consistent use of a uniform data set, relevant to New Zealand, and to familiarise users who do not have a technical background with the important factors that affect the appropriateness and accuracy of energy data.