Top 15 things NZ must tackle ?

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kiwitrc

4123 posts

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#639443 12-Jun-2012 09:07

crackrdbycracku:
kiwitrc: Maybe people just need to think outside the square a bit more. My two daughters and one of their boyfriends chipped in together and bought a great 4 br house between them as their foot in the door. One daughter lives overseas currently the other two live in the house and rent out the spare rooms. Basically run it as a flat and it is costing them less than flatting.

Mate and me did the exact same thing many years ago when we wanted a house, and we were paying 23% interest on the loan, not 6% like my kids are.

I might be wrong about this but my understanding was that banks were not as keen as they once were on this type of arrangement. I think it is a good idea but I can also see the banks point of view in that if the flatmates move out and you can't cover the mortgage payments then they carry the can.

Yeah, you are wrong. They had to fight the banks off (settled on NZHL btw, amazing outfit). Also dont forget there are 3 salaries backing this up, the rents are cream.

jonb

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#639460 12-Jun-2012 09:35

BlueShift:
mattwnz:
BlueShift:
mattwnz:
I was listening to radio NZ, and one of stories they had, was that the renewable energy situation will be solved once the price of creating electricity from photo voltaic cells, becomes cheaper than gas, which they predict will happen within the next 10 years.

The main problem with electricity from phovoltaics is that it only works when the sun is shining, and that tends not to be when the demand is. Finding a correspondingly cheap and safe way to store the sunlight from long hot January days to use on long dark June nights is the real hurdle for solar power.

Wind has a useful tendancy to be stronger when the sun isn't on, but it still subject to inconvenient quiet spells.

An option that could be ideal for NZ is tidal generation. Whack a few seafloor turbines in Cook Strait, or even better in the narrowest part of the isthmus between Tamaki & Manukau harbours. Completely regular, fully predictable, absolutely safe & renewable power, right in in the middle of where its needed.

Tidal would be ideal, but wear and tear and maintenance is a big hurdle, and I don't think they have really figured out the best way to do it yet.

Which is where the isthmus plan comes in - its closer to a hydro dam than a seafloor tidal generator. Check Google Maps - the strip of land between the Manukau Harbour, North of the airport, and the upper reaches of the Tamaki inlet is narrow enough for me to jog and barely raise a sweat (and I don't jog).

Engineering some kind of canal system between the two bodies of water, designed to take advantage of the differing tide times on each side of the island should be a doable thing with current hydropower tech. Canals could be undergrounded to increase efficiency and reduce visual nimbyism.

And all the power generated would be used within a stone's throw of where it originates instead of piping it more than 3/4 the length of the country and losing a significant percentage in the process.

That's a brilliant idea, why haven't I heard of it already?

2022 is probably too optimistic to be able to do any more than one of these capital (& resource consent)intensive infrastructure improvements though..

oxnsox

1923 posts

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#639462 12-Jun-2012 09:36

crackrdbycracku:I might be wrong about this but my understanding was that banks were not as keen as they once were on this type of arrangement. I think it is a good idea but I can also see the banks point of view in that if the flatmates move out and you can't cover the mortgage payments then they carry the can.

The bank isn't loaning to Flatmates.... Their lending criteria has always been based on the borrowers ability to service the debt.

There is probably less risk in this scenario than loaning mortgage money to a single income family

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