23 August 2026
LETS Newsletter No 28
Newsletter No.28 August 2026
Committee News
Co-Chair Sam Kivi with our newly designed LETS tee shirt. Photo Credit Sam Kivi.
Hello All,
It’s been a quieter month for the LETS team. Our most exciting news is our new tee shirts. Designed by a group effort between Tony, Juliet, Dana and Sam and they have designed a very striking shirt. From now on at our events and stalls we will be recognisable in our bright yellow shirts. We all think they look great and we hope they will open the door to many more conversations with locals and people who are interested in the energy transition.
Come along and meet new LETS Committee member Jeremy Webb at our next Speakers Evening on September 16th. Jeremy is the organiser of the Electrify Christchurch event on October 11. Learn about this exciting new initiative and the role this can play in fast forwarding the social change needed to electrify and transition away from fossil fuels.
At our last committee meeting we all enjoyed meeting our University of Canterbury
GEOG309 team of Tahliya, Zac, Heidi, Isla & Anoushka. We are really looking forward to the information they can provide to LETS to help further aims for Community Energy locally.
If you are interested in our last committee minutes from July 27th click here.
The committee will meet on Monday August 24th at 8pm. This will be an online meeting. If you would like a link to join in please email communityenergylytt@gmail.com
Finally if you are wanting some face to face contact with LETS we will be at the Lyttelton Farmers Market community stall on Saturday September 5th 10-1pm.
Wendy, Sam, Greg, Juliet, Tony, Margarita, Raymond, Dana and Jeremy.
Energy Collective Planning Night
Attendees at Collective Brainstorm. Photo credit Margarita Parra
On 11 August, Margarita Parra from LETS participated in the inaugural planning workshop for the reEnergised Canterbury Energy Wellbeing Collective (CEWC). This gathering brought together motivated stakeholders and community members who had previously attended the June event held at Tūranga. As the Collective transitions into its next phase, participants engaged in strategic discussions centred around core questions: establishing the core rationale (why us and why now?), identifying additional key regional stakeholders to invite (who), defining collaborative pathways to keep the Collective active (how), and initially discussing focus areas (what).
The workshop generated various actionable ideas to sustain momentum and collaboration. Some of these ideas include hosting regular community events, using an interactive online platform, and facilitating structured in-person networking opportunities (bump-into spaces!). To build upon these results, a follow-up planning workshop is scheduled for 24 August, where participants will focus on refining and prioritising specific focus areas under the shared vision of advancing energy wellbeing for communities throughout the Canterbury region.
Report by Margarita Parra.
Introducing Larry Blair - Energy Literacy Advocate
I have been following Larry Blair’s Substack energy posts for some time. I have found his posts very educative about the energy industry as a whole.
"*Larry is an insightful commentator on New Zealand’s energy policy and market dynamics via his New Zealand Energy Substack newsletter. A newsletter originally started to explore New Zealand’s energy landscape and to assist readers to develop their own energy literacy. His recent analyses have focused on New Zealand’s energy security, the biological underpinnings of energy demand, and the merits of various fuel substitution initiatives.*“ Larry Blair Energy Literacy Advocate Linkedin
His latest newsletter is “Market & Election Reflection” This newsletter asks great questions about whether the energy system we have can provide the system we need. Larry looks at the real life physics of the situation. Is what we want actually deliverable? This article explains that energy and power are two different things.
“Energy is the capacity to do the work. Power is the rate at which that energy can be transformed into useful work”. He shows how our current system works and how it can’t deliver the outcomes consumers want, ie affordable power. He suggests that the system should be defined by the physics of the situation and not the market so that New Zealand gets the outcomes from power that it wants.
Interesting Website on EVs
Graph from website evdb.nz
One of the University of Canterbury students that LETS is working with shared this informative website for EVs. It is so interesting to see that EVs share of the market is finally increasing rapidly. It appears NZ has reached a tipping point in EVs vs petrol vehicles. This web site has all you need to know about EVs. What are the best sellers, which ones can you use the batteries to power things when you don’t have power (V2L), which ones can you tow with etc. If you are interested in EVs, this site would have to be your go to place. **https://evdb.nz**
Passive Solar House - Tour Diamond Harbour
The Passive House Institute of New Zealand invites LETS members and Lyttelton friends to attend a visit to a house seeking Passive House certification in Diamond Harbour. At the event participants will hear from Think Solar and Rewiring Aotearoa. This is a great opportunity to learn and ask any questions you may have!
Date: August 26th at 5pm
Place: Gathering at Two Thumbs Harbourside to travel to the house
Rewiring Aotearoa is sponsoring Electrify Expos throughout New Zealand. For Christchurch this involves all three affiliated Rewiring Aotearoa groups working collectively to produce this event. The Expo is in the planning stages now. The event will take place at the Wigram Air Force Base. It’s anticipated to be a day where you can find everything under one roof about electrification. You can expect information and displays on EVs, solar systems, hot water systems, community energy organisations and government bodies who deal with energy. The expo will be a fun one stop shop for the public featuring talks, demonstrations, product information and family friendly activities.
HOW CAN YOU HELP NOW?
If you would like to be a sponsor or an exhibitor Dr Jeremy Webb would like to hear from you now. He can be contacted on**ElectrifyChristchurchExpo@gmail.com**or 020 408 64 253
If you would like information on how to be a sponsor or exhibitor just click on the links below.
Dates for your Diary
August 24th Canterbury Energy Wellbeing Collective Planning Night 4.30-7pm
August 24th LETS Committee Meeting 8pm
August 26th Passive Solar House Tour Diamond Harbour 5pm
September 2nd**Solar: Energy of Tomorrow**Webinar
September 5 Lyttelton Farmers Market information Stall
September 16**LETS Speaker Series Dr Jeremy Webb**
September 28th LETS Committee Meeting 7pm
Oct 8th What is Community Energy? Tūranga 5.30pm -7pm
Oct 11**Electrify Expo**
November 18 LETS Speaker Series Margarita Parra
Membership
If you would like to join LETS and haven’t yet, here is a link to our membership application It’s very affordable, only $20 or $5 unwaged and you’ll be helping to shape the future of Community Energy in Aotearoa. Donations are also gratefully accepted and are tax deductible. Thank you.
All members are welcome to sign up to our LETS WhatsApp Group. In this group we share networking opportunities and informative articles/podcasts. If you are interested please text Wendy 021 0476144.
Facebook Lyttelton Energy Transition Society -LETS
For links to our web page and email please click on the links at the bottom of the newsletter.
Do you have any news or events energy related that you’d like included in this monthly broadcast? Please email Wendy communityenergylytt@gmail.com
If you're reading this online and want it delivered to your inbox, click on the 'Subscribe' link in the top LH of this newsletter (if you're reading it on a screen), subscribe here,or email me at communityenergylytt@gmail.com