New Zealand is about 70 percent energy self-sufficient, but the known reserves of gas and oil are thought to be good for only another twenty to thirty years and coal will also run out sometime in the next century. Demand for energy is currently on the increase, thanks to energy intensive processes like aluminium smelting (near Invercargill) and the Taranaki petrochemical industry, together with a general increase in energy demand of 57 percent, despite only a 17 percent population rise over the last 25 years.

Although the nation is surrounded by sea water and buffeted by high winds, the efforts to exploit alternative power sources have been token at best with the recent Palmerston North wind-farm being a notable exception . Hydroelectricity is, on the face of it, an environmentally friendly way of coping with the demands for power from an ever increasing population, but the flooding of unique environments to create lakes and grand dams has destroyed numerous natural habitats. Perhaps the most important environments at risk are the riverbanks, where threatened species of birds live, nest and feed.