Duncan Andrews and his family turned to solar a little under a year ago and has no regrets.

鄧肯-安德魯斯（Duncan Andrews）和他的家人在不到一年前開始使用太陽能，他對此並不後悔。

It was kind of a decision that I looked at for a while, and there was a few questions I needed answering, but once I tidied up all those questions, it was a no-brainer for us really.

這個決定我考慮了很久，我需要回答一些問題，但一旦我把所有問題都理清了，我們就不需要再考慮了。

Cities like Auckland get approximately 2,000 hours of sunshine annually, with more in places like Nelson and the Bay of Plenty.

奧克蘭等城市每年的日照時間約為 2,000 小時，尼爾森和豐盛灣等地的日照時間更長。

Despite this, and the savings up for grabs, the uptake of solar in New Zealand remains slow when compared to the rest of the world.

儘管如此，與世界其他國家相比，紐西蘭的太陽能利用率仍然很低。

Coincidentally I did fly a drone around, I only noticed there are only a few properties over Auckland that have it.

巧合的是，我確實開著無人機轉了一圈，但我只注意到奧克蘭只有少數幾個樓盤有無人機。

If you look to the number of installs per connection, electricity connection, it's only 3% has solar, while in other countries in Europe, Australia, US, it's already 30-40%.

如果你看一下每個連接（電力連接）的安裝數量，只有 3% 有太陽能，而在歐洲、澳洲和美國的其他國家，已經達到了 30-40%。

So we are way behind the ball.

所以，我們遠遠落後於形勢。

The UK now installs 17,000 systems a month, which is huge.

目前，英國每月安裝 17,000 套系統，數量巨大。

So if you put that into our population terms, that would be the same as doing around about 2,000 a month.

是以，如果把這一數字換算成我們的人口數量，就相當於每個月做大約 2000 人。

In New Zealand we do about 700 or 800 a month.

在紐西蘭，我們每個月大約要做 700 或 800 次。

So we have a little bit of a way to go.

是以，我們還有一段路要走。

A big factor behind Kiwi's hesitancy is the cost.

奇異果猶豫不決的一個重要原因是成本問題。

A solar system for the average home comes with a price tag of around $25,000.

普通住宅的太陽能系統標價約為 25,000 美元。

There's no current government subsidy on offer either.

目前政府也沒有提供補貼。

For those wanting to buy outright, banks are instead coming to the table.

對於那些想直接購房的人來說，銀行反而會主動找上門來。

They have a loan that you can go to.

您可以向他們申請貸款。

So if you have a mortgage at the bank or you are with a bank, then you can go to the bank and you get a 3-5 year loan for an interest-free or 1% interest on that loan.

是以，如果您在銀行有抵押貸款，或者您與銀行有合作關係，那麼您就可以去銀行獲得 3-5 年期的免息貸款或 1%的貸款利息。

Others, like Duncan, are opting for subscription-based plans paid off over 20 to 25 years.

還有一些人像鄧肯一樣，選擇了分 20 到 25 年付清的訂購計劃。

There's no capital you have to pay towards it.

您無需為此支付任何資金。

And obviously they do a full assessment of your property to see if it's actually worthwhile.

顯然，他們會對你的財產進行全面評估，看是否真的值得。

We own the kit, we maintain it, we insure it, we fix it if anything goes wrong.

我們擁有這套裝備，我們維護它，我們為它投保，如果出了什麼問題，我們也會修理它。

So it's almost like substituting your power bill from your grid retailer with one from Solar Zero and leaving it all to us.

是以，這幾乎等同於用零度太陽能公司的電費賬單替代電網零售商的電費賬單，然後將一切交給我們。

The cost of solar is getting more affordable though with the price of panels and batteries significantly down on a year ago.

不過，隨著太陽能電池板和電池組的價格比一年前大幅下降，太陽能發電的成本也越來越低廉。

And as technology progresses, the efficiency of panels will continue to improve.

隨著技術的進步，電池板的效率也將不斷提高。

There will be a point where it is really affordable for everyone.

總有一天，每個人都能真正負擔得起。

At this moment, if you calculate, it is already the cheapest form of power.

目前，如果計算一下，它已經是最廉價的電力形式。

And that's mainly because if you install a system, it will work for 25, 30 years.

這主要是因為，如果你安裝了一個系統，它就能工作 25 或 30 年。

Recent events also sparking conversation around the need for an alternative source of electricity.

最近發生的事件也引發了對替代電力來源需求的討論。

Obviously we had the blackouts in 2021, and then Cyclone Gabriel came and we had blackouts for about a third of the people in the North Island.

很明顯，我們在 2021 年遭遇了停電，隨後 "加布裡埃爾 "氣旋來襲，北島大約三分之一的居民遭遇了停電。

So people have become a little bit more energy conscious.

是以，人們的能源意識變得更強了。

I think energy is now becoming part of the dinner talk in terms of how we power our homes.

我認為，就如何為我們的家庭供電而言，能源正成為人們晚餐談論的話題之一。

Hope's conversations around the dinner table will only continue so we see more houses looking like this soon.

希望餐桌上的對話能繼續下去，讓我們很快就能看到更多這樣的房子。

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

美國國家航空航天局噴氣推進實驗室、加州理工學院