www.rnz.co.nz Kiwi firm designs low-cost, fast-build house
RTA Studio says it's found a way to strip hundreds of thousands of dollars from the cost of building a home.
Through the middle of the day we are hitting the export cap most days, but we also try to turn on the dishwasher or charge the car at that time because it's better to use the power than sell to the grid and buy it back later.
We've only had it through the summer so I'm curious what the winter will be like.
We get 20c per KWh at a fixed rate, which is much better than some companies that do 10c or less or some don't pay you at all. We are with SolarEdge, a specialist electricity company that only work with people who have solar or other renewable power (e.g. wind). Apparently they can't do it in all areas, though.
All in all it will be interesting to pull out a spread sheet after a year and try to work out whether it's been financially worth it.
Yeah I am hoping the rush on EVs continues and the big bucks keep being put into battery research. I am really tempted to get a second battery, but then I remember the battery alone costs a good $10-15k depending on model., I reckon in 5 years or so when I'm hoping capacities have doubled (so getting one more will triple our current capacity).
It's hard watching the solar output get capped because the battery is full and you can only provide 5KW to the grid on single phase power systems.
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Aotearoa Weekly Kōrero 18/4/2025
An update, some of you might remember we had federation issues with Lemmy.world. For a long time now we have had a second server in Finland that Lemmy.world was pointed at, then that server would pass the activities in bulk to our Lemmy.nz server in NZ. This has worked for a long time to prevent a delay federating all the Lemmy.world content.
A recent version of Lemmy added a way to send activities in parallel. Lemmy.world has turned this on, and not long ago this morning have started sending the activities directly to the Lemmy.nz server again, bypassing the extra one.
Let me know if you see anything strange, but it does seem to be working from what I've seen monitoring it this morning.
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Aotearoa Weekly Kōrero 18/4/2025
I used to be like that on reddit. Coming here I decided I'd just say things that came to mind. If it doesn't resonate with people then they don't reply and no harm no foul, but very often it triggers replies and conversations. I think it's a great way to get value out of lemmy.
Wikipedia mentions the term "quirina", I wonder if that would be more familiar to them?
It seems you can do a lot yourself but you wouldn't be able to avoid an electrician completely. The thing that stands out to me is that you can't connect the house to the grid, and you can't connect new subcircuits. So you can replace existing hot points, but if you install new ones then you can run the cabling but need to have an electrician actually connect it to the power, and need the work to be inspected.
They talk about cutting the electrician time down to a few days for this design, I guess you could make it one day if you do the leg work yourself and just have them there for the inspection and connection.
For assembling, it seems like you should be able to do it with a few friends so long as you have a loader crane type thing. I presume you can hire those but I'm not sure what the class requirements are to drive them.
We got solar somewhat recently. You can often get cheap finance through your bank if you have a mortgage, $10k should be enough for a few panels. While a battery would be good for resilience, it's a significant cost that Consumer NZ reckons doesn't pay for itself and is only worth doing if you are looking for that protection from power cuts. It does seem like that's what you want, but you can add a battery later, and if you lose power for a long time then having power during the day is still better than none at all.
One thing that surprised me was how little power the house battery stores. As the nights get longer, we are often left without much power in the battery come morning. And if the heating is on we often don't make it through and it starts pulling from the grid.
The battery is about 13KWh and we have a Leaf EV that's maybe 25 or 30Kwh, so if you charge overnight then it just drains the whole battery.
Sounds like you didn't believe you could fly.
Interesting! I see there is a community specifically for Lemmy.ee questions such as this, you could try there if you don't get an answer here?
I just really want to see where the numbers come from.
You know people self hosting email, I know people self hosting email. But that is certainly not the case for the vast, vast majority of individuals. For businesses, I have seen Exchange take over what used to be smaller hosts, and Google has broken into the small/medium business world as well. I have searched and searched and found nothing, but I don't see why it should be so hard to do. Obtain a list of email addresses from some data breach (I dunno how but I'm sure security researchers do it all the time) then check their DNS to see what proportion point at big tech. My gut feel is that it's a large proportion, but maybe that's just the corner I work in.
Lemmy by default only has an on/off switch for admins. Either users can or can't create communities.
Your instance is lemm.ee, and as far as I can tell there is no custom limitation happening.
The side bar on the lemm.ee home page says:
About this site
- Sign-ups are open
- E-mail verification is required
- Downvotes are enabled
- User community creation is enabled
- Image uploads are enabled 4 weeks after account creation
- Image upload limit is 500kb per image
- We have a policy for administration, moderation, and federation
- We have a status page
Feel free to create or join communities for any topics that interest you!
It doesn't mention a time limit and says feel free to create communities, so you should be able to do it.
email can be run using hundreds of servers on dozens of platforms even from your own house and interact with the email network.
It's nice that it can, but the point of this list is is that what actually happens for the majority of people?
And from my experience, the answer is no, the vast majority of people use Microsoft or Google.
This claim is "Top Provider User Share: Google ≈ 17% → Score: 27/30"
Where does this number come from? Gmail alone claims 1.5 billion active users. Outlook.com has 500 million. But then you have to start adding up all the email users worldwide that are using services hosted by Microsoft (all the Exchange business customers), and the google customers as well (that may or may not be included in the Gmail figures). Then there are all the ISP email addresses that use these services as the provider.
I find it hard to believe that email is as decentralised as claimed here, and I'm really keen to see more data on how it was calculated.
The reason I find it so hard to believe is that when Microsoft fucks up (and given time they always do), a significant portion of the business customers I deal with get affected.
Kids that age shouldn’t just be able to use a computer unsupervised or have free access to a computer/console like that. Screentime is a thing and its important.
There is no indication that's it's free unlimited access. I don't get how it being unsupervised is related to screen time.
I'd happily throw minecraft on a phone to a kid in the back seat of the car. I can't see what they are doing, but I know that minecraft not on a public server has very little content inappropriate for a 5 year old, and what little there is doesn't come up if you have peaceful mode on.
I'm not convinced that a 5 year old can't grasp the concept of virtuality. Minecraft on peaceful mode is just giant blocks being picked up and placed. Even if it were true they don't get that it's virtual (that I don't really understand how that could be true), I can't imagine what long term damage could possibly be done by believing the blocks are real.
Even younger. The touch screen version is easy enough for a 4 year old or maybe younger, depending on what you constitute "playing".
Now I think about it, I'm certain I've had this conversation, except it was cats not cows.
They cover it here: https://livinghouse.nz/#living-house-cost-breakdown
They allocate $15k for insulation. It says cost dependant on location - different parts of the country have different requirements for R value so I'm guessing they are going for bare minimum required by law. However, it turns out they are an architecture company not a building company so they simply sell you the plans for $10k and you contract your own builders to do it (they have agreements with suppliers for most of it but you aren't required to use them). What I'm getting at is you can spend a bit more and get better insulation if you wanted to.
The process manager lets you kill any process.
You can also click the do it anyway button when it's waiting on shutdown, but I've had less consistent success with that.
No mention of insulation, which should be a top priority for low income housing, otherwise the heating and cooling costs will be crazy.
I eventually found this site: https://livinghouse.nz/
It has this cost breakdown:
There's also this more detailed breakdown: https://livinghouse.nz/#living-house-cost-breakdown
It seems it does have insulation, as they allocate $15k for the cost of insulation including delivery.
Heating is via a heatpump (with power partly provided from the solar). The place is only 85sqm so it should be enough to keep it cosy, since it will have to meet modern insulation requirements. It also uses a heat pump hot water system which should save on the power bills.
Also, doesn't fisher and paykel have a fairly poor reputation for reliability?
Yeah I generally avoid them. Lucky thing is that the site explains that they are not builders just architects, you buy the plans from them then find a builder to build it. They have agreements with certain suppliers to bring down the costs but presumably you can decide to buy different appliances.
Do you think there are any editors are RNZ or other press outlets who make pro US, pro Israel, pro EU or pro UK edits
For sure.
Do you think the GCSB investigated anybody for being pro any of those countries?
I would not be surprised at all. The GCSB is presumably investigating various people all day every day as the core part of their job.
I disagree. Freedom of the press involves exactly that. In fact the most of the press in our country is owned by foreigners and you can bet your ass those countries are manipulating the press in order to change public opinion.
I'm really struggling with your argument. You are saying that the foreign owned press is manipulating the public through media and that in your opinion we should not do anything about that?
What surprises me is that they count using an email service as self-hosting. With that logic wouldn't bluesky get a high score because people can bring their own domain easily?
A New Zealand architecture company has designed a three-bedroom house that three people can assemble in six weeks for $335,000.
RTA Studio just constructed its first 'Living House' in Rotorua.
It is 85sqm and designed for quick assembly once the foundations are in place, the cost includes a functional kitchen with appliances as well as flooring, lighting, carpets and heating. It does not include the land value.
www.rnz.co.nz What should you say to your kids about the Easter Bunny?
The Easter Bunny and its mates Santa and the tooth fairy present a dilemma for parents - promoting the value of generosity through a vehicle of lies.
It’s one of those moments in the year when many parents wonder why they lie to their children about a magical rabbit that leaves Easter eggs in the garden.
In our multicultural society, there are various approaches to the concepts of Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the tooth fairy. At a guess, for the majority of New Zealand children, these fictional characters are real — at least in the first few years of their lives. After all, New Zealand Post receives more than 100,000 letters each year addressed to Santa at Christmas.
But there are some, whether it is for religious or ethical reasons, who don’t raise their kids to believe in these fictional characters.
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Aotearoa Weekly Kōrero 18/4/2025
Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!
This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.
It’s for talking about anything that might not justify a full post. For example:
- Something interesting that happened to you
- Something humourous that happened to you
- Something frustrating that happened to you
- A quick question
- A request for recommendations
- Pictures of your pet
- A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like an elephant
- Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)
So how’s it going?
www.rnz.co.nz Why do we love feijoas more than anyone else in the world?
This time each year, Melbourne based Kiwis make a special mission to find their feijoa hit. Aussies don't seem to get what all the fuss is about.
When it cools down and autumn hits in New Zealand, office kitchens and staff rooms are suddenly abundant with the sweet smell of our widely available little fruit – the feijoa.
But spare a thought for Kiwis who have made Australia home – where they don’t seem to understand our feijoa fantasy.
Piera Maclean, who has lived in Melbourne for a decade, longs for the taste.
“Normally at this time of year in New Zealand everyone's having feijoa crumble all the time and making cakes. They've got so many. Whereas here it's like if you find three, you know you're feeling very lucky and it's the best day ever.”
Ex-Cyclone Tam live: Planes, ferries cancelled, thousands lose power as winds hit Auckland, Northland
www.rnz.co.nz Ex-Cyclone Tam live: Extreme weather closes in on Coromandel, thousands without power in Northland
Nearly 8000 homes remain without power as in Northland and Auckland Airport has recorded the strongest northeasterly gust since 2017.
Severe weather is continuing to batter the top of the North Island as Cyclone Tam brings heavy rain and strong winds.
Towards Friday, the storm will begin to arrive in Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and the north of the South Island.
What you need to know:
- A large weather system is delivering heavy rain and strong winds to the upper North Island.
- Here's what you need to know as the bad weather hits.
- Around 25,000 properties had no power overnight in Northland and there are many outages in Auckland too.
- Cellphone towers have been damaged in Northland, landlines are still working. ONE NZ is working on opening up Satellite Text as an option for those with 4G.
- Air New Zealand has cancelled some flights, some ferry services in Auckland are either cancelled or suspended. See here for the ferry specifics.
- Up to 180mm of rain could strike Northland with possible thunderstorms, and strong wind warnings also in place.
- Auckland is experiencing high winds and ra
How to troubleshoot communities not federating to my instance
Hey how can we troubleshoot when communities are not being federated?
For example, this community shows that there was an error federating to Lemmy.nz (but not what the error was). Previously it was showing as not allowed.
Here are my settings:
There are other communities listed in this post, though really I'd like the tools to troubleshoot myself: https://lemmy.nz/post/21531352
Any help appreciated 🙂
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Donations
Hi all!
TL;DR You can donate to Lemmy.nz's server costs here: https://ko-fi.com/nzfedi
As you may or may not know, Lemmy.nz is jointly hosted with some other NZ fediverse services. Due to lower fees, donations to support the hosting of Lemmy.nz can now be made here: https://ko-fi.com/nzfedi
- You can do one off donations, but regular donations are best even if smaller, as it helps for longer term planning.
- If you're currently donating to the Open Collective page, please cancel that and use the ko-fi link if you can, as the fees are lower.
- Please mention in the "Your message" box that you're from Lemmy.nz (or if you use both Mastodon.nz and Lemmy.nz or Pixelfed.nz, say so), that helps with seeing where donations are coming from.
- If making the donation will materially affect you, PLEASE DON'T DONATE! Lemmy.nz is not going to die if you don't donate. Please only donate if you have plenty of money, but if you can donate on a regular basis without it materially affecting you
Lemmyvision 2 - The Results Are In!!
cross-posted from: https://jlai.lu/post/17769069
The results are in!🎶
Hey everyone, I'm glad to announce that after fighting my lazyness, I have gathered the votes submitted until now, and am able to announce the results of the second edition of Lemmyvision! Thank you so much for participating, by sending a song together with your community, leaving feedback, or voting!!
This first ranking is based on the average position out of every vote:
- Flomb!, Pe Krieger - #unplugtrump (avg. rank: 3.6)
- Lambrini Girls - God's Country (4.7)
- Alien Weaponry - Mau Moko (4.9)
- Rezz, Virtual Riot, One True God - Give In To You (4.9)
- Bibiza - Aufnimmawiederschaun (5.2)
- Ultra Vomit - Dead Robot Zombie Cop From Outer Space 2 (5.3)
- Billie du Page - Fake Friends (5.3)
- Elisapie (ᐃᓕᓴᐱ) - Quviasukkuvit (If It Makes You Happy) (5.7)
- Gurridyula - From The River To The Sea (5.8)
- Cie Les Petites Mains - L’Anamour (6.2)
- Lina Mayer - Raj (6.2)
Aotearoa Weekly Kōrero 11/4/2025
Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!
This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.
It’s for talking about anything that might not justify a full post. For example:
- Something interesting that happened to you
- Something humourous that happened to you
- Something frustrating that happened to you
- A quick question
- A request for recommendations
- Pictures of your pet
- A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like an elephant
- Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)
So how’s it going?
www.rnz.co.nz Meerkat pups Auckland Zoo's first litter in more than a decade
The four pups, born last month, are healthy, strong and curious.
Auckland Zoo has welcomed its first meerkat litter in more than a decade.
Four pups were born in-habitat last month, bringing the zoo's meerkat collection to seven.
Their mother is Adia, who arrived at the zoo in November.
www.rnz.co.nz Rare native plant thriving after Tāngarākau Gorge road works discovery
The Brachyglottis turneri, or Manawa Kawa can only be found in 11 locations in Taranaki and a handful of places in Whanganui.
When an extremely rare native plant was discovered during road works on the iconic Forgotten World Highway, SH43, local iwi leapt into action.
The nationally endangered plant Brachyglottis turneri, or Manawa Kawa, as it has been named by iwi, is similar to an orchid with a heart-shaped leaf and small yellow flower that blooms from November to December.
It can only be found in 11 locations in Taranaki and a handful of places in Whanganui.
In December 2023, to ensure the plant population wasn't impacted by the sealing project, Ngāti Maru representatives took cuttings from the plants under the guidance of horticulturist Phillip Smith, from Totora Glen Nurseries in Palmerston North.
Smith propagated the cuttings and cared for them until they were ready for replanting in the gorge.
Lemmyvision 2 - Voting is now live! (but not for long)
cross-posted from: https://jlai.lu/post/17384631
Hey everyone, thank you again for participating, and for your submissions!
I'm glad to announce that the voting form is completed, and you can now cast your votes and select your favourite songs. Everyone is welcome to vote, even if your instance or community did not participate! This is a great opportunity to discover new music, cultures, and bridge the lemmyverse together.
The voting form is available here: https://tally.so/r/wvzg8d
I created a playlist so that you can easily listen to the submitted songs, it's available at the following links:
- Piped: https://watch.leptons.xyz/playlist?list=PLznyfib6djoSvfy23noSOy7axFMuMJD7U
- Invidious: https://inv.nadeko.net/playlist?list=PLznyfib6djoSvfy23noSOy7axFMuMJD7U
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLznyfib6djoSvfy23noSOy7axFMuMJD7U
Here's the full list of submitted songs:
- Cie Les Petites Mains - L'Anamour (French Sign Languag
www.rnz.co.nz 'Wellington, you’re so weird': Huge crowd gathers to watch a man fold a fitted sheet
About 700 people squashed together on Cuba Street, some stood on bins, to catch a glimpse of Dan Boerman's linen skills.
Comedian Dan Boerman arrived in Wellington jetlagged and delirious, but he had a plan. On Monday afternoon, in front of a raucous crowd on Cuba Street, he would perform his ability to fold a fitted sheet to all.
“I’m ballparking about 700 people showed up, and from the videos, there were people standing on bins to try and see. It was like a Fred Again concert.”
“Loads of people were saying to me afterwards, ‘This is so silly, this is what we needed in Wellington’ and it was kind of profound in a sense. I was just being silly and putting together something nonsense but people felt real good coming together and chanting on a stranger: ‘Fold that sheet!’
Aotearoa Weekly Kōrero 4/4/2025
Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!
This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.
It’s for talking about anything that might not justify a full post. For example:
- Something interesting that happened to you
- Something humourous that happened to you
- Something frustrating that happened to you
- A quick question
- A request for recommendations
- Pictures of your pet
- A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like an elephant
- Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)
So how’s it going?
www.rnz.co.nz How multinational dairy companies convinced ministers to back away from new rules for baby formula
Tougher guidelines were 11 years in the making. But for multinational dairy companies, profits were at stake.
New baby formula standards were designed to prioritise infant nutrition and take the pressure off parents. But for formula companies, profits were at stake. And that's when the lobbying kicked in.
Concerns about misleading marketing claims on the tins was one of the reasons public health experts from New Zealand and Australia spent the past decade writing a set of regulations that would prioritise infant nutrition above all other interests.
Over 11 years, officials commissioned 36 public reports, five consumer studies and 40 stakeholder workshops, and wrote draft after draft. The regulations were all but signed and due to be implemented this year.
But in August, the government opted out of the trans-Tasman proposal last-minute, citing costs to exporters. While Australia will implement the new standards in 2030, New Zealand now intends to develop its own.
This RNZ investigation uses background interviews with industry insiders, officials and experts as well as documen
www.rnz.co.nz How Deaf teacher Phillip King runs his primary school classroom
King was born Deaf and uses New Zealand Sign Language full-time, leading the primary school class using every tool in his kit that is not the spoken word.
King was born Deaf and uses New Zealand Sign Language full-time, leading the primary school class using every tool in his kit that is not the spoken word.
“I can read your lips and when the children are talking to me I can read their lips, but I don’t speak myself, I don’t use my voice,” King explains through an interpreter.
To begin, King led the class from the front while an interpreter would stand at the back of the room speaking the words (the interpreter would also be around for staff meetings, parent/teacher interviews and seminars).
Gradually, King would ask the interpreter to “turn their voice off” in class – and over time, with plenty of preparation, planning and perseverance, their time in the classroom was wound back, until they did not need to be there at all.
“When I sign it has to go to the interpreter who then talks and it's quite a bit of time, whereas if we can sign together I can talk to you directly and so we can have that interaction and that builds
Submission from Lemmy.nz: Mau Moko - by Alien Weaponry
Aotearoa Weekly Kōrero 28/3/2025
Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!
This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.
It’s for talking about anything that might not justify a full post. For example:
- Something interesting that happened to you
- Something humourous that happened to you
- Something frustrating that happened to you
- A quick question
- A request for recommendations
- Pictures of your pet
- A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like an elephant
- Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)
So how’s it going?
www.rnz.co.nz Beneficiaries on money cards may not be able to pay rent
New 'money management' cards can't be used to cover accommodation, raising concerns about rising homelessness.
Beneficiaries sanctioned with money management cards will often be unable to pay rent, government data shows, putting them at risk of homelessness.
The sanction for non-complying Jobseekers would lock half their benefit into payment cards that cannot be spent on rent - but official statistics from MSD show the average beneficiary is already spending more than 53 percent of their income on housing costs.
MSD confirmed to RNZ the cards - being introduced from 26 May - would see beneficiaries' Jobseeker payments split, with half going onto a payment card unable to be used on rent.
"The Money Management card will be able to be used at grocery, transport, healthcare (including prescriptions) and education suppliers ... [it] cannot be used on other expenses such as rent or utilities," general manager income Shannon Soughtton said.