In the week that the Emissions Trading Scheme has been extended to fuel and energy, the Government is telling companies they can cut their energy usage by 20 percent if they think hard enough.
It says innovation can achieve this, and cites a Christchurch timber company, Southern Pine Products, as an example.
The firm's managing director, Mike Taylor, says the firm used to spend $180,000 a year disposing of sawdust from the manufacture of timber products, including medium-density fibreboard.
It then installed a briquette-making machine, with help from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, to turn the sawdust into solid fuel pellets.
These are now sold as fuel to heat glass houses, and earn $25,000 a year.
