SwitchedOn Australia

The federal government recognises electrification and energy efficiency can save householders money, make our houses more comfortable to live in, and reduce emissions. But some energy experts say their National Energy Performance Strategy (NEPS) lacks the details on regulatory reform, financial support, and urgency, that can make it happen. They want less planning, and more doing. Senator Jennifer McAllister, the Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy, discusses the NEPS and what the government has identified as ways to help householders and businesses overcome the hurdles of the energy transition, and current cost of living.

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While suspicion and resistance to big renewable developments is growing in some regional areas, local community energy projects around the country not only provide additional renewable energy to the grid, they enable communities to feel involved and directly benefit from the renewable energy transition. Whereas large scale renewable projects are invariably focused on industry needs, community projects are more likely to win hearts and minds for the energy transition because they focus on the needs of the community first and foremost and are usually run by passionate, committed volunteers with less vested interests. Dr Jarra Hicks, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Community Power Agency, discusses the role of community energy in the energy transition, how Local Energy Hubs can help people move from being confused bystanders to active participants in, and beneficiaries of, the transition, and the barriers that currently impede the sector.

For more information about electrification and energy efficiencyhttps://switchedon.reneweconomy.com.au

Australia is currently seeing a massive increase in hot water heat pump installations, largely fuelled by government incentives and rebates. But concerns are growing that Australia is at risk of being flooded by cheap, unreliable products, installed by inexperienced operators, and we could become a dumping ground for heat pumps that do little to reduce climate change, or the cost of living. That's because we don't yet have minimum energy performance standards for hot water heat pumps. Chris Taylor, the Managing Director of Reclaim Energy, estimates that 90% of the heat pumps now being sold and installed in Australia are what he calls “faux heat pumps.”

For more information about electrification and energy efficiency https://switchedon.reneweconomy.com.au

Even those of us who want to electrify our homes and cars can’t always do so because of the high upfront cost of buying efficient electric machines. Rewiring Australia has come up with a plan to help every Australian household – regardless of income – fully electrify. They're recommending the Federal Government provide low-cost Government loans for all Australian residences to install solar panels, batteries, efficient electric appliances, and an EV, which could save households up to $5,000 annually on energy and petrol bills. These HECS-style loans would be paid back when a property is sold and help Australia meet our emissions targets and dramatically ease our cost of living crisis. Francis Vierboom, Market Transformation Manager at Rewiring Australia, developed the scheme.

For more information about electrification and energy efficiency https://switchedon.reneweconomy.com.au

In the Northern Territory remote First Nations communities have to battle power outages, a reliance on diesel, and mandatory prepaid metres for their electricity that are regularly disconnected when residents don't have the money to top up their power cards. Without access to functional, reliable and affordable power, the basics for a healthy home and community just don't exist. Now, a small, grassroots, indigenous led community development and capacity building organisation, Original Power, is working with First Nations communities to solve long standing energy security problems by helping them move towards lower cost, clean energy. Their latest project will install the first Indigenous owned utility scale renewable energy project in Borroloola.Lauren Mellor, Chantelle Johns, and Madison Sturgess, from Original Power, spoke to the SwitchedOn podcast.

For more information on electrification and energy efficiency https://switchedon.reneweconomy.com.au

Embedded networks allow for the bulk purchase of energy – electricity, gas, or water - from an energy retailer usually at a discount. The number of embedded networks are growing rapidly and being installed in apartment blocks, caravan parks, retirement villages, and also for commercial tenants in shopping centres. But Professor of Law at Macquarie University, Cathy Sherry, says many owners and tenants are getting locked into an embedded network and forced to pay well above ordinary retail rates for their power and water because of developers are making cosy deals with suppliers.

For more information about electrification and energy upgrades https://switchedon.reneweconomy.com.au

Australia has around 3.7 million solar rooftop systems but only a small fraction of them, about 180,000, also have a battery. Electricity networks have been reducing the feed-in tariffs they pay solar owners in recent years and will soon start charging solar owners for feeding their excess solar into the grid during the day. But they'll pay owners to feed-in during the evening when demand for power is greater. Independent sustainable energy advisor, Norman Koslowski, from Sky High Energy Control, says the only way solar owners can deal with the changes is to buy a battery.

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Sarah Aubrey lived in her federation house in the inner west of Sydney for 12 years before she embarked on her electrification journey. By then she was fed up with being cold in winter and paying ever increasing energy bills. So she ditched the gas, went fully electric and efficient, and now uses a quarter of the electricity she used to.

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Urgent, courageous action is needed to better integrate consumer energy assets into our electricity system if we want to underpin Australia’s future economic prosperity with lower electricity and transport costs, and eliminate our dependency on gas. A new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has for the first time analysed the full range of benefits that flow from householders and businesses installing consumer energy resources, also called distributed energy resources (DER). Dr Gabrielle Kuiper, a specialist in distributed energy and author of the IEEFA report argues distributed energy resources must not come second in policy, planning and regulation to transmission and large-scale generation.

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Every time a sparkie walks out of a house, chances are they leave it more energy efficient than when they walked in. But Australia has a shortage of electricians. And we will need 35,000 more sparkies than the 170,000 we already have by 2030, and another 80,000 on top of that by 2050 if we are going to electrify everything. It's a scary prospect but one that Michael Wright, the National Secretary of the Electrical Trades Union is optimistic about.

Find more information about electrification and home energy efficiency https://switchedon.reneweconomy.com.au