Four years ago, a handful of Canberra volunteers set out to prove that entire communities could move from gas and petrol to efficient electric homes and transport. Their campaign has now become Go Electric, a major ARENA-backed pilot helping up to 1,000 households electrify through a coordinated one-stop service. Following in the footsteps of Electrify 2515 in the Illawarra, but operating on a larger scale, the project will test whether finance, trades, technology and customer support can be brought together in a model that can be replicated elsewhere. It will also tackle difficult questions about grid capacity, renters and the use of 200 electric vehicles as batteries for homes and the wider energy system. Electrify Canberra co-founder Sarah Reid explains how community trust and persistent advocacy turned an ambitious volunteer campaign into a real-world demonstration.

How a few determined volunteers – “who had no experience” - put an entire suburb on the path to electrification

As NSW considers minimum energy-efficiency standards for rental homes, Renew has modelled what different levels of upgrades would mean for tenants’ comfort and power bills. Its research found that even basic improvements can make homes healthier, but may increase bills when renters begin using newly installed heating and cooling. At the other extreme, an “excellent” retrofit costs substantially more while delivering only modest additional savings. A Goldilocks package, that combines insulation, shading, efficient heating and cooling, heat-pump hot water and rooftop solar, could cut energy bills by between two-thirds and three-quarters. Renew CEO Helen Oakey discusses what NSW’s standards should require, how the work should be financed, and why incentives alone are not enough.

The “Goldilocks” energy upgrades package that could slash rental bills

Australia is a world leader in rooftop solar and home batteries are booming. But electricity still only accounts for around 21 per cent of the energy we consume. So why are we still burning so much gas, petrol and diesel when renewable electricity is increasingly cheap and abundant? More than 30 organisations have joined forces to launch Electrify Australia, pushing to accelerate electrification across homes, businesses, transport, farms and industry. But even when the economics stack up, grid connection delays, outdated regulation, conflicting government policies and entrenched interests can stand in the way, while renters, apartment dwellers and lower-income households risk being left behind. Energy Efficiency Council policy head Jeremy Sung explains what’s holding Australia back and what needs to change to turn our renewable energy success into an electrified economy.

Can a new alliance fast-charge Australia’s electrification push?

Nearly 750 million people around the world still live without reliable electricity, limiting access to healthcare, education and economic opportunity. Global Citizen co-founder Michael Sheldrick explains why the international anti-poverty movement is now putting clean electricity at the centre of its mission. Ahead of the Global Citizen NOW summit in Perth, he discusses plans to help power four million homes, and how governments, development banks, philanthropists and businesses can turn financial pledges into projects on the ground. Sheldrick also examines Western Australia’s opportunity to build new industries around renewable energy and green iron, and why the coal town of Collie could become an important test of whether a just transition can deliver secure, skilled jobs before the old industries disappear.

You can register for the Global Citizen Now summit in Perth here: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/now/perth/

Nearly 750 million people around the world still live without reliable electricity, limiting access to healthcare, education and economic opportunity. Global Citizen co-founder Michael Sheldrick explains why the international anti-poverty movement is now putting clean electricity at the centre of its mission. Ahead of the Global Citizen NOW summit in Perth, he discusses plans to help power four million homes, and how governments, development banks, philanthropists and businesses can turn financial pledges into projects on the ground. Sheldrick also examines Western Australia’s opportunity to build new industries around renewable energy and green iron, and why the coal town of Collie could become an important test of whether a just transition can deliver secure, skilled jobs before the old industries disappear. You can register for the Global Citizen Now summit in Perth here: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/now/perth/

Why electricity is now central to the fight against poverty

Tim Ryan argues Australia is trying to build a 21st-century, consumer-led electricity system while preserving retailers as compulsory ‘middlemen.’ But retailers are businesses that have little incentive to help households use less electricity or pay less for it. And innovations such as Solar Sharer, VPPs and dynamic network tariffs, have just given retailers and aggregators new opportunities to control or profit from household energy. His alternative is the Consumers’ Grid where consumers and their smart technology have a more direct relationship with electricity networks, that would bypass retailers so they can better respond when electricity is cheap and available. Batteries and EVs can then help households save money first, while collectively soaking up excess solar, reducing peaks and making better use of the grid. Ryan is the consumer representative on the Federal government’s Data Standards Advisory Committee and his proposition is simple - design the system around consumer savings, and the benefits will flow through to everyone.

How retailers are standing in the way of cheaper power

Kristen McDonald and Francis Vierboom from Electrify 2515, one of the local community groups in Australia working to become fully electric. Their big vision is to swap out all the household machines in their postcode, 2515, that run on fossil fuels – from gas cookers to combustion vehicles – and replace them with electric alternatives run on renewable energy.

Communities taking back the power

The process of fully electrifying his own home was difficult, but it helped, Jon Jutsen, the CEO of Race for 2030, identify the challenges we must overcome to scale up Australia's electrification journey.

Difficult, confusing, annoying and expensive - an energy expert's experience of going all-electric

Craig Memory from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre on why Australia needs a plan to ensure everyone benefits from the electrification journey, and the most disadvantaged who are least able to pay aren't left connected to the gas network.

We can electrify the smart way, or the slow and expensive way.

Dr Jan Rosenow from the global think tank, Regulatory Assistance Project, discusses why electric heat pumps are the most efficient heating technology ever invented, why overall energy demand will reduce by 40% if we electrify everything, and why energy efficiency is a key part of the electrification journey

Heat pumps are the most efficient heating technology ever invented

Join Anne Delaney as she tracks the electrification of everything with people at the forefront of the electrification transition.

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