Australian's love their country and their castles, which is part of why we measure very highly in global quality-of-life comparisons. We can, and should, lead the world with residential electrification because we will save more money from it than other countries, and we will realise those savings sooner and it will benefit our castles.
We can, and should, lead the world with residential electrification because we will save more money from it than other countries...
Our abundant solar energy and favorable regulatory environment has us leading the world in rooftop PV in both costs and penetration. The majority of households are already familiar with heat pumps for water and space heating and cooling. With each year the variety, cost, and range of electric vehicles only becomes more attractive and the notion more socially acceptable.
For some Aussie households total electrification is an economic slam-dunk today. For others only some components work economically in 2021. This study looks forward to analyse the falling costs and rising performance of all of these zero-emission technologies, especially batteries, EVs and heat pumps, and can predict that in around 2024-25 the zero carbon transition will be not only be affordable to all, but save money for every household, provided we enable appropriate financing methods and build supply chain and installation capacity.
Electrified end use machines – cars, kitchen ranges, water heaters, and heating systems – are typically cheaper to operate, but more expensive to purchase. Finance is clearly a piece of the puzzle that needs to be considered and, pleasingly, major banks are now providing consumer financing for these goods. The banks aren’t stupid. They know that by 2030 the average Australian household could save $5-6,000 per year on energy and vehicle fuel costs relative to 2021.
by 2030 the average Australian household could save $5-6,000 per year on energy and vehicle fuel costs relative to 2021.
Investing further in solar and connecting it to our everyday lifestyle items is the simple recipe for decarbonising our domestic economy. Technological solutions are now ready and falling in cost so fast that we’d be crazy not to capitalize on this national opportunity. Indeed, by leading the world in this grand integration project we will raise the rest of the world’s ambition on climate goals, redeem our own climate reputation, and generate the technology companies of tomorrow.
Rewiring Australia is a non-profit, independent, non-partisan organisation dedicated to representing the people, households and communities in the energy system. We empirically demonstrate and communicate the cost savings, emissions reductions, and energy system benefits of electrification.
Rewiring Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we live, meet and work and we pay our respects to Elders past and present.
