While successive federal governments have focused on cutting carbon emissions from energy providers, the new government program is aiming to embrace what technologist and Rewiring Australia founder Saul Griffith has called the “household electrification revolution”.

“We are underestimating how much of our electricity we can actually generate on our rooftops and within our communities,” Griffith says. “If we had the incentives set more sanely in the rules of the NEM (the National Electricity Market), and we were prioritsing households and communities, we could be selling that rooftop solar to each other much more cheaply."

The federal government promised a ‘meaningful and substantial’ package of electrification measures in the federal budget and this announcement is the first part. Swapping out fossil fueled devices and energy sources for renewable-backed electrification is the fastest, most cost effective way to decarbonise our domestic economy. It embeds thousands of dollars worth of annual savings into the annual operations of small businesses, saving that accrue over the long term.

Saul Griffith was in conversation with Taryn Lane on his new Quarterly Essay, The Wires That Bind. Electrification and community renewal, a compelling vision of green energy at a local level. Australia is at a crossroads. Inventor, engineer and visionary Saul Griffith reveals the world that awaits us if we make the most of Australia's energy future. Griffith paints an inspiring yet practical picture of empowered local communities acting collectively when it comes to renewable energy, and benefiting financially.

Australians have already taken up rooftop solar in greater numbers than anywhere in the world, Dr Griffith noted. "Now they want the government to help them fully electrify their homes because they know it will permanently obliterate both their energy bills and carbon emissions."

Rewiring Australia claims the move would allow the average household to slash its energy bills by $3,000 to $5,000 a year.

Saul Griffith is a prolific inventor, an engineer and a successful entrepreneur making waves for an electric future. His bold ideas on energy caught the eye of the US president and helped shape the ground-breaking climate legislation that passed there late last year. Now he’s returned home after two decades in the US and has joined with his community near Wollongong, south of Sydney, in an ambitious project to electrify homes in his suburb and power them with renewables. If successful, the pilot project will prove that household electrification is a potential solution to an urgent problem.

Rewiring Australia has slammed gas lobby group claims that the electrification of Australian homes will cost taxpayers more than $66 billion as “lies,” following the latest PR offensive from an industry in panic mode.

Dr Saul Griffith has found himself in plenty of high-pressure situations over the past two decades. From meetings with White House officials and US politicians, to duelling with the powerful fossil fuel lobby, he's made the case for his solution to the climate crisis in forums where the stakes couldn't be higher. But it was a Sunday afternoon meeting in a community centre just north of Wollongong that proved "the most intimidating one by far," he said. "You're my neighbours," Saul joked as he stood up to give his presentation. "If we screw up, you literally know where I live."

The NSW Treasurer Matt Kean has announced $8 million will go towards supporting world first pilots of community electrification. What effect will this have on inflation and reducing carbon emissions?

The bid to kick fossil gas out of Australian homes, electrify everything and power it with solar is off and running in New South Wales, with the launch of an $8 million pilot to decarbonise three local communities across the state.

Rewiring Australia has strongly endorsed NSW Treasurer, Matt Kean’s announcement of $8 million to support world first pilots of community electrification.

A deal between The Greens and Labor has given an immediate boost to plans first formulated by Rewiring Australia to electrify households and small businesses across the country.

101 million machines away from a zero emission Australia

"We now produce the cheapest electricity in the world in terms of our rooftop solar on our homes and our businesses. That produces electricity at ~5c a kWh."

“If we fully exploit our natural advantage with solar energy by electrifying everything, we will create thousands of jobs for tradies and ensure more money is spent in local shops. The air will be cleaner and people will be healthier."

A report by Dr Saul Griffith, the founder of Rewiring Australia and a former adviser to the US government on energy policy, last year suggested a $12bn investment in household electrification over five years could eliminate a third of Australia’s emissions while saving households $40bn a year by 2028.

A plan to “rewire” one of Australia’s largest cities by electrifying the region’s homes and vehicles and powering them with solar energy would save the average household almost $5,000 a year, generate more than 24,000 jobs and provide an overall annual economic benefit of approximately $3.9 billion.

The campaign, driven by an “optimistic group of nonpartisan Australians”, ultimately aims to prove that it is possible to address climate change and cost-of-living concerns at the same time.

Rewiring Australia has developed federal electorate level modelling that outlines how households and communities can financially benefit from solar-backed electrification, along with the employment benefits of rewiring buildings. This is an open source resource available to all campaigns, candidates and interested parties, to better inform discussion of Australia’s decarbonisation effort. For further details and requests please email Kate@rewiringaustralia.org.au

“This is our way to atone for 20 years of f*cking up the IPCC [International Panel on Climate Change] process. We can demonstrate how we can improve our lives and bring forward climate action by 10 years.

I hope this feels astonishing to you; it certainly does to me. When we compare the final energy use of a conventional home to a renewably electrified home, the efficiency benefits of electrification become abundantly clear. With the same conveniences, size, warmth and vehicles as a currently fossil-fuelled home, electrifying the average Australian home would cut total energy use by more than half!

All of this points to a fundamental shift that must occur in our climate change thinking: we will solve this problem through abundance, not scarcity.

Saul Griffith, a former climate adviser to Joe Biden, has moved home to Australia. He argues policy changes made here could accelerate the world’s transition to renewables by 10 years.

“Australia is the first country in the world where the positive household economics of solving climate change will be realisable by everyday people,”

Today’s report from AEMO shows almost 35 per cent of Australian energy was generated from renewable sources for the three months to December 31. But that clean energy needs to heat our water, cool our homes, power our cars and cook our food to fully take advantage of our lead.

“A fully electric Australia that gets off fossil fuels will keep the same comforts but use about half the energy, with none of the energy emissions. This win-win from electrification is clear. “We should change our planning and permitting laws to prioritise all electric households and businesses, and start training the installation and maintenance workforce for this electrified future now.”

“No nation is better placed to seize this opportunity for cheaper energy, self-reliance, and cleaner air than Australia,”

A report released by Rewiring Australia, a new energy think tank, shows that Australian households could vastly reduce their energy bills through electrification, and cut domestic emissions by around one third by 2030.

Australian households could collectively save more than A$40bn ($29.6bn) by 2030 – almost equivalent to national export earnings from coal – if they were fully electrified, says not-for-profit Rewiring Australia in a new report.