Hi, I’m Kathryn Maxwell, and I’m the President of the South Coast Health and Sustainability Alliance, or SHASA as we like to say. I’ve been working in the environment and climate space for decades. I will outline measures that not only reduce your carbon emissions but also will save you money. I’m very happy to be here today because it has never been easier for individuals, families, businesses and even governments to change.
And what is the change that I’m here to talk about? It’s about ELECTRIFYING everything.
What’s the story with going all electric?
The best way to run your home – for your wallet and for the climate – is to have all electric appliances and cars powered by clean electricity. It’s less than half the running cost of a fossil fuel home and it’s how we’ll have the biggest impact on climate this decade.
The largest portion of domestic emissions is from our households, they produce 42.4% of Australia’s emissions. Almost all of these emissions come from energy, the machines in our daily lives. Petrol cars, gas heaters, gas water heaters, gas stoves, and the fossil fuel power plants supplying most of Australia’s grid network electricity.
The solution to these emissions is switching our fossil fuel machines to efficient electric versions and powering them with clean electricity, including lots of rooftop solar.
Another benefit of electric machines is that they are far more efficient than their fossil fuel counterparts. This comes down to thermodynamics. Electric machines waste less energy.
With this combination of saving on energy costs with solar and more efficient energy use with electric machines, it turns out we can have the same comfort at a fraction of the running costs and no energy emissions.
1. Installing rooftop solar systems
Many people ask SHASA is it still worth installing a rooftop solar system when the feed-in tariffs are so low. A quick check of retailers shows they are offering a feed-in tariff of between 5c and 10c per kWh on the South Coast.
That’s not a lot, but if you use the solar electricity yourself instead it will save you around 35c per kWh the average price you would pay the electricity company. If you have a 6kw or bigger rooftop solar system, you probably use about half of the solar electricity you generate. If you own an electric car, you can use nearly all of your own generated electricity – not just low-cost power, but low-cost transport too.
You can save even more – if you do not have a battery, run appliances like air conditioners, dishwashers, and washing machines during the day. Put a timer on your electric hot water to heat up while solar output is high. If you can, put other appliances on timers to run during the day, i.e. when the sun is shining and generating solar energy.
So can you afford all these savings? Roughly: an 8kW solar system will generate annual savings of $1,200. At current prices it will take about six and a half years to pay off the system through your cost savings. As the price of electricity goes up, and the price of solar panels goes down, the payback period gets shorter. After that, you have free electricity for the next 20 years or more. Over its 25 year lifetime, rooftop solar costs about 5 cents per kWh financed, cheaper than any other source of home energy.
So, yes, it’s still worth installing a rooftop solar system if you can.
2. What about installing a battery?
Having a battery means that instead of feeding your excess solar into the grid, you can store it for later. I have a battery because I want to be 100% on renewable energy and because I do use the air conditioner in the evening on cold and hot nights. Also I like having my electricity stay on when the grid goes down. A 10kW battery will cost approximately $10,000 before any rebates.
The NSW Government is currently providing a subsidy for home battery purchases. As of 1 November 2024, the NSW Government has launched the NSW solar battery rebate as part of the Peak Demand Reduction Scheme (PDRS). This program aims to help homes and businesses with rooftop solar systems maximize their energy efficiency, improve the grid overall, and reduce electricity costs by installing battery storage.
3. Get off gas
Switching from gas to electric appliances can save households between $500 and $1,900 annually on energy bills, depending on gas prices in your area. On the South Coast we use bottled gas which is more expensive than piped gas so the savings may be even greater.
Turning off the gas improves indoor air quality and occupant health. Studies show that cooking with gas—especially in older kitchens and buildings with poor ventilation—increases the risk of asthma and respiratory illness in children, and other vulnerable groups. It produces harmful pollution even when its not being used for cooking and heating.
So, go all electric. Disconnect the gas heater, replace your gas stove with an electric stove, preferably induction, and replace gas hot water with electric, preferably a super-efficient hot water heat pump. Heat pump hot water systems use 60-75% less electricity than conventional electric water heaters, saving you around $550 per year.
4. Maximise benefits of rooftop solar by having an Electric Vehicle
Cars consume a lot of energy. Most Australians spend around $100 per week or $5,000 per year on petrol (or diesel), compared to around $2,000 for electricity and $1,000 for gas.
If you own an electric car and charge it using your excess solar electricity, it will only cost you the feed-in tariff. I own an MG4 with a 64 kWh battery. It costs me $3.20 for 400+ km of driving. A Toyota Corolla hybrid, a similar hatchback for about the same purchase price, would use around $29 worth of petrol to travel the same distance, about nine times the cost. If we look at the larger vehicles most people drive, the cost to travel 400 km would be around $96, or a factor of 30 times the cost of my EV.
The benefits of EVs are known to those of us who drive them, but they can be swamped by these negative stories. Contrary to the fossil fuel industry’s PR, EVs are actually:
- much cheaper to run, especially if you charge using rooftop solar. It’s more than 10x cheaper to charge at home than at a fast charger. You only use fast chargers when travelling long distances
- extremely cheap to maintain — no combustion engine causing damage to vehicle parts, no gearbox, very few moving parts
- clean — they do not emit toxic fumes into the air, thus greatly reducing very harmful air pollution
- quiet — so quiet they have to ping when reversing to warn pedestrians to keep clear
- more efficient — they do not waste energy in producing unwanted heat, as combustion engines do
- very nippy — EVs have excellent acceleration
- much easier to drive
- safer — they are less likely to have accidents because of modern driver assistance technology on board
- an EV has a much, much lower chance of catching fire than a combustion vehicle. Yes, really. (“an EV passenger vehicle is around 100 times less likely to catch fire than a traditional vehicle” Drive.com)
- have batteries that last a long time. A new study released by Australian used car marketplace Pickles shows that electric vehicles maintain more than 90 per cent of their battery health, even after 120,000 kilometres and more than four years on the road. The battery will far outlast your car. Hyundai EVs showed an impressive 99.31 percent battery health after 120,000 kms, while BYD was a close second at 98.62 per cent, exceeding Tesla’s previous record.
5. What should I do first to reduce my energy costs for my home? Tenants can also get some tips from the following list.
1. Install a roof top solar system
2. Replace your gas appliances with efficient electric onesThe cheapest and most energy efficient way to heat and cool a house is a modern reverse cycle air conditioner (heat pump). Install in the living room and one bedroom.
3. Right size your appliances. Your choices really matter – select an energy efficient fridge (which will need to run 24/7), and buy up to 400 litres, no bigger (bigger the fridge the more energy it uses). Use the star rating to help you compare – a 4 star front loading washing machine or dishwasher uses 50% less energy and water than one with fewer stars – that means savings for you. Choose models that don’t waste energy by heating water – your heat pump does that far more efficiently
4. Seal your doors to eliminate gaps around and under them, especially external doors. Install weather seals around windows where there are air gaps
5. Install warm white LED lighting
6. Install thermal-backed curtains and blinds on windows. Install external awnings on all western and eastern windows. Choose window finishes that block heat and drafts. Choose double glazing where you can
7. Install R5 ceiling insulation and R2.5 underfloor insulation and R2.5 in walls if building from new
8. When the NSW government announces incentives for hot water heat pumps, buy one to heat your hot water
So that’s my take away after my years working in this space and living in a modest energy-efficient home built in a factory in Moruya. Our home will be open to the public on 4 May. Tours will take place between 10am – 3pm. I have flyers with more details. There will be free giveaways and more information about SHASA. Hope to see you there.
Footnotes
- Key statistics from the Clean Energy Australia 2024 report:
- Renewables account for 39.4 per cent of Australia’s total electricity supply.
If looking purely at fuel costs, the average rate of fuel consumption of vehicles in Australia is 7.5 km per litre of petrol (or 13.4 L per 100 km) – which at $2 per litre, equals about 27 cents on fuel per kilometre.