tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/electrification-22407/articlesElectrification – The Conversation2024-03-20T05:06:52Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2251652024-03-20T05:06:52Z2024-03-20T05:06:52ZA battery price war is kicking off that could soon make electric cars cheaper. Here’s how<p>The main cost of an electric vehicle (EV) is its battery. The high cost of energy-dense batteries has meant EVs have long been more expensive than their fossil fuel equivalents.</p>
<p>But this could change faster than we thought. The world’s largest maker of batteries for electric cars, China’s CATL, claims it will slash the cost of its batteries by up to 50% this year, as a <a href="https://cnevpost.com/2024/01/17/battery-price-war-catl-byd-costs-down/">price war kicks off</a> with the second largest maker in China, BYD subsidiary FinDreams. </p>
<p>What’s behind this? After the electric vehicle industry experienced a <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2023/trends-in-batteries">huge surge</a> in 2022, it has hit headwinds. It <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/industry-pain-abounds-electric-car-demand-hits-slowdown-2024-01-30/">ramped up faster</a> than demand, triggering efforts to cut costs. </p>
<p>But the promised price cuts are also a sign of progress. Researchers have made great strides in finding <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2023/trends-in-batteries">new battery chemistries</a>. CATL and BYD now make EV batteries without any cobalt, an expensive, scarce metal linked to <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-miners-die-a-lot-appalling-conditions-and-poverty-wages-the-lives-of-cobalt-miners-in-the-drc-220986">child labor and dangerous mining practices</a> in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. </p>
<p>Economies of scale and new supplies of lithium make it possible to sell batteries more cheaply. And the world’s largest carmaker, Toyota, is pinning its hopes on solid-state batteries in the hope these energy-dense, all but fireproof batteries will make possible EVs with a range of more than 1,200km per charge .</p>
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<h2>How are battery makers cutting costs?</h2>
<p>The largest market for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles is China. But demand for EVs here has eased off, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2a9f1dae-ddc4-4214-900d-c763208e9a45">dropping from</a> a 96% surge in demand in 2022 to a 36% rise in 2023. </p>
<p>As a result, battery giant CATL has seen its <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/chinas-catl-posts-first-profit-fall-since-q2-2022-2024-03-15/#:%7E:text=CATL's%20profit%20for%20the%20October,the%20whole%20of%20last%20year.">profits fall</a> for the first time in almost two years. </p>
<p>One of the best ways to create more demand is to make your products cheaper. That’s what’s behind the cost-cutting promises from CATL and BYD. </p>
<p>You might wonder how that’s possible. One of the key challenges in shifting to battery-electric cars is where to get the raw materials. The electric future rests on viable supply chains for critical minerals such as lithium, nickel, copper, cobalt and rare earth elements. </p>
<p>Until recently, the main EV battery chemistry has been built on four of these, lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt. These are also known as NMC batteries. </p>
<p>If you can avoid or minimise the use of expensive or controversial minerals, you can cut costs. That’s why Chinese companies such as CATL have all but monopolised the market on another chemistry, lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. These batteries are cheaper, as they have no cobalt. They have other benefits too: a longer usable life and less risk of fire than traditional lithium battery chemistries. The downside is they have lower capacity and voltage. </p>
<p>The recent price cuts come from a deliberate decision to use abundant earth materials such as iron and phosphorus wherever possible. </p>
<p>What about lithium? Prices of lithium carbonate, the salt form of the ultra light silvery-white metal, shot up sixfold between <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/lithium-price-slide-deepens-china-battery-giant-bets-cheaper-inputs-2023-02-28">2020 and 2022</a> in China before falling last year. </p>
<p>Despite this, battery prices have <a href="https://cleantechnica.com/2023/12/01/record-low-ev-battery-prices/">kept falling</a> – just not by as much as they otherwise would have. </p>
<p>The world’s huge demand for lithium has led to strong growth in supply, as miners scramble to find new sources. CATL, for instance, is spending A$2.1 billion on lithium extraction plants <a href="https://batteryjuniors.com/2023/06/19/catl-investment-bolivian-lithium">in Bolivia</a>. </p>
<p>Growth in lithium supply <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/lithium-price-slide-deepens-china-battery-giant-bets-cheaper-inputs-2023-02-28/">is projected</a> to outpace demand by 34% both this year and next, which should help stabilise battery prices. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583043/original/file-20240320-26-grg01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="bolivia salt flats" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583043/original/file-20240320-26-grg01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583043/original/file-20240320-26-grg01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583043/original/file-20240320-26-grg01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583043/original/file-20240320-26-grg01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583043/original/file-20240320-26-grg01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583043/original/file-20240320-26-grg01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583043/original/file-20240320-26-grg01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Bolivia’s salt flats are a rich source of lithium, though its extraction has come with environmental concerns.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/worlds-largest-salt-flat-salar-de-317843843">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Battery options are multiplying</h2>
<p>China’s battery makers have cornered the market in lithium iron phosphate batteries. But they aren’t the only game in town. </p>
<p>Tesla electric cars have long been powered by batteries from Japan’s Panasonic and South Korea LG. These batteries are built on the older but well established NMC and lithium nickel cobalt aluminate oxide (NCA) chemistries. Even so, the American carmaker is <a href="https://insideevs.com/news/587455/batteries-tesla-using-electric-cars/">now using</a> CATL’s LFP batteries in its more affordable cars. </p>
<p>The world’s largest carmaker, Toyota, has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/02/01/toyota-chief-executive-faces-electric-vehicle-reality/">long been sceptical</a> of lithium-ion batteries and has focused on hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles instead. </p>
<p>But this is changing. Toyota is now focused heavily on making <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/04/solid-state-batteries-inside-the-race-to-transform-the-science-of-electric-vehicles">solid-state batteries</a> a reality. These do away with liquid electrolytes to transport electricity in favour of a solid battery. In September last year, the company <a href="https://electrek.co/2023/06/13/toyota-claims-solid-state-ev-battery-tech-breakthrough/">announced a breakthrough</a> which it claims will enable faster recharging times and a range of 1,200km before recharge. If these claims are true, these batteries would effectively double the range of today’s topline EVs. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/petrol-pricing-and-parking-why-so-many-outer-suburban-residents-are-opting-for-evs-225565">Petrol, pricing and parking: why so many outer suburban residents are opting for EVs</a>
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<p>In response, China’s battery manufacturers and government are <a href="https://kr-asia.com/catl-byd-others-unite-in-china-for-solid-state-battery-breakthrough">working to catch up</a> with Toyota on solid-state batteries. </p>
<p>Which battery chemistry will win out? It’s too early to say for electric vehicles. But as the green transition continues, it’s likely we’ll need not just one but many options. </p>
<p>After all, the energy needs of a prime mover truck will be different to city runabout EVs. And as electric aircraft go from dream to reality, these will need different batteries again. To get battery-electric aircraft off the ground, you need batteries with a huge power density. </p>
<p>The good news? These are engineering challenges which can be overcome. Just last year, CATL announced a pioneering <a href="https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/04/21/catl-launches-500-wh-kg-condensed-matter-battery/">“condensed matter” battery</a> for <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2023-05-03/catl-announces-battery-to-make-electric-aviation-possible/102289310">electric aircraft</a>, with up to three times the energy density of an average electric car battery. </p>
<p>All the while, researchers are pushing the envelope even further. A good electric car might have a battery with an energy density of 150–250 watt-hours per kilogram. But the <a href="https://newatlas.com/energy/highest-density-lithium-battery/#:%7E:text=The%20battery%20tested%20at%20711.3,off%20any%20form%20of%20commercialization.">record in the lab</a> is now over 700 watt-hours/kg. </p>
<p>This is to say nothing of the research going into still other battery chemistries, from <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/01/04/1066141/whats-next-for-batteries/">sodium-ion to iron-air</a> to <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/liquid-metal-battery">liquid metal</a> batteries. </p>
<p>We are, in short, still at the beginning of the battery revolution. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-sodium-ion-batteries-could-make-electric-cars-cheaper-207342">How sodium-ion batteries could make electric cars cheaper</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225165/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>China’s two largest EV battery makers are pledging to slash the cost of their batteries this year. Behind the pledge is a cost war – and new battery chemistries.Muhammad Rizwan Azhar, Lecturer, Edith Cowan UniversityWaqas Uzair, Research associate, Edith Cowan UniversityYasir Arafat, Senior research associate, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2253462024-03-17T19:01:24Z2024-03-17T19:01:24ZSmart meters haven’t delivered the promised benefits to electricity users. Here’s a way to fix the problems<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582098/original/file-20240315-18-3y4x18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C311%2C3642%2C2419&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-modern-smart-grid-residential-digital-108664646">Pi-Lens/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/advanced-metering-infrastructure-market">Billions of dollars</a> are being spent worldwide to modernise electricity grids with smart meters. These meters promise to save households money by making it easier for us to understand and manage our energy use. However, our <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(24)00055-9">new research</a> suggests these promises might not be fully delivered due to a lack of access to high-resolution, real-time energy data.</p>
<p>Smart meters are the enabling technology of modern smart electricity grids. Smart grids can use digital technology to fine-tune the management of electricity supply and demand. This ensures the grid can deliver low-cost and reliable power. </p>
<p>Countries like Australia are racing to install smart meters extensively. Last year the Australian Energy Market Commission <a href="https://www.aemc.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-08/emo0040_-_metering_review_-_final_report.pdf">recommended</a> a goal of 100% uptake among small customers by 2030. In response, an Australian Energy Council <a href="https://www.energycouncil.com.au/analysis/rushing-to-the-finish-line-can-we-clear-the-hurdles-on-the-way-to-100-smart-meters-by-2030/">article</a> suggested these meters aren’t living up to their potential. </p>
<p>This isn’t just an Australian problem – it’s a global challenge. <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(24)00055-9">Our research</a> offers a solution to unleash the promised benefits of smart meters at least cost. From improving data transmission to protecting our privacy, there’s a lot we can do to make our energy systems smarter and fairer for everyone.</p>
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<h2>Why do we need a truly smart grid?</h2>
<p>Our demand for electricity is set to soar as the push to electrify everything gains momentum. The Victorian government, for instance, has <a href="https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/691119/Victorias-Gas-Substitution-Roadmap-Update.pdf">banned gas in new homes</a> from 2024. </p>
<p>The International Energy Agency <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/02/green-energy-electricity-demand-growth-iea-report/">forecasts a 3.4% annual rise</a> in electricity consumption from 2024 to 2026. As transportation electrifies, electricity’s share could increase <a href="https://www.irena.org/Energy-Transition/Technology/Transport">from 1% in 2018 to 49% by 2050</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cooking-and-heating-without-gas-what-are-the-impacts-of-shifting-to-all-electric-homes-210649">Cooking (and heating) without gas: what are the impacts of shifting to all-electric homes?</a>
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<p>To meet this growing demand while cutting carbon emissions, we must ramp up renewable energy production. However, the unpredictable nature of wind and solar power presents challenges for the grid.</p>
<p>To manage highly variable supply and demand, we need to digitise our grid. Advanced technologies such as sensors, machine-learning algorithms and cloud computing will enable us to optimise electricity generation, distribution and consumption. </p>
<p>Smart meters are the cornerstone of such a system. They can provide the detailed, real-time data needed for smart grid applications. </p>
<p>Smart meter deployment has surged globally. The smart meter market is <a href="https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/advanced-metering-infrastructure-market">forecast</a> to grow from US$17.5 billion ($A26.6 billion) in 2024 to US$31.8 billion by 2028.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(24)00055-9">Our research</a> sheds light on this global deployment and its significant challenges. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582087/original/file-20240314-24-3y4x18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582087/original/file-20240314-24-3y4x18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582087/original/file-20240314-24-3y4x18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582087/original/file-20240314-24-3y4x18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582087/original/file-20240314-24-3y4x18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582087/original/file-20240314-24-3y4x18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582087/original/file-20240314-24-3y4x18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582087/original/file-20240314-24-3y4x18.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A summary of the rollout of smart meters in selected countries. (Data for Australia and US from 2023, Canada, China, Japan and UK from 2022, and Sweden, Estonia and Denmark from 2020. DSO = distribution service operator, IESO = independent electricity system operator)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(24)00055-9">Rui Yuan et al 2024</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-successful-energy-transition-depends-on-managing-when-people-use-power-so-how-do-we-make-demand-more-flexible-213079">A successful energy transition depends on managing when people use power. So how do we make demand more flexible?</a>
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<h2>What will better data allow us to do?</h2>
<p>Grid modernisation and smart meters came with big promises of saving money for consumers. This hasn’t happened. The reason is that many direct benefits to consumers require high-resolution data – and the required level of fine detail in real time isn’t being provided. </p>
<p>For example, as a direct benefit to consumers, <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8322199">some machine-learning techniques</a> can help households optimise their energy use by providing insights into exactly how much electricity each appliance is using and when. This information could enable them to lower their electricity bill. These tools can also detect abnormal usage patterns, allowing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/int.22876">timely intervention and maintenance</a> of faulty appliances. </p>
<p>However, these applications and <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(24)00055-9">other smart grid benefits</a> for consumers all require high-resolution data. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-national-electricity-market-wasnt-made-for-a-renewable-energy-future-heres-how-to-fix-it-215067">The National Electricity Market wasn't made for a renewable energy future. Here's how to fix it</a>
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<h2>What obstacles must be overcome?</h2>
<p>We found three major reasons for the current limitations of smart-metering infrastructure. </p>
<p><em>Data transmission</em> is the first big challenge. High-resolution and more frequent data means a higher volume of numbers, which leads to more delays or disruptions to data transmission. </p>
<p>The second challenge is the <em>data warehousing</em> needed for huge volumes of data. It’s expensive too. </p>
<p>Building and running a data warehouse costs <a href="https://ilsr.org/utilities-customer-data-portability-ler155/">US$19,000–$25,000 per terabyte</a> each year. Upgrading from hourly data to every two seconds requires 1,800 times the storage, at an extra cost of US$36 million! And that’s not counting maintenance, backups, or sharing the data.</p>
<p>The third major issue is <em>data privacy</em>. The data can also be exploited by attackers. They could figure out what appliances you have, your home setup, or even your habits. </p>
<p>This can lead to criminal activities or serious invasion of privacy. For example, people could be tracked based on their vehicle-charging patterns. </p>
<p>Even law enforcement uses electricity data in court cases. One case involved the detection of <a href="https://www.csoonline.com/article/546876/microsoft-subnet-are-smart-meters-real-time-surveillance-spies.html">indoor marijuana growing</a>.</p>
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<h2>A way forward at the cheapest cost</h2>
<p>Ideally, we need a solution that tackles all the issues using the smart meters we already have. <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(24)00055-9">Our solution</a> is based on discovering repeated patterns within electricity usage data, then dividing these data into two parts. </p>
<p>It’s like a book divided into piles of papers and page numbers, with each then handed to different parties. Neither the page alone nor the page numbers make sense until they are combined. </p>
<p>Similarly, we suggest dividing detailed data into smaller patterns called codewords and their daily representations. We’d send only representations to the data centre, letting users keep their codewords to ensure their privacy. </p>
<p>Patterns of energy use often repeat. By using a single codeword to represent multiple days of similar consumption, we can greatly reduce the amount of data that needs to be transmitted. This would cut data communication and warehousing costs. </p>
<p>Continuous research on software, hardware and regulations is needed to refine the proposed framework for the stages of data collection, transmission, storage and analysis. </p>
<p>It’s important for modern energy consumers to be aware that as well as consuming and generating energy (from rooftop solar systems), they also generate data through their smart meters. This data asset is becoming increasingly valuable in the transition to the net-zero era.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225346/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ali Pourmousavi Kani receives funding from Future Battery Industry Cooperative Research Centre (FBICRC) and Watts AS (from Denmark) for his research. He also has done and is currently involved with consulting jobs that are available in his resume. None are related to the topic of this article. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rui Yuan receives funding from the Australian Government Research Training Program and Watts AS (Denmark) for his PhD research. He currently affiliates with Watts AS. </span></em></p>The amount of detailed real-time data a smart grid needs to manage the push for electrification and renewables presents challenges – but there’s an affordable solution.Ali Pourmousavi Kani, Senior Lecturer of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, University of AdelaideRui Yuan, Industry PhD Candidate, School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2255652024-03-13T03:40:10Z2024-03-13T03:40:10ZPetrol, pricing and parking: why so many outer suburban residents are opting for EVs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581525/original/file-20240313-30-ktn1tc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3800%2C2525&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/25-june-2017-sydney-australia-electric-666547621">Anton Ukolov/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Until now, you might have thought of electric vehicles as inner suburban toys. Teslas and Polestars are expensive, leaving them as playthings for wealthier Australians and out of reach for the mortgage belt. </p>
<p>But that’s no longer the case. As residents in the outer suburbs reel from price rises seemingly everywhere, more and more are turning to electric vehicles (EVs) to slash their fuel bill. </p>
<p>Last year, EV orders for outer suburban residents (43%) overtook inner suburban residents (39%) <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-11/electric-car-sales-in-australia-outer-suburbs-overtake-city/103542014">for the first time</a>. Rural and regional residents accounted for 18% of orders. </p>
<p>Avoiding petrol costs is one reason. But there are other good reasons, from easier parking and charging, to lower maintenance. And as our research into why people buy EVs <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698922000625">has shown</a>, there’s an even more fundamental reason – car buyers now know more about EVs and feel more familiar with the technology. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581521/original/file-20240313-28-3ew87y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="man charging his EV at home" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581521/original/file-20240313-28-3ew87y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581521/original/file-20240313-28-3ew87y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581521/original/file-20240313-28-3ew87y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581521/original/file-20240313-28-3ew87y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581521/original/file-20240313-28-3ew87y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581521/original/file-20240313-28-3ew87y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581521/original/file-20240313-28-3ew87y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The suburban garage or driveway works well with charging your EV at home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-charging-electric-car-outlet-home-1092177395">riopatuca/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Outer suburbs rely on cars</h2>
<p>The further you get from the city centre, the more likely you are to have to drive. Distances are longer and public transport drops off. Research from 2020 shows most outer suburban residents who commute <a href="https://ngaa.org.au/application/third_party/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Jobs%20and%20Commuting%20in%20the%20outer%20suburbs%20-%20Astrolabe%20Research%20Report%202020.pdf">have to travel</a> between 10 and 30 kilometres. Every workday return commute costs these workers about A$36 in car running costs, or $180 a week – and this figure will likely have risen since. </p>
<p>So while the initial upfront cost of an EV may put some people off, others run the numbers on how much they spend on petrol – and how much they would save by going electric. </p>
<p><iframe id="7uA7Q" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/7uA7Q/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Petrol prices have <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/war-in-ukraine-and-opec-production-limits-pushed-february-petrol-prices-to-eight-year-high">surged in recent years</a> due to armed conflict in Europe and the Middle East. This affects outer suburban, rural and regional residents the most, given they cover the most distance. </p>
<p>This is a major reason why more outer suburbanites are going electric. Electricity is much cheaper than petrol, especially if you make it yourself with solar. Outer suburban residents are more likely to have solar on their rooftops than inner suburban residents in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-31/how-rooftop-solar-panels-transformed-energy-in-australia/102987100">Sydney and Melbourne</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581519/original/file-20240313-20-itw8a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="solar panel rooftops from above" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581519/original/file-20240313-20-itw8a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581519/original/file-20240313-20-itw8a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581519/original/file-20240313-20-itw8a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581519/original/file-20240313-20-itw8a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581519/original/file-20240313-20-itw8a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581519/original/file-20240313-20-itw8a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581519/original/file-20240313-20-itw8a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Outer suburban houses with off-street parking can find it easier to charge their EVs – especially paired with solar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/top-down-view-row-residential-homes-2385303707">NorCalStockMedia/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the majority of electric vehicle owners <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/standards/australian-statistical-geography-standard-asgs-edition-3/jul2021-jun2026/access-and-downloads/digital-boundary-files">live 20 to 60km</a> away from their city’s CBD. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.whichcar.com.au/news/vfacts-2023-best-selling-electric-cars-australia-dec">most popular</a> EVs in Australia last year (Tesla Model Y, Model 3 and BYD’s Atto) can drive between 400 and 500km before needing a recharge. The all-important range has grown substantially in recent years, and now mean suburban residents can commute, shop and go out without worrying about finding a place to charge. </p>
<p>In fact, the outer suburbs are better placed than inner suburbs in terms of charging cheaply. In the inner suburbs, space is at a premium and many houses do not have off-street parking. That makes it hard to recharge your car from your home. But outer suburban homes tend to have off street parking or a garage, which means you can charge cheaply at home. </p>
<p>This is to say nothing of the environmental benefits by avoiding <a href="https://www.unimelb.edu.au/newsroom/news/2023/february/vehicle-emissions-may-cause-over-11,000-deaths-a-year,-research-shows">what comes out of the tailpipe</a> of an internal combustion car: carbon dioxide, PM2.5 particles dangerous to our health, and many other nasties. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-electric-vehicle-numbers-doubled-last-year-whats-the-impact-of-charging-them-on-a-power-grid-under-strain-201478">Australia's electric vehicle numbers doubled last year. What's the impact of charging them on a power grid under strain?</a>
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<hr>
<h2>EVs versus the cost of living</h2>
<p>At present, many of us are reining in expenses, cutting back on extracurricular activities and putting off holidays to cope with the surging cost of everything – especially mortgages. </p>
<p>It would <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9226055">make financial sense</a> for many of us to switch to EVs to take advantage of much cheaper running and maintenance costs. But the higher up-front cost of EVs has long been a disincentive. </p>
<p>What’s changing now is that cheaper EVs are arriving from the likes of the world’s second-largest EV manufacturer, China’s BYD and other Chinese brands such as MG. Tesla has cut its prices, too. </p>
<p>In Australia, the cheapest EVs now start from A$40,000, though most still cost <a href="https://www.whichcar.com.au/advice/electric-car-costs-australia">$60,000–$90,000</a>.</p>
<p>The secondhand market is growing too, as government fleet EVs come up for sale and as early adopters buy new cars and sell their old. </p>
<h2>What are governments doing?</h2>
<p>Subsidies, tax credits, and local charging infrastructure are making it easier for residents on the outskirts to transition towards greener transport. </p>
<p>Some state governments are trying to accelerate adoption with a <a href="https://www.racv.com.au/royalauto/transport/electric-vehicles/electric-car-discounts-government-incentives-australia.html">range of incentives</a> for EV owners, from subsidies to cheaper registration. The interest was so strong in Victoria and South Australia that these governments have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/08/victoria-to-scrap-electric-vehicle-subsidies-by-the-end-of-the-month">wound back</a> some subsidies. By contrast, Queensland <a href="https://www.qrida.qld.gov.au/program/queensland-zero-emission-vehicle-rebate-scheme">is offering</a> a generous $6,000 rebate for new EV owners. </p>
<p>At a federal level, the proposed <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-would-a-vehicle-efficiency-standard-for-new-cars-cost-or-save-australian-drivers-223334">new vehicle efficiency standards</a> will encourage carmakers to sell more fuel-efficient vehicles. If these standards come in, they will <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-would-a-vehicle-efficiency-standard-for-new-cars-cost-or-save-australian-drivers-223334">likely penalise</a> fuel-guzzling cars and make fuel misers cheaper. They will also <a href="https://electricvehiclecouncil.com.au/docs/what-is-a-new-vehicle-efficiency-standard/#:%7E:text=A%20New%20Vehicle%20Efficiency%20Standard%20(NVES)%20%E2%80%93%20also%20referred%20to,new%20cars%20sold%20each%20year.">likely increase</a> the number of EVs and other zero-emissions vehicles in the Australian market. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-would-a-vehicle-efficiency-standard-for-new-cars-cost-or-save-australian-drivers-223334">What would a vehicle efficiency standard for new cars cost – or save – Australian drivers?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>Outer suburban residents are buying electric vehicles for very good reasons: financial prudence, practicality and a cleaner future. </p>
<p>Petrol is a substantial expense for many who live in car-dependent suburbs. If you can stop buying it and get the same thing you want – transport – with far cheaper running costs, why wouldn’t you? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/electric-vehicles-are-suddenly-hot-but-the-industry-has-traveled-a-long-road-to-relevance-219315">Electric vehicles are suddenly hot − but the industry has traveled a long road to relevance</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225565/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Park Thaichon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Electric vehicles have long come at a premium. But as cheaper models arrive, outer suburban residents are taking to EVs to save on petrolPark Thaichon, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2162232023-10-26T16:44:53Z2023-10-26T16:44:53ZElectrifying offshore platforms targets a tiny fraction of the oil industry’s emissions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556087/original/file-20231026-21-a1ejrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C1868&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/oil-gas-platforms-north-sea-2348824845">David Nixon/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We are all familiar with the greenhouse gas emissions that come from burning fossil fuels in car engines, central heating systems and power stations. Little discussed is the climate footprint of producing oil and gas in the first place.</p>
<p>Extracting, refining and distributing oil and gas requires energy. Pumps, compressors, heaters and drilling units treat and move the fuels from many kilometres underground using electricity <a href="https://www.aafintl.com/en-gb/industry/energy/offshore-marine/">typically generated</a> by gas turbines. Clearly, burning gas at offshore production sites will result in local emissions of climate-heating CO₂.</p>
<p>The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) regulates the UK’s oil and gas industry and has <a href="https://www.nstauthority.co.uk/news-publications/uk-north-sea-emissions-down-three-years-in-a-row">a remit</a> to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from UK operations. This does not, however, extend to emissions arising from the subsequent use of that oil and gas.</p>
<p>With what little scope it has to reduce the industry’s emissions, the NSTA is <a href="https://www.offshore-mag.com/renewable-energy/article/14278670/nsta-selects-three-north-sea-platform-electrification-concepts">keen</a> for oil and gas platforms to be electrified. In essence, converting these offshore production sites from running on gas turbines to imported electricity from renewable sources like wind turbines.</p>
<p>Conventional oil production only accounts for <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2016/02/09/breaking-down-barrel-tracing-ghg-emissions-through-oil-supply-chain-pub-62722">roughly 5-10%</a> of the emissions associated with the fossil fuel. By far the bulk of these emissions come from when it is used in transport, heating and power generation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A UK motorway with cars and lorries travelling in one direction." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556089/original/file-20231026-29-c6691k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556089/original/file-20231026-29-c6691k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556089/original/file-20231026-29-c6691k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556089/original/file-20231026-29-c6691k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556089/original/file-20231026-29-c6691k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556089/original/file-20231026-29-c6691k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556089/original/file-20231026-29-c6691k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Burning oil and gas for energy emits far more than producing these fuels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hemel-hempstead-uk-september-27-2021-2049094031">Jarek Kilian/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s clear that, by pursuing platform electrification, the NSTA is focusing on the wrong emissions source. </p>
<h2>Open heart surgery at sea</h2>
<p>I worked in the oil and gas sector for over 40 years and know from experience that modifying an existing installation can be a risky undertaking. When dealing with equipment that is several decades old, unforeseen issues can emerge.</p>
<p>Shell’s UK chief Steve Phimister has compared the complicated process of converting oil and gas platforms to renewable electricity to <a href="https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/nort/h-sea/278410/electrification-platforms-open-heart-surgery-shell/">open heart surgery</a>. Some oil and gas companies have described electrification as a “<a href="https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/538949/new-nsta-electrification-plans-matter-of-huge-concern-for-operators/">huge concern</a>”.</p>
<p>The configuration and location of some of the older installations mean that electrification will prove to be prohibitively expensive. On some installations, access to relevant equipment is limited.</p>
<p>Electrification is being proposed for clusters of platforms so that costs can be shared. For more remote platforms, sharing costs will not be feasible, so not all offshore platforms will be suitable for the switch to renewable electricity. Future North Sea oil and gas production would be a mix of electrified platforms and those which continue to burn gas. </p>
<p>For those offshore platforms that can be electrified, my experience tells me that costs are likely to be in the billions of pounds. Electrification costs are not quantified in the <a href="https://www.nstauthority.co.uk/media/8439/emr-2022-final-v2.pdf">NSTA’s 2022 report</a> on the industry’s emissions – in fact, there is only one mention of cost. </p>
<p>But even without cost and schedule overruns, electrifying a platform does not tackle all of its emissions. According to the NSTA itself, a large portion of the emissions from producing oil and gas will be unaffected by electrification. The authority estimates that around 35% of platform emissions come from activities unrelated to energy generation, mainly flaring and venting gas. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An offshore oil platform flaring gas." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556088/original/file-20231026-26-989w3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556088/original/file-20231026-26-989w3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556088/original/file-20231026-26-989w3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556088/original/file-20231026-26-989w3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556088/original/file-20231026-26-989w3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556088/original/file-20231026-26-989w3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556088/original/file-20231026-26-989w3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gas flaring allows operators to alleviate pressure on equipment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/areal-photography-oil-gas-platform-taken-698542009">AzmanMD/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The NSTA does estimate that an electrification campaign could save 1.2 million tonnes of CO₂ a year. That might sound like a big number, but the UK emits greenhouse gases equivalent to <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1147372/2022_Provisional_emissions_statistics_report.pdf">around 420 million tonnes</a> of CO₂ annually. The climate benefit of the UK oil and gas industry shedding 1.2 million tonnes of CO₂ from its offshore operations amounts to just 0.3% of the country’s yearly emissions.</p>
<h2>Cut fossil fuel use instead</h2>
<p>I believe electrifying offshore oil and gas platforms is a wrong-headed use of taxpayer and industry money and fails to address the wider picture.</p>
<p>The UK would cut far more CO₂ per pound spent if the billions earmarked for offshore electrification were directed at reducing the much larger carbon footprint from fossil fuel use instead. The government could cut these emissions by improving building insulation, building more electric vehicle charging points, investing in wind and solar installations and expanding the electricity grid. </p>
<p>But shifting money from offshore electrification to abating fossil fuel use will not be straightforward. Perhaps the NSTA could agree to let oil and gas firms operate without electrification, provided they can demonstrate they are operating their equipment in such a way as to reduce these emissions to as low as reasonably practical. This would not cut emissions as much as electrification, but it would free up money for more effective decarbonisation elsewhere.</p>
<p>And in this scenario, oil and gas companies would not need to undertake open heart surgery at sea. That sounds like a win-win for everyone.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216223/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Baxter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The use of fossil fuels carries a much heavier greenhouse gas penalty.Tom Baxter, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2106492023-07-31T20:01:05Z2023-07-31T20:01:05ZCooking (and heating) without gas: what are the impacts of shifting to all-electric homes?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540063/original/file-20230731-238580-434fnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=446%2C0%2C4289%2C2868&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Gas connections for all new housing and sub-divisions will be <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/new-victorian-homes-go-all-electric-2024">banned in Victoria</a> from January 1 next year. The long-term result of the state government’s significant change to planning approvals will be all-electric housing. The ACT made <a href="https://www.climatechoices.act.gov.au/policy-programs/preventing-new-gas-network-connections">similar changes</a> early this year, in line with a shift away from gas across <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47559920">Europe</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/19/gas-stove-culture-war-united-states">other locations</a>, although the NSW Premier Chris Minns has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/31/nsw-wont-ban-gas-in-new-homes-as-premier-declares-i-dont-need-another-complication">baulked</a> at doing the same. </p>
<p>Around <a href="https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/renewable-energy/victorias-gas-substitution-roadmap">80% of homes</a> in Victoria are connected to gas. This high uptake was driven by gas being seen as more affordable and sustainable than electricity over past decades. The situation has <a href="https://www.iea.org/events/net-zero-by-2050-a-roadmap-for-the-global-energy-system">changed dramatically</a> as renewable electricity generation increases and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-27/aemo-wholesale-electricity-prices-fall-impact-power-bills/102654498">costs fall</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/all-electric-homes-are-better-for-your-hip-pocket-and-the-planet-heres-how-governments-can-help-us-get-off-gas-207409">Research</a> has suggested for more than a decade that the benefits of all-electric homes <a href="https://bze.org.au/research_release/energy-efficient-buildings-plan/">stack up in many locations</a>. New homes built under mandatory building energy performance standards (increasing from <a href="https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/building-construction/victoria-kicks-the-can-down-the-road-again-on-the-national-construction-code/">6 to 7 stars</a> in Victoria in May 2024) need smaller, cheaper heating and cooling systems. Installing reverse-cycle air conditioning for cooling provides a cost-effective heater as a bonus. </p>
<p>Savings from not requiring gas pipes, appliances and gas supply infrastructure help to offset the costs of highly efficient electric appliances. Mandating fully electric homes means economies of scale will further reduce costs. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/all-electric-homes-are-better-for-your-hip-pocket-and-the-planet-heres-how-governments-can-help-us-get-off-gas-207409">All-electric homes are better for your hip pocket and the planet. Here's how governments can help us get off gas</a>
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<h2>How does this ban help?</h2>
<p>To achieve environmentally sustainable development, reforms of planning policy and regulation <a href="https://theconversation.com/sustainable-cities-australias-building-and-planning-rules-stand-in-the-way-of-getting-there-84263">are essential</a> to convert innovation and best practice to mainstream practice. Planning policy is particularly important for apartment buildings and other housing that may be rented or have an owners’ corporation. Retrofits to improve energy efficiency can be difficult in these situations. </p>
<p>Banning gas in new and renovated housing will <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/getting-off-gas/">cut greenhouse gas emissions</a>. It’s also <a href="https://theconversation.com/gas-cooking-is-associated-with-worsening-asthma-in-kids-but-proper-ventilation-helps-151591">healthier for households</a> and <a href="https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/research-data-and-insights/research/research-reports/the-victorian-healthy-homes-program-research-findings">reduces healthcare costs</a> as well as <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/getting-off-gas/">energy bills and infrastructure costs</a>. The Victorian government suggests the change will save all-electric households <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/new-victorian-homes-go-all-electric-2024">about $1,000 a year</a>. Houses with solar will be even better off.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heat-pumps-can-cut-your-energy-costs-by-up-to-90-its-not-magic-just-a-smart-use-of-the-laws-of-physics-185711">Heat pumps can cut your energy costs by up to 90%. It’s not magic, just a smart use of the laws of physics</a>
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<p>The government appears to be offering wide support to ensure these changes happen, but this will need to be monitored closely.</p>
<p>Some households will face extra costs for electric appliances and solar panels. The government’s announcement of <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/new-victorian-homes-go-all-electric-2024">$10 million</a> for Residential Electrification Grants should help with some of these costs while the industry adjusts.</p>
<p>There will be impacts and benefits for the local economy. Some jobs may be lost, particularly in the gas appliance and plumbing industry. The government has announced financial support to retrain people and they will still have essential roles in the existing housing sector. </p>
<p>Many gas appliances are imported, including ovens, cooktops and instantaneous gas water heaters. Some components of efficient electric products, such as hot water storage tanks, are made locally. Local activities, including distribution, sales, design, installation and maintenance, comprise much of the overall cost. </p>
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<img alt="An electric heat pump installed next to a gas meter outside a home" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540062/original/file-20230731-3718-wtpcdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540062/original/file-20230731-3718-wtpcdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540062/original/file-20230731-3718-wtpcdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540062/original/file-20230731-3718-wtpcdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540062/original/file-20230731-3718-wtpcdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540062/original/file-20230731-3718-wtpcdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540062/original/file-20230731-3718-wtpcdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Households will ultimately benefit from avoiding the costs of having both electricity and gas services.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/keen-to-get-off-gas-in-your-home-but-struggling-to-make-the-switch-research-shows-youre-not-alone-209589">Keen to get off gas in your home, but struggling to make the switch? Research shows you're not alone</a>
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<h2>Challenges of change must be managed</h2>
<p>Sustainability benefits will depend on what <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/getting-off-gas/">happens with the energy network</a>. We need more renewable energy, energy storage and smarter management of electricity demand.</p>
<p>The shift to all-electric homes may mean winter peak demand for heating increases. Energy market operators and governments will have to monitor demand changes carefully to avoid the reliability issues we already see in summer. However, improving energy efficiency, energy storage and demand management will help reduce this load (and household costs).</p>
<p>While the benefits are clear for new homes, the changes may <a href="https://www.bsl.org.au/research/publications/enabling-electrification/">increase gas costs and energy poverty</a> for residents of existing housing who don’t shift to efficient electric solutions. The government has reconfirmed financial rebates to help households switch from gas. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/solar-power-can-cut-living-costs-but-its-not-an-option-for-many-people-they-need-better-support-201090">Solar power can cut living costs, but it's not an option for many people – they need better support</a>
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<p>In addition, existing housing may face building quality and performance issues. Some may require electrical wiring upgrades as part of the transition. </p>
<p>Social acceptance of some electric appliances may also be an issue. For example, <a href="https://www.rmit.edu.au/about/schools-colleges/property-construction-and-project-management/research/research-centres-and-groups/sustainable-building-innovation-laboratory/projects/heet-housing-energy-efficiency-transitions">our research</a> has found some households dislike the way heating from reverse cycle air conditioners feels. Others do not like cooking on induction cooktops. </p>
<p>Consumer education and modifications to appliances and buildings may be needed to increase acceptance and avoid backlash.</p>
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<img alt="pot on the boil on a gas stove with a woman preparing food in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540064/original/file-20230731-105442-1c4ax5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540064/original/file-20230731-105442-1c4ax5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540064/original/file-20230731-105442-1c4ax5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540064/original/file-20230731-105442-1c4ax5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540064/original/file-20230731-105442-1c4ax5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540064/original/file-20230731-105442-1c4ax5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540064/original/file-20230731-105442-1c4ax5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Some people prefer gas cooktops despite their impacts on health and emissions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Some electric appliances are available overseas but not in Australia. Higher demand may increase the range of imports. For example, floor-mounted heat pumps can make heating feel similar to gas heating while still providing effective cooling.</p>
<p>We should not assume electric appliances are all equal. To improve consumer protection, action is needed on weak standards and limited and inconsistent public information. For example, information on noise levels and efficiency under a range of weather conditions must be standardised.</p>
<p>Moving housing away from gas is an <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-99-2760-9">important step</a> in the transition to a zero-carbon economy and energy system. Careful management is needed to ensure this transition is effective, accepted and fair. </p>
<p>Continued planning reforms are also essential to ensure environmentally sustainable development of housing and communities. Other urgent priorities include urban cooling and greening, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/turning-the-housing-crisis-around-how-a-circular-economy-can-give-us-affordable-sustainable-homes-208745">circular economy approaches</a> to reduce the material and waste impacts of housing and thus the carbon that goes into building and running homes.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/turning-the-housing-crisis-around-how-a-circular-economy-can-give-us-affordable-sustainable-homes-208745">Turning the housing crisis around: how a circular economy can give us affordable, sustainable homes</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210649/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Trivess Moore has received funding from various organisations including the Australian Research Council, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Victorian Government and various industry partners and is currently working on a project funded by the Future Fuels CRC exploring the use of gas and electricity in Victorian homes. He is a trustee of the Fuel Poverty Research Network.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Pears consults to and advises a number of industry organisations, government agencies and community groups. He has received funding from and has affiliations with government agencies, community groups and industry groups with interests in housing, climate and energy policy. He has received funding from various organisations including ARENA, RMIT University, University of Melbourne, RACE for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre, Victorian and Australian Governments and various industry partners. He is currently working with the Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joe Hurley has received funding from various organisations including the Federal Government, the Victorian Government and various industry partners and is currently working on a project funded by the Australian Research Council on measuring cumulative heat in Australian cities. He is a on the technical advisory committee for the Council Alliance for Sustainable Built Environment.</span></em></p>The ban on gas connections to new homes in Victoria reflects global trends and will ultimately save households money and cut their emissions.Trivess Moore, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT UniversityAlan Pears, Senior Industry Fellow, RMIT UniversityJoe Hurley, Associate Professor, Sustainability and Urban Planning, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2094162023-07-31T17:08:53Z2023-07-31T17:08:53ZWhy we need to reuse waste energy to achieve net-zero heating systems<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539953/original/file-20230728-23-6n3k7n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C0%2C3000%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Just generating heat is not enough. We must also capture, store, and utilize waste heat year-round and especially in the winter months.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/why-we-need-to-reuse-waste-energy-to-achieve-net-zero-heating-systems" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>As we move toward a cleaner energy future, there is a growing push to electrify everything, from cars to home heating. While that sounds ideal, it is also much more than a matter of simply plugging in.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/power-grid-demand-electric-vehicles-1.6440595">grid is nowhere near ready to satisfy our carbon-free energy needs</a>, especially as more and more Canadians switch to electric vehicles and we wait for more carbon-free sources of electricity to supply the growing demand.</p>
<p>We’re <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/spikes-in-air-conditioning-use-with-warming-could-tax-electric-grid/">already pushing the system on the hottest days of the year to keep our electric air conditioning running</a>, mainly by supplementing with inefficient carbon-producing natural gas or coal power plants during peak demand periods.</p>
<p>If we were all relying on electrical forms of heating, electricity demand would be substantially higher on the coldest days of the year and overwhelm the grid. The solution to this problem, however, lies not in the heat we generate but the heat we reuse. </p>
<h2>The importance of heating</h2>
<p>Heating systems keep many of us alive.</p>
<p>In a cold-climate country such as Canada it takes far, far more energy to heat homes in winter than to cool them in summer. To compare the overall energy required for heating and cooling buildings we look at <a href="https://www.degreedays.net/">heating degree days (HDD) versus cooling degree days (CDD)</a>.</p>
<p>In Toronto, for example, heating degree days outnumber cooling degree days about 7-1. Consumers may not be aware of this huge disparity, since most home heating comes from burning natural gas, while most cooling comes from electricity, but if we moved all that demand to the grid, it would become apparent all too quickly.</p>
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<img alt="A chart representing heating degree days and cooling degree days by various key urban areas." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538570/original/file-20230720-27-9p0mm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538570/original/file-20230720-27-9p0mm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538570/original/file-20230720-27-9p0mm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538570/original/file-20230720-27-9p0mm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538570/original/file-20230720-27-9p0mm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538570/original/file-20230720-27-9p0mm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538570/original/file-20230720-27-9p0mm9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Chart representing heating degree days and cooling degree days by various key urban areas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(James S. Cotton)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Air conditioning already pushes the electrical grid when cooling indoor spaces to 23 C when it is above 35 C outside, but warming our indoor spaces to 20 C when it is -40 C outside means covering a 60-degree gap.</p>
<p>If we were to move all our heating demands to the electrical grid, even with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2019.11.011">the most modern, efficient air-source heat pumps</a>, <a href="https://www.pollutionprobe.org/future-hold-natural-gas-report">peak demand would be about four to five times what it is today</a>, and that’s not a problem anyone can solve quickly.</p>
<h2>Utilize everything</h2>
<p>Fortunately, there is another option that can keep us warm without burning additional fuel. By storing the heat generated from all sources, including waste heat, and drawing from it through the coldest months of the year, our research shows we can <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306261923006554">use discarded waste heat</a>.</p>
<p>A huge amount of heat generated today is simply dissipated into our surroundings and wasted, and when it’s cold outside, we use new energy to make fresh heat. That doesn’t make sense.</p>
<p>A typical pizza restaurant produces <a href="https://patents.google.com/patent/US10094553B2/en?oq=14%2f791980">enough leftover heat</a> every year to heat <a href="https://www.cga.ca/natural-gas-statistics/natural-gas-facts/">seven family homes</a>. A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378778821004540">hockey arena creates huge amounts of heat</a> in the process of making ice and keeping it frozen. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538571/original/file-20230720-21-61nj78.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A chart showing the different demands of heating versus cooling systems at peak demand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538571/original/file-20230720-21-61nj78.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538571/original/file-20230720-21-61nj78.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=269&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538571/original/file-20230720-21-61nj78.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=269&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538571/original/file-20230720-21-61nj78.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=269&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538571/original/file-20230720-21-61nj78.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538571/original/file-20230720-21-61nj78.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538571/original/file-20230720-21-61nj78.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A chart showing the different demands of heating versus cooling systems at peak demand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(James S. Cotton)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Same for a grocery store and its many freezers and refrigerators, a factory running industrial-scale production equipment, and any large building running commercial air-conditioners. Today <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0196890423004971">we dump all that heat into the air instead of holding onto it for when we need it</a>, leading to unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
<p>We need to start seeing the heat we make as a readily recoverable, carbon-free resource and do much more to harness it. There is already technology that can harvest and store such heat for months in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032121000290">underground thermal batteries</a> until it is needed.</p>
<h2>Integrated heat harvesting systems</h2>
<p>We can recover the heat by piping water through hot underground batteries and running those pipes into nearby buildings, like a big boiler-and-radiator system, except the boiler is <a href="https://energy.mcmaster.ca/icepick">actually an underground battery</a> charged not with electricity, but with heat.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-21st-century-reinvention-of-the-electric-grid-is-crucial-for-solving-the-climate-change-crisis-173631">A 21st-century reinvention of the electric grid is crucial for solving the climate change crisis</a>
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<p>McMaster University is preparing to put replacement back-up generators into play, <a href="https://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/articles/new-electric-boilers-will-reduce-campus-carbon-emissions-23-per-cent">which will supplement grid power during peak times</a>.</p>
<p>When demand is critical on the hottest days of the year, the gas-powered generators will create the extra electricity needed to operate the campus—including sensitive labs and research facilities. If we were to capture and store the waste heat produced and tie into it in the winter, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2210670723001518">we could halve their net carbon emissions into the atmosphere</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538828/original/file-20230723-192659-grm0uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Diagram overviewing the ICE-Harvest plan." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538828/original/file-20230723-192659-grm0uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538828/original/file-20230723-192659-grm0uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538828/original/file-20230723-192659-grm0uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538828/original/file-20230723-192659-grm0uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538828/original/file-20230723-192659-grm0uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538828/original/file-20230723-192659-grm0uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538828/original/file-20230723-192659-grm0uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Modular Integrated Community Energy and Harvesting System has the potential to provide winter-long heat at considerable carbon savings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(James S.Cotton)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>McMaster leads a wider research co-operative demonstration project called <a href="https://www.gridsmartcity.com/partners-sponsors-in-motion/innovation/mcmaster-ice/">Integrated Community Energy and Harvesting</a>, or ICE-Harvest, with 30 municipalities and 19 industrial partners taking part.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306261923006554">In a new paper in the journal <em>Applied Energy</em></a>, we show how such localized systems use the same energy twice.</p>
<h2>Heat batteries already exist</h2>
<p>Capturing, saving and using leftover heat is an efficient solution that can be managed by localized microthermal networks. Think of it this way: the Canadian chain Pizza Pizza is <a href="https://www.ngif.ca/harvest-systems-successfully-demonstrates-waste-heat-recovery-from-pizza-pizza-ovens/">piloting a system</a> that uses heat recovered from its ovens to heat its own hot water. The chain can then sell what is left over. In the same way an arena can sell its heat to a retirement home across the street; a grocery store to a neighbouring school, and so on.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-tenth-of-all-electricity-is-lost-in-the-grid-superconducting-cables-can-help-199001">A tenth of all electricity is lost in the grid. Superconducting cables can help</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This solution would require <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2210670723001518">new infrastructure</a>, including buried pipes to circulate heat from source to storage and from storage to user. That would be expensive to set up, but such costs could readily be spread out over decades, as previous generations did to build highways, hydro lines and gas pipelines.</p>
<p>Existing and emerging technology can measure and regulate the gathering, sharing and distribution of heat in a system where the accounts of heat producers are credited as they add to the supply and end users are charged when they draw from the supply. It is just a matter of time before industrial, commercial and institutional players realize there is value in their cooling towers.</p>
<p>These are not far-fetched ideas. They are practical and available to be implemented now and are a realistic climate action strategy. Here in the northern hemisphere, heat is a valuable resource that’s already there waiting to be tapped, and we can no longer afford to waste it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209416/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James (Jim) S. Cotton works for and owns shares in Harvest Systems Inc. He receives funding from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (CRDPJ 401203143 - 2018) and the Ministry of Research and Innovation and Science administered by Ontario Centre of Innovation (27851-2018), Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and Ontario Research Fund - Research Infrastructure. The author would also like to acknowledge the McMaster Energy Research Cooperative partners for their contributions: HCE Energy Inc., GridSmartCity LDC Cooperative (Brantford Power, Burlington Hydro, Energy+, ENWIN, ERTH Power, Essex Power Lines, Halton Hills Hydro, Kingston Hydro, Kitchener Wilmot Hydro, Milton Hydro, Niagara Peninsula Energy, Oakville Enterprises Corp., Waterloo North Hydro, Welland Hydro Electric Systems Corp.), Alectra Utilities, Enbridge Gas, S2e Technologies, Geosource Energy and Siemens Canada Limited</span></em></p>As the drive towards electrification advances, one fact seems clear: it is far easier to reuse waste heat for our homes and businesses than it is to generate it anew.James (Jim) S. Cotton, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2095892023-07-24T02:39:07Z2023-07-24T02:39:07ZKeen to get off gas in your home, but struggling to make the switch? Research shows you’re not alone<p>More than five million households in Australia are connected to the gas network. Tackling climate change requires homes and businesses to move away from gas, and instead embrace electric appliances as the power grid shifts to renewable energy.</p>
<p>People can <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Getting-off-gas-why-how-and-who-should-pay.pdf">save</a> considerable money by switching away from gas – even more so if they have solar panels installed. But still, millions of Australians haven’t yet made the move. Why?</p>
<p>Our new research, <a href="https://www.bsl.org.au/research/publications/enabling-electrification/">released today</a>, seeks to shed light on this question. We focused on lower-income households in Victoria and found while most participants supported the transition from gas, few owned electric appliances for heating, cooking and hot water. </p>
<p>There were two main barriers: people couldn’t afford the upfront cost of buying new electric appliances, or were renting and so had little or no say over what appliances were installed. Overcoming these and other challenges is crucial to ensure no-one gets left behind in Australia’s energy transition. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="baby floating in bath beside rubber ducks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538551/original/file-20230720-15-10gmso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538551/original/file-20230720-15-10gmso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538551/original/file-20230720-15-10gmso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538551/original/file-20230720-15-10gmso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538551/original/file-20230720-15-10gmso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538551/original/file-20230720-15-10gmso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538551/original/file-20230720-15-10gmso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Few study participants owned electric appliances for heating, cooking and hot water.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Making it fair for all</h2>
<p>Victoria has <a href="https://www.climatechange.vic.gov.au/climate-action-targets">committed</a> to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. To help achieve this, the state government is developing a <a href="https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/renewable-energy/victorias-gas-substitution-roadmap">plan</a> for the state to electrify. Other states and <a href="https://www.climatechoices.act.gov.au/energy/switching-from-gas#:%7E:text=The%20ACT%20will%20transition%20away%20from%20fossil%20fuel,ACT%20during%203%20March%20%E2%80%93%2020%20April%202023.">territories</a> are also moving in this direction. </p>
<p>But to date, not enough research and policy attention has been paid to making this transition fair and equitable for everyone.</p>
<p>Low-income households <a href="https://www.bsl.org.au/research/publications/energy-stressed-in-australia/">spend</a> a larger proportion of their income on energy bills compared to higher-income households. This is despite those households using less energy.</p>
<p>The affordability of gas will become worse as more households electrify. That’s because part of a gas bill includes the fixed cost of running gas infrastructure – so as progressively fewer people use gas, the remaining users pay more. </p>
<p>And those who don’t make the move away from gas miss out on the long-term economic benefits. <a href="https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0039/579882/Victorias-Gas-Substitution-Roadmap-Embracing-electricity-to-cut-your-bills-at-home.pdf">Analysis</a> last year suggested a typical Victorian household could reduce its annual energy costs by A$1,020 by replacing gas heating, cooking and hot water systems with electric ones. The figure rises to $1,250 for those with solar power. These savings will be amplified if the price of gas continues to rise relative to electricity.</p>
<p>That’s why it’s important to help as many lower-income people as possible to make the switch to electric appliances. Our research set out to understand what might prevent or enable that shift. </p>
<p>We studied households in Victoria: the state with the highest prevalence of residential gas use in Australia and where plans for an economy-wide transition away from fossil gas are underway.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/all-electric-homes-are-better-for-your-hip-pocket-and-the-planet-heres-how-governments-can-help-us-get-off-gas-207409">All-electric homes are better for your hip pocket and the planet. Here's how governments can help us get off gas</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="hands reach towards gas heater" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538553/original/file-20230720-21-zgmt4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538553/original/file-20230720-21-zgmt4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538553/original/file-20230720-21-zgmt4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538553/original/file-20230720-21-zgmt4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538553/original/file-20230720-21-zgmt4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538553/original/file-20230720-21-zgmt4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538553/original/file-20230720-21-zgmt4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gas will become less affordable as more people move to electric appliances.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>We conducted an online survey, which received 220 eligible responses. We also undertook focus groups with 34 people. All participants were from lower-income households.</p>
<p>Most participants – 88% – used gas in the home, reflecting its prevalence in Victoria.</p>
<p>More than two-thirds indicated some level of support for a transition away from household gas to cleaner energy sources. Support was greater with higher levels of education. There was no significant difference based on financial stress, housing tenure, location or age. </p>
<p>But this support had not translated into action. Just one in ten surveyed households had replaced gas appliances with electric ones within the past five years. Among those who had switched or planned to switch, the main reasons were lower running costs and environmental benefits. </p>
<p>Respondents considered electric appliances to be safer and better for the environment. Gas appliances were considered better for heating and cooking. Many respondents were unsure about the relative benefits of electric versus gas appliances when it came to cost, reliability, safety and the environment. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538548/original/file-20230720-15-61nj78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538548/original/file-20230720-15-61nj78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=175&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538548/original/file-20230720-15-61nj78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=175&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538548/original/file-20230720-15-61nj78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=175&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538548/original/file-20230720-15-61nj78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538548/original/file-20230720-15-61nj78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538548/original/file-20230720-15-61nj78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Graph showing the benefits of gas versus electric appliances, as perceived by participants in the study.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Preferences were strongly linked to what people were currently using. Most people preferred gas cooktops over electric ones, because of the perceived speed, ease and flexibility. However, few participants had used electric induction stoves, which can also offer these benefits.</p>
<p>People who spoke a language other than English were significantly more likely to prefer gas for heating and hot water.</p>
<p>For those who had not replaced gas appliances, being a renter was one of the biggest barriers to electrification. Some renters said they lived in poor housing, but were unwilling to request improvements in case the landlord increased the rent or evicted them. </p>
<p>Respondents also said they would struggle to afford the upfront costs of electrification, such as buying new appliances and, in some cases, wiring upgrades and other building modifications. </p>
<p>Many participants were aware of and had received state government assistance to help with energy bills. But far fewer people knew about or had used <a href="https://www.solar.vic.gov.au/home-heating-cooling-upgrades?redirectSrc=heatingupgrades.vic.gov.au">programs</a> that could support them to adopt electric appliances.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gas-cooking-is-associated-with-worsening-asthma-in-kids-but-proper-ventilation-helps-151591">Gas cooking is associated with worsening asthma in kids. But proper ventilation helps</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Embracing the switch</h2>
<p>An overall strategy is needed to help all households make the shift to electric appliances and technology. Our research suggests this must include specific measures for lower-income households, such as:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>targeted and well-promoted electrification programs</p></li>
<li><p>more evidence-based information on the benefits of electric appliances</p></li>
<li><p>incentives for landlords and standards requiring efficient electric appliances in rental homes</p></li>
<li><p>means-tested rebates for electric appliances such as reverse cycle air-conditioners and heat pump hot water, and where appropriate, no- or low-interest loans. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>These measures should, where possible, be linked to measures to improve household energy efficiency. And lower-income households, as well as others facing barriers to getting off gas, must be included when planning the transition. </p>
<p><em>Researchers David Bryant and Damian Sullivan from the Brotherhood of St Laurence contributed to this article and co-authored the research upon which it is based.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heat-pumps-can-cut-your-energy-costs-by-up-to-90-its-not-magic-just-a-smart-use-of-the-laws-of-physics-185711">Heat pumps can cut your energy costs by up to 90%. It’s not magic, just a smart use of the laws of physics</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209589/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sangeetha Chandrashekeran receives funding from the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Project ID CE200100025). This project was also funded by Energy Consumers Australia (<a href="http://www.energyconsumersaustralia.com.au">www.energyconsumersaustralia.com.au</a>) as part of its grants process for consumer advocacy projects and research projects. The views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the views of Energy Consumers Australia.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia de Bruyn worked for the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Project ID CE200100025) at the time of conducting this research. This project was also funded by Energy Consumers Australia (<a href="http://www.energyconsumersaustralia.com.au">www.energyconsumersaustralia.com.au</a>) as part of its grants process for consumer advocacy projects and research projects. The views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the views of Energy Consumers Australia.</span></em></p>Victoria has a plan for the state to electrify, but how do we make the transition fair and equitable for everyone? New research suggests a way forward.Sangeetha Chandrashekeran, Senior Research Fellow, Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course, The University of MelbourneJulia de Bruyn, Associate Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2068642023-06-28T20:03:53Z2023-06-28T20:03:53ZWe could need 6 times more of the minerals used for renewables and batteries. How can we avoid a huge increase in mining impacts?<p>We are seeing the biggest changes in our energy and transport systems since industrialisation. By 2026, global renewable energy generation is <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions/executive-summary">expected to match</a> total fossil fuel and nuclear output. Building the wind and solar farms, batteries and electricity networks we need to run our system on renewables will use a huge array of mined minerals, known as “transition minerals”.</p>
<p>The numbers are staggering. The International Energy Agency <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions/executive-summary">estimates</a> a sixfold increase in demand for these minerals by 2040 to meet climate targets of well below 2°C of warming. We could need 21.5 million tonnes for electric vehicles and battery storage alone. </p>
<iframe title="Total mineral demand for clean energy technologies" aria-label="Stacked Column Chart" id="datawrapper-chart-aci04" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/aci04/3/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="100%" height="400" data-external="1"></iframe>
<p>Transitional minerals include metals such as lithium, cobalt, copper, graphite, magnesium and nickel. They also include rare earths like neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium. </p>
<p>Currently, mining provides almost our entire supply. The scale of demand for these minerals could result in almost <a href="https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/more-than-300-new-mines-required-to-meet-battery-demand-by-2035">400 new mines</a> by 2035.</p>
<p>To put this in perspective, Australia has around <a href="https://www.ga.gov.au/education/classroom-resources/minerals-energy/australian-mineral-facts">350 operating mines</a>. <a href="https://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/king/media-releases/australias-lithium-powering-global-energy-transition">More than 50%</a> of the world’s lithium and much of its copper, cobalt, nickel and rare earths come from our mines. </p>
<p>Australia is hosting the <a href="https://wmc2023.org/">World Mining Congress</a> this week. A key issue for the industry is how we can ensure the minerals needed for the energy transition are sourced responsibly.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-clean-energy-means-more-mines-we-shouldnt-sacrifice-communities-in-the-name-of-climate-action-170938">More clean energy means more mines – we shouldn't sacrifice communities in the name of climate action</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<h2>How can we manage demand?</h2>
<p>We can design energy and transport systems to minimise mineral demand. Strategies include:</p>
<ul>
<li>reducing our dependence on cars and using smaller vehicles</li>
<li>improving energy efficiency</li>
<li>moving to a circular economy that makes reuse and recycling a priority. </li>
</ul>
<p>All these changes can reduce the need for new mines. </p>
<p>Recycling, for example, could reduce demand for mined materials. For lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, <a href="https://earthworks.org/resources/recycle-dont-mine/">estimated reductions</a> are 25% for lithium, 35% for cobalt and nickel, and 55% for copper by 2040. </p>
<p>This recycled content will mainly come from waste batteries. However, large volumes of lithium-ion batteries won’t start reaching the end of their lives for at least a decade. Recycling will only have a <a href="https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.lib.uts.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0921344923000885">significant impact from 2035</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1671261640942141444"}"></div></p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/batteries-are-the-environmental-achilles-heel-of-electric-vehicles-unless-we-repair-reuse-and-recycle-them-205404">Batteries are the environmental Achilles heel of electric vehicles – unless we repair, reuse and recycle them</a>
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<hr>
<h2>Mining is unavoidable, so we must limit its impacts</h2>
<p>If we are destined to continue mining for the minerals needed for the energy transition, how can this be done responsibly? And what exactly do we mean by responsible sourcing?</p>
<p>Responsible sourcing minimises the environmental, social and governance impacts and risks of mining. Key concerns include the use of child labour and forced labour, damage to the environment, impacts on Indigenous rights and cultural heritage, and corruption.</p>
<p>In 2011, the Australian government released <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/publications/leading-practice-handbooks-sustainable-mining">guidance on sustainable mining</a>. Historical and recent harmful impacts highlight the need for a fresh look at mining practices. In 2020, for example, Rio Tinto <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/24/a-year-on-from-the-juukan-gorge-destruction-aboriginal-sacred-sites-remain-unprotected">destroyed</a> a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal heritage site in Juukan Gorge. </p>
<p>First Nations people worldwide are calling for free, prior and informed consent when mining and renewable energy developments are proposed for their land. This approach recognises the right to be consulted early in the process, informed of the impacts, and supported to take part in negotiation and making agreements. Most importantly, it includes the right to say no. </p>
<p>In many parts of Australia, Indigenous communities have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/native-title-and-australias-resource-boom-a-lost-opportunity-2725">locked out of economic opportunities</a>, despite mining generating enormous wealth on their Country. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/54-of-projects-extracting-clean-energy-minerals-overlap-with-indigenous-lands-research-reveals-195438">54% of projects extracting clean energy minerals overlap with Indigenous lands, research reveals</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What does responsible sourcing involve?</h2>
<p>How do we do things more responsibly? We need to ensure activities comply with a range of sustainability criteria. An agreed standard will mean we have information that enables us to compare the good and bad apples.</p>
<p>The problem is there isn’t a common approach to measuring, managing and reporting environmental, social and governance performance. Our <a href="https://fbicrc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/FBICRC-Certification-Commonalities-Report-Spreads-VFINAL30November.pdf">recent research</a> analysed the plethora of voluntary standards and certifications available to battery materials producers. No common global or Australian standard has been adopted. </p>
<p>Smaller mining companies also struggle with the administrative complexities of sustainability reporting and management criteria. An agreed common language for reporting and management is needed. Only then can traceability solutions, such as the Global Battery Alliance’s blockchain-enabled “<a href="https://www.globalbattery.org/battery-passport/">battery passport</a>”, produce trustworthy and comparable results. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-rich-deposits-of-critical-minerals-for-green-technology-but-we-are-not-making-the-most-of-them-yet-182331">Australia has rich deposits of critical minerals for green technology. But we are not making the most of them ... yet</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Let’s set the bar high</h2>
<p><a href="https://fbicrc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/FBICRC-Certification-Commonalities-Report-Spreads-VFINAL30November.pdf">Our research</a> identified the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) as one of the more rigorous standards. Its credibility is built on how it is governed. This involves six stakeholder groups: mining companies, purchasers, NGOs, affected communities, labour organisations and the finance sector. </p>
<p>There are still questions to be answered. How do practices in Australia measure up to the standard? And how can regulatory reform help to steer mining operations in the right direction? </p>
<p>A focus on environmental, social and governance practices in the <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/publications/critical-minerals-strategy-2023-2030/our-focus-areas/4-promoting-australia-world-leader-esg-performance">Australian Critical Minerals Strategy</a>, released last week, is a welcome first step.</p>
<p>Issues that must be front and centre include:</p>
<ul>
<li>mining impacts on water supply</li>
<li>free, prior and informed consent from First Nations communities</li>
<li>integrated planning for climate change impacts such as extreme weather that may affect management of mine tailings</li>
<li>biodiversity protection</li>
<li>mine closure planning that integrates progressive rehabilitation of ecosystems</li>
<li>circular business practices to make the most of what we have. </li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tapping-mineral-wealth-in-mining-waste-could-offset-damage-from-new-green-economy-mines-183232">Tapping mineral wealth in mining waste could offset damage from new green economy mines</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As a leading mining nation, Australia is in a position to leverage its historical environmental leadership, show renewed responsibility and integrity, and lead by example. We can then help leave the planet in a shape that future generations will be proud to inherit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206864/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rusty Langdon receives funding from a range of government and non-government organisations. In 2022-23 this included the BSC and the FBI CRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elsa Dominish receives funding from various government and non-government organisations. In 2022-23 this includes DFAT, Earthworks, WWF-Australia and UNESCAP. </span></em></p>Nearly 400 new mines could open by 2035 to meet demand for the minerals used in global electrification. Better recycling can help with supply, but mining’s impacts will have to be better managed.Rusty Langdon, Senior Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology SydneyElsa Dominish, Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2074112023-06-15T20:05:10Z2023-06-15T20:05:10ZImagine the outcry if factories killed as many people as wood heaters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531902/original/file-20230614-31-hjm88m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3988%2C2658&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine a fleet of ageing factories operating in neighbourhoods across Australia.</p>
<p>On most days the smoke from their stacks is hardly noticed. But on cold days when the smog settles in the densely populated valleys and towns, doctors notice unusually high numbers of people suffering from a range of problems, especially asthma. </p>
<p>Air-quality researchers are called in to study the problem in more detail. They confirm that neighbourhoods with these old factories have higher concentrations of fine particles, which are <a href="https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/environment/factsheets/Pages/wood-smoke.aspx">toxic air pollutants</a>. </p>
<p>Invisible to the naked eye, particles are inhaled deep into the lungs, enter the bloodstream and cause a range of harms throughout the body. This air pollution is linked to higher rates of heart and lung diseases, strokes, dementia and some cancers. It also increases the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes and poorer learning outcomes in children. </p>
<p>The researchers calculate that each year pollution from the factories causes 269 premature deaths in <a href="https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/-/media/OEH/Corporate-Site/Documents/Air/sydney-air-quality-study-stage-2-program-report-220644.pdf">Sydney</a>, 69 in <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/9/3264">Tasmania</a> and 14 in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.5694/mja2.51199">Armidale</a>, New South Wales. </p>
<p>While the factories are supposed to be built, maintained and operated to certain standards, the regulations are rarely if ever enforced. There isn’t even a central register to tell authorities how many of these factories exist, how old they are, and where they are located.</p>
<p>As news of this research is made public, how would the affected communities react? What might they demand of government? </p>
<p>Would it matter if they knew we were not talking about factories, but wood heaters? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Haze from wood smoke hangs over suburban houses" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532110/original/file-20230615-23-2eowb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532110/original/file-20230615-23-2eowb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532110/original/file-20230615-23-2eowb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532110/original/file-20230615-23-2eowb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532110/original/file-20230615-23-2eowb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532110/original/file-20230615-23-2eowb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532110/original/file-20230615-23-2eowb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On a cold winter’s day, the haze from wood heaters hangs over Hobart, Tasmania.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Todd</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/blame-wood-burning-stoves-for-winter-air-pollution-and-health-threats-110662">Blame wood-burning stoves for winter air pollution and health threats</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Heaters produce much of our air pollution</h2>
<p>Every sentence of this story is true if you replace the word “factory” with “wood heater”. </p>
<p>Less than <a href="https://theconversation.com/like-having-a-truck-idling-in-your-living-room-the-toxic-cost-of-wood-fired-heaters-140737">10% of households</a> own a wood heater, but burning wood for heating is the largest source of air pollution in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.105429">many Australian cities</a> and <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/215/6/effects-mortality-and-associated-financial-costs-wood-heater-pollution-regional">towns</a>. While vehicle manufacturers and industry have greatly reduced emissions following tightened government regulations, domestic heating technology has not kept pace. </p>
<p>Today you would have to drive a diesel truck 500 kilometres to <a href="https://theconversation.com/like-having-a-truck-idling-in-your-living-room-the-toxic-cost-of-wood-fired-heaters-140737">emit as much air pollution</a> as a wood heater does in a single day. And that figure is for a wood heater that meets the current regulatory standards in Australia. Most do not. </p>
<p>Furthermore, wood heater pollution can be many times more severe when owners leave logs to smoulder overnight, burn poorly seasoned wood, or close down the air intake immediately after loading more wood.</p>
<p>Of course, particulate pollution is not all that wood heaters emit. When firewood is sourced from land clearing and illegal wood hooking, wood heaters add to net carbon dioxide and methane emissions in much the same as burning coal does because the carbon is no longer locked away in forests. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/pub?list=BRO&pid=procite:ae6e5fe6-edfb-4f15-9e8e-7221653c1da1">best estimates</a> are that less than a quarter of firewood is sourced from sustainable plantation suppliers. Even from those sources, the carbon emissions take <a href="https://www.cell.com/chem/pdf/S2451-9294(22)00091-2.pdf">many years to be sequestered</a> into growing trees.</p>
<p>One study estimated that, if we stopped burning wood and clearing forest for heating, Australia would reduce its annual greenhouse gas emissions by <a href="https://doi.org/10.5094/APR.2011.033">8.7 million tonnes</a>. That’s about <a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/FactSheet-Transport.pdf">one-fifth</a> of Australia’s car emissions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Smoke drifts from a rooftop chimney across a forested background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531567/original/file-20230613-27-4rtpbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531567/original/file-20230613-27-4rtpbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531567/original/file-20230613-27-4rtpbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531567/original/file-20230613-27-4rtpbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531567/original/file-20230613-27-4rtpbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531567/original/file-20230613-27-4rtpbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531567/original/file-20230613-27-4rtpbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If we stopped clearing forest and burning wood for heating, the reduction in emissions would be equal to about one-fifth of Australia’s car emissions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smoke_from_a_small_chimney_in_fog.jpg">W. Carter/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/like-having-a-truck-idling-in-your-living-room-the-toxic-cost-of-wood-fired-heaters-140737">'Like having a truck idling in your living room': the toxic cost of wood-fired heaters</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The benefits of electrification</h2>
<p>Inevitably, as Australia moves towards a zero-carbon future, the electrification of domestic heating will bring widespread health and economic benefits. It will prevent hundreds of premature deaths each year. </p>
<p>Hospitals will benefit from a reprieve in the cooler months, enabling doctors and nurses to better cope with seasonal pneumonia and COVID-19 outbreaks. And even those outbreaks will be <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/resp.14140">less severe with reduced air pollution</a>.</p>
<p>Besides being healthier, Australians will enjoy much lower heating costs as a result of using technologies such as reverse-cycle air conditioners (heat pumps). Remarkably, heat pumps are up to <a href="https://www.energy.gov.au/households/heating-and-cooling">600% efficient</a>. That means, for every unit of energy they consume, they generate up to six units of heating energy. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/air-pollution-can-increase-the-risk-of-covid-infection-and-severe-disease-a-roundup-of-what-we-know-201813">Air pollution can increase the risk of COVID infection and severe disease – a roundup of what we know</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Making the switch</h2>
<p>As people learn about the impacts of wood heaters on their neighbours, friends and relatives — on pregnant women, young children and the elderly — many will make the switch. </p>
<p>Governments need to ensure safe and affordable heating technology is available to everyone regardless of their income. </p>
<p>Already, governments in the <a href="https://www.climatechoices.act.gov.au/policy-programs/wood-heater-replacement-program">Australian Capital Territory</a>, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-06-26/claims-heater-buyback-doing-its-job/81160">Tasmania</a> and <a href="https://www.eeca.govt.nz/co-funding/insulation-and-heater-grants/warmer-kiwi-homes-programme/">New Zealand</a> have programs that reimburse households for the cost of replacing their wood heaters. </p>
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<p>Buy-back schemes, home efficiency subsidies, regulation and enforcement, including property market regulation (ensuring wood heaters are removed prior to sale), and restrictions on new installations all have a role to play. </p>
<p>We are conducting economic modelling to determine the most cost-effective policy settings for maximising the benefits of policies to manage the problem of wood heaters. </p>
<p>Fire and smoke will remain important experiences for Australians. They can be savoured primarily outside the city, under bright stars, in open deserts and rugged coastlines, in beach shacks and farm cottages, and as part of Indigenous cultural practices.</p>
<p>One day we will look back in amazement that we once tolerated wood heaters in our cities, right next to schools, homes and hospitals. We’ll regard them in much the same way that we think of polluting factories today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bin Jalaludin receives funding from the NHMRC and the ARC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fay Johnston is a Director of AirHealth Pty Ltd that supports the AirRater and Melbourne Pollen apps and other pollen prediction services. She receives funding from NHMRC and is the lead Investigator of the Centre for Safe Air, a NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence. She also receives funding from Asthma Australia, The Tasmanian, ACT and NT Departments of Health, the National Environment Research Program, and the NHMRC Healthy Environments and Lives (HEAL) Network.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bill Dodd does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>One day we’ll look back in amazement that wood heaters were once tolerated in cities right next to houses, schools and hospitals.Bill Dodd, Knowledge Broker, Centre for Safe Air (NHMRC CRE), University of TasmaniaBin Jalaludin, Conjoint Professor, School of Population Health, UNSW SydneyFay Johnston, Professor, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2065112023-05-31T12:35:38Z2023-05-31T12:35:38ZRemembering South Africa’s “Grand Geek” Barry Dwolatzky - engineer and programming pioneer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528576/original/file-20230526-21-3xadfe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Professor Barry Dwolatzky was passionate about innovation in all that he did.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wits University</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>To some of his former students, Professor Barry Dwolatzky was the “Grand Geek” – a name of which he was very proud. But Barry, who passed away in Johannesburg, South Africa on 16 May 2023, was much more than a computer geek. He was also a leader and a visionary in the field of software engineering in South Africa.</p>
<p>At the time of his passing he was 71 years old. He was by then retired from academia and held the title of Emeritus Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), where he spent much of his career. </p>
<p>But he didn’t really slow down: he remained the director of the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE), a role he’d held since 2007. During the COVID lockdown in 2020, he started a podcast called <a href="https://iono.fm/c/4965">Optimizing – Leading Africa’s Digital Future</a> and produced eight episodes. He also wrote an autobiography called <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/future/stories/looking-ahead-from-a-life-of-new-beginnings.html">Coded History – My Life of New Beginnings</a>, which was launched in November 2022.</p>
<h2>A pioneer in programming</h2>
<p>An alumnus of the School of Electrical and Information Engineering at Wits University, Barry graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1975. He then started a master’s degree, which he converted to a PhD.</p>
<p>After obtaining his PhD in 1979, he did post-doctoral research at the University of Manchester’s Institute of Science and Technology and at Imperial College in London. Thereafter, he worked as a senior research associate at the GEC-Marconi Centre in the UK.</p>
<p>I first met Barry in 1989 when he returned to South Africa as a senior lecturer in the School of Electrical Engineering at Wits. I was an undergraduate in his class that year. When I returned to Wits in 1998, he was my MSc supervisor and, when I was appointed as a lecturer in the School of Electrical Engineering, we were colleagues and friends.</p>
<p>When he joined the School, there was only one programming course, Engineering Applied Computing, taught to second-year electrical, civil and mechanical engineering students. Barry identified the growing importance of programming and information technology in engineering fields before anyone else in South Africa really had. Today, the School of Electrical & Information Engineering’s curriculum contains two second-year programming courses and a third-year course that is compulsory for all electrical and information engineering students. Barry was instrumental in introducing all these courses.</p>
<p>He was also the driving force behind the school’s name change: “Information Engineering” was added in the year 2000 with the introduction of a software stream that would be distinct from the electrical engineering stream.</p>
<p>The idea didn’t come from the blue. Talking to people in various companies, Barry realised that most of the school’s graduates went into the information and communications technology (ICT) sector rather than into the classical electrical engineering fields like electrical generation, transmission and distribution, high voltage engineering and control engineering. </p>
<p>That’s what prompted the development and introduction of the software stream. At that time, computers were becoming more common in many industries and the mobile phone sector was starting to take off.</p>
<h2>Software to drive development</h2>
<p>In the late 1980s, the then CEO of Eskom, South Africa’s national electricity utility, announced a mass roll-out of electrification called Electricity for All. Between 1990 and 2000, about 2.5 million houses were connected to the national grid. At that time, Barry started working on a software programme that would assist engineers in planning the electrification of townships, historically black urban residential areas. </p>
<p>A number of postgraduate students under his supervision worked on aspects of this software. He <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/624520">called the program CART</a> (Computer-Aided Reticulation of Townships). In 1997, he took a year-long sabbatical and worked full time on CART, developing it into a viable commercial product that was used to aid in the design of the electrification of many townships.</p>
<p>In 2005, Barry launched the <a href="https://jcse.org.za/">Joburg Centre for Software Engineering</a>. He became its director in 2007. It was the work he did through the centre that established him as an important thought leader in the software and IT space. Among other things, the centre hosted masterclasses with world renowned software experts.</p>
<h2>Innovation champion</h2>
<p>In 2012, Barry identified some old buildings owned by Wits University in Braamfontein, a high-rise downtown area of Johannesburg, as an ideal site for an innovation hub. Many people speak fondly of how Barry took them into a derelict disco with only the light from his mobile phone and enthusiastically explained how this was going to be a tech co-working space. He raised funding and transformed the rundown buildings into the innovation hub that is today one of the university’s flagship projects.</p>
<p>It is called the Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct. <a href="https://tshimologong.joburg/">Tshimologong</a> (a seTswana word for “place of new beginnings”) provides a space for digital start-ups, as well as training in digital technologies, and is used as a co-working space. Barry was Tshimologong’s first director and was honoured for this visionary project with the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Research and Teaching in 2016. </p>
<p>Even after retiring, Barry remained committed to and driven by the idea of innovation. He worked alongside Wits University’s deputy vice-chancellor, Professor Lynn Morris, to establish the <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/innovation/wits-innovation-centre/">Wits Innovation Centre</a>. It was launched on 17 April 2023. </p>
<p>He passed away in a Johannesburg hospital on 16 May with his wife Rina and his children Leslie and Jodie at his side.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206511/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Estelle Trengove does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many speak fondly of how Barry Dwolatzky took them into a derelict disco and enthusiastically explained the tech co-working space he envisioned there.Estelle Trengove, Associate professor in electrical engineering, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2049012023-05-11T20:08:23Z2023-05-11T20:08:23ZDespairing about climate change? These 4 charts on the unstoppable growth of solar may change your mind<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525531/original/file-20230511-22-a21m89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=176%2C10%2C726%2C488&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last year, the world built more new solar capacity than every other power source combined.</p>
<p>Solar is now growing much faster than any other energy technology in history. How fast? Fast enough to completely displace fossil fuels from the entire global economy before 2050.</p>
<p>The rise and rise of cheap solar is our best hope for rapidly mitigating climate change. </p>
<p>Total solar capacity tipped over 1 terawatt (1,000 gigawatts) for the first time last year. The sector is growing at around 20% a year. If this continues, we’ll hit 6 terawatts around 2031. In capacity terms, that would be larger than the combined total of coal, gas, nuclear and hydro. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525529/original/file-20230511-20-1x3xsy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525529/original/file-20230511-20-1x3xsy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525529/original/file-20230511-20-1x3xsy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525529/original/file-20230511-20-1x3xsy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525529/original/file-20230511-20-1x3xsy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525529/original/file-20230511-20-1x3xsy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525529/original/file-20230511-20-1x3xsy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525529/original/file-20230511-20-1x3xsy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">As you can see, cheap solar is overtaking all other new-build energy sources. Global generation capacity additions (2018-2022)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.irena.org/publications/2022/Apr/Renewable-Capacity-Statistics-2022">IRENA, GWEC, WNA, GEM</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fewer and fewer new fossil fuel power stations are now being built. As the rest of the global fleet age, most will retire by mid-century. </p>
<h2>Australia is finding the path</h2>
<p>It might surprise you to learn that Australia is a global renewable energy pathfinder. Most solar panels use Australian-developed <a href="https://qeprize.org/">PERC technology</a>, for instance.</p>
<p>All the leading countries for per capita solar and wind generation are in Europe – except Australia. In Australia, 99% of new generation capacity is now solar and wind because it is cheap. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525525/original/file-20230511-17-5201jv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="per capita solar" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525525/original/file-20230511-17-5201jv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525525/original/file-20230511-17-5201jv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525525/original/file-20230511-17-5201jv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525525/original/file-20230511-17-5201jv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525525/original/file-20230511-17-5201jv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525525/original/file-20230511-17-5201jv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525525/original/file-20230511-17-5201jv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Highest per capita solar and wind generation in 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ember</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But unlike European countries, Australia cannot share electricity across national boundaries. </p>
<p>Instead, we have to cope with rapidly increasing levels of solar and wind by sharing it across state boundaries. This is proving to be <a href="https://aemo.com.au/newsroom/media-release/aemo-releases-30-year-electricity-market-roadmap">relatively straightforward</a>. Solar and wind have reached a <a href="https://opennem.org.au/energy/nem/">share of 31%</a> of the national electricity market, while the grid remains stable. </p>
<p>Already, three states or territories are at very high penetration of renewables. The ACT has built or bought enough renewables to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-01/act-is-100-per-cent-renewable-but-what-does-that-mean/11560356">cover 100%</a> of its use. Tasmania, too, is at 100% renewable power, thanks to hydro and wind, and is <a href="https://www.stategrowth.tas.gov.au/recfit/renewables/tasmanian_renewable_energy_target">aiming to double</a> this to export to other states. And South Australia will soon become the world’s first gigawatt-scale grid to run on renewables. Currently, it’s sourcing <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/south-australia-grid-with-the-most-wind-and-solar-has-the-smallest-reliability-gap/">around 70%</a> of its power from solar and wind. </p>
<p>This matters because of Australia’s location. Like 80% of the world’s population, we live at low to moderate latitudes where there is plentiful sunshine, even in winter. That means the methods we pioneer or test can be readily adopted by nearly everyone else. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525530/original/file-20230511-23-qlde1o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="chart showing 20% growth rate of solar to 2013" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525530/original/file-20230511-23-qlde1o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525530/original/file-20230511-23-qlde1o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525530/original/file-20230511-23-qlde1o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525530/original/file-20230511-23-qlde1o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525530/original/file-20230511-23-qlde1o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525530/original/file-20230511-23-qlde1o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525530/original/file-20230511-23-qlde1o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Global solar generation capacity, assuming continued 20% growth rate in annual deployment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IRENA, GEM</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Where will the era of ubiquitous solar take us?</h2>
<p>Solar capacity has been growing at <a href="https://www.irena.org/Publications/2023/Mar/Renewable-capacity-statistics-2023">20% a year for decades</a>. </p>
<p>Elimination of fossil fuels from the global economy is straightforward: electrify everything using clean electricity from solar and wind. This includes:</p>
<ul>
<li>electric vehicles replacing conventional vehicles </li>
<li>electric heat pumps replacing gas space and water heaters in homes and businesses</li>
<li>electric furnaces replacing gas burners in factories</li>
<li>electrolysis of water producing green hydrogen for the chemical industry, allowing for clean production of ammonia, metals, plastics and synthetic aviation fuel.</li>
</ul>
<p>To run our homes, industries and vehicles with electricity, we’ll need to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2020.119678">double electricity production</a>. Why not more? Because electricity is usually much more efficient at producing an energy outcome. For example, 85% of the petrol you put into your car is wasted as heat. </p>
<p>In countries with a significant chemical industry, electricity production might need to triple. </p>
<p>If these trends continue, by mid-century we will be in a very different – and better – energy world. </p>
<p>Many developing countries – including population giants such as Indonesia, India, China and Nigeria – could catch up with Europe or Australia for <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/energy?tab=table&facet=none&country=USA%7EGBR%7ECHN%7EOWID_WRL%7EIND%7EBRA%7EZAF&Total+or+Breakdown=Total&Energy+or+Electricity=Electricity+only&Metric=Annual+generation">per capita energy consumption</a>. Given electricity consumption is strongly correlated with affluence, access to cheap electricity will be a major boon for many nations. </p>
<h2>But is it possible?</h2>
<p>By 2050, Earth will have a population of about 10 billion people. To supply everyone with enough electricity to live a good life, we’ll need about 200 billion megawatt-hours per year (equal to 200,000 terawatt-hours per year). </p>
<p>Let’s assume that solar does the heavy lifting for decarbonisation, completing two-thirds of the task with the remaining one-third left to wind, hydro and everything else put together. Is it possible? </p>
<p>Yes. If sustained, solar’s growth rate of 20% per year is easily fast enough to reach 80 terawatts of installed capacity in 2050 – enough to provide 130,000 terawatt-hours per year and (with help from wind) to entirely decarbonise an affluent world. </p>
<p>That would see global electricity consumption reach 20 megawatt-hours per person per year – double Australia’s current consumption per person. </p>
<p>As well as eliminating most greenhouse emissions, we will also get rid of car exhausts, smokestacks, urban smog, coal mines, ash dumps, oil spills, oil-related warfare and gas fracking. </p>
<p>The main short-term bottlenecks are likely to be building enough transmission lines – and ensuring we have enough engineers and installers. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525527/original/file-20230511-22-u3n4l3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="electricity use" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525527/original/file-20230511-22-u3n4l3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525527/original/file-20230511-22-u3n4l3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525527/original/file-20230511-22-u3n4l3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525527/original/file-20230511-22-u3n4l3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525527/original/file-20230511-22-u3n4l3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525527/original/file-20230511-22-u3n4l3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525527/original/file-20230511-22-u3n4l3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Current per capita electricity consumption in 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/energy?tab=table&amp%3Bfacet=none&amp%3Bcountry=USA~GBR~CHN~OWID_WRL~IND~BRA~ZAF&amp%3BTotal+or+Breakdown=Total&amp%3BEnergy+or+Electricity=Electricity+only&amp%3BMetric=Annual+generation">Our World in Data</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>We have the space and the raw materials</h2>
<p>Long term, there are practically no constraints on vast deployment of solar. </p>
<p>The sun will shine for billions more years. Raw materials for solar panels are abundant – silicon from sand and common metals like steel. There are no toxic metals or no critical materials like cobalt in them, and they are <a href="https://theconversation.com/really-australia-its-not-that-hard-10-reasons-why-renewable-energy-is-the-future-130459">highly recyclable</a>. Energy storage is now a <a href="https://theconversation.com/im-not-an-apologist-for-the-snowy-2-0-hydro-scheme-but-lets-not-obsess-over-the-delays-and-cost-blowouts-204915">solved problem</a>.</p>
<p>Most countries have vastly more solar and wind resources than needed to be energy self-sufficient. This, in turn, will boost their resilience in the face of war, pandemics and the changing climate. </p>
<p>Densely populated regions without much free land such as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196890422000954">Japan</a>, Europe and the northeastern United States have enormous offshore wind resources, while <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/17/5424">Indonesia</a> and west Africa have enormous offshore solar resources – picture solar farms floating on calm tropical seas. </p>
<p>We have plenty of space. Eighty terawatts of solar translates to 8 kilowatts per person. This is the size of a typical Australian rooftop solar system, which is usually shared by a family rather than an individual. </p>
<p>The required area of solar panel is about five square metres per kilowatt (40 square metres total for 8 kilowatts). Some of the panels will be on house roofs. Others will be on ground-mounted solar trackers and operated alongside agriculture. Some <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/07/agrivoltaic-farming-solar-energy/">crops and grass</a> like the partial shade given by panels. Other options include floating on <a href="https://www.seris.nus.edu.sg/doc/publications/ESMAP_FloatingSolar_TEXT-A4-WEB.pdf">lakes and seas</a>. </p>
<p>For our energy intensive lives in Australia, we’ll need perhaps 15 kilowatts of solar and wind per person, which run reliably for 30 years and can then be dissembled and recycled. </p>
<p>In the 1950s, nuclear energy advocates talked of a future when energy was too cheap to meter. That didn’t happen with nuclear. But solar offers cheap, unlimited energy, available forever with minimal resource, environmental and social constraints.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204901/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Blakers receives funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and DFAT</span></em></p>Solar power is growing at 20% a year. That simple fact could change the world for the better in under a decadeAndrew Blakers, Professor of Engineering, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2042712023-04-24T12:26:41Z2023-04-24T12:26:41ZGlobal shipping is under pressure to stop its heavy fuel oil use fast – that’s not simple, but changes are coming<p><em>Most of the clothing and gadgets you buy in stores today were once in shipping containers, sailing across the ocean. Ships carry <a href="https://unctad.org/rmt2022">over 80% of the world’s traded goods</a>. But they have a problem – the majority of them burn heavy sulfur fuel oil, which is a <a href="https://theicct.org/sector/maritime-shipping/">driver of climate change</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>While cargo ships’ engines have <a href="https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2021/Oct/IRENA_Decarbonising_Shipping_2021.pdf">become more efficient</a> over time, the industry is under growing pressure to eliminate its carbon footprint.</em></p>
<p><em>European Union legislators reached an agreement to require an <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_1813">80% drop in shipping fuels’ greenhouse gas intensity by 2050</a> and to <a href="https://maritime-executive.com/article/eu-parliament-finalizes-emissions-trading-system-rules-for-shipping">require shipping lines to pay</a> for the greenhouse gases their ships release. The International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency that regulates international shipping, also plans to <a href="https://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/PressBriefings/pages/Future-Fuels-and-Technology.aspx">strengthen its climate strategy</a> this summer. The IMO’s current goal is to cut shipping emissions 50% by 2050. President Joe Biden said on April 20, 2023, that the U.S. would <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/04/20/fact-sheet-president-biden-to-catalyze-global-climate-action-through-the-major-economies-forum-on-energy-and-climate/">push for a new international goal of zero emissions</a> by 2050 instead.</em></p>
<p><em>We asked maritime industry researcher <a href="https://haslam.utk.edu/people/profile/don-maier/">Don Maier</a> if the industry can meet those tougher targets.</em></p>
<h2>Why is it so hard for shipping to transition away from fossil fuels?</h2>
<p>Economics and the <a href="https://unctad.org/rmt2022">lifespan of ships</a> are two primary reasons.</p>
<p>Most of the big shippers’ fleets are less than 20 years old, but even the newer builds don’t necessarily have the most advanced technology. It takes roughly a year and a half to come out with a new build of a ship, and it will still be based on technology from a few years ago. So, most of the engines still run on fossil fuel oil.</p>
<p>If companies do buy ships that run on alternative fuels, such as hydrogen, methanol and ammonia, they run into another challenge: There are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.01.220">only a few ports</a> so far with the infrastructure to provide those fuels. Without a way to refuel at all the ports that a ship might use, companies will lose their return on investment, so they will <a href="https://www.globalmaritimeforum.org/content/2023/04/the-shipping-industrys-fuel-choices-on-the-path-to-net-zero_final.pdf">keep using the same technology</a> instead.</p>
<p><iframe id="u67O1" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/u67O1/8/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>It isn’t necessarily that the maritime industry doesn’t want to go the direction of cleaner fuels. But their assets – their fleets – were purchased with a long lifespan in mind, and alternative fuels <a href="https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2021/Oct/IRENA_Decarbonising_Shipping_2021.pdf">aren’t yet widely available</a>.</p>
<p>Ships <a href="https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/sea-transport/this-common-chemical-could-help-shipping-giants-start-to-decarbonize">are being built</a> that can run on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and methanol, and even hydrogen is coming online. Often these are <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ship-fuel-cost-down-from-war-peak-but-green-fallout-looms">dual-fuel</a> – ships that can run on either alternative fuels or fossil fuels. But so far, not enough of this type of ship is being ordered <a href="https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2021/Oct/IRENA_Decarbonising_Shipping_2021.pdf">for the costs to make financial sense</a> for most builders or buyers.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/indicative-shipping-fuel-cost-ranges">The costs</a> of alternative fuels, like <a href="https://www.dnv.com/expert-story/maritime-impact/methanol-as-an-alternative-fuel-for-container-vessels.html">methanol</a> and hydrogen fuels made with renewable energy (as opposed to being made <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-resources">with natural gas</a>), are also still <a href="https://www.drewry.co.uk/logistics-executive-briefing/logistics-executive-briefing-articles/switch-to-green-e-methanol-would-raise-bunker-costs-by-340">significantly higher</a> than fuel oil or LNG. But the good news is those costs are <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ship-fuel-cost-down-from-war-peak-but-green-fallout-loom">starting</a> to <a href="https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/OurWork/Environment/Documents/FFT%20Project/Preliminary%20outputs%20for%20the%20study.pdf">decline</a>. As production ramps up, emissions will drop further.</p>
<p><iframe id="yuDqf" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/yuDqf/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Can tougher regulations and carbon pricing effectively push the industry to change?</h2>
<p>A little bit of pressure on the industry can be helpful, but too much, too fast can really make things more disruptive.</p>
<p>Like most industries, shipping lines want standardized rules they can count on not to change next year. Some of these companies have invested millions of dollars in new ships in recent years, and they’re now being told that those ships might not meet the new standards – even though the ships may be almost brand new.</p>
<p>Another concern with the EU’s moves is whether it has a grasp on all the “what if” scenarios. For example, if the EU has <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20230320IPR77909/fit-for-55-deal-on-new-eu-rules-for-cleaner-maritime-fuels">stricter rules than other countries</a>, that affects which ships companies can use on European routes. Any vessels that they put on <a href="https://www.shipmap.org/">routes to Europe</a> will have to meet those emissions standards. If there’s a greater demand for products in Europe, they may have fewer vessels they could use.</p>
<iframe src="https://www.shipmap.org" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<div style="width: 100%; font-size: 10px; margin-top: 4px">Press the play button or zoom out and use the filters to see where different ship types travel. Created by <a target="_top" href="https://www.kiln.digital/">London-based data visualization studio Kiln</a> and the <a target="_top" href="http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/energy">UCL Energy Institute</a><br><br></div>
<p>I do think the <a href="https://www.worldshipping.org/statements/wsc-position-paper-on-eu-ets">change will be coming soon in the industry</a>, but changes have to <a href="https://www.drewry.co.uk/logistics-executive-briefing/logistics-executive-briefing-articles/switch-to-green-e-methanol-would-raise-bunker-costs-by-340">make financial sense</a> to the shipping lines and their customers, too. </p>
<p>Economists have estimated that the cost of cutting emissions 50% by 2050 are anywhere from <a href="https://www.u-mas.co.uk/new-study-by-umas-shows-that-decarbonisation-of-the-shipping-sector-is-a-whole-system-challenge-and-not-something-just-for-shipping/">US$1 trillion</a> to, more realistically, <a href="https://splash247.com/3-4trn-stopford-puts-a-price-tag-on-the-global-fleet-upgrade-needed-through-to-imo-2050/">over $3 trillion</a>, and full decarbonization would be even higher. Many of those costs will be passed down to charterers, shippers and eventually consumers – meaning you and me.</p>
<h2>Are there ways companies can cut emissions now while preparing to upgrade their fleets?</h2>
<p>There are a number of options ship companies are using now to lower emissions.</p>
<p>One that has been used for at least 10 years is putting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2018.0263">higher quality paint</a> on the hulls, which reduces the friction between the hull and the water. With less friction, the engine isn’t working as hard, which reduces emissions.</p>
<p>Another is slow speed. If ships run at a higher speed, their engines work harder, which means they use more fuel and release more emissions. So shippers will use <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2023.114143">slow steaming</a>. Most of the time, ships will go slow when they’re close to shore to reduce emissions that cause smog in port cities like Los Angeles. On the open ocean, they will go back to normal speed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="2 long, thick electric cables are lowered from a ship to workers on the dock below." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522426/original/file-20230422-1377-2wh722.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522426/original/file-20230422-1377-2wh722.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522426/original/file-20230422-1377-2wh722.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522426/original/file-20230422-1377-2wh722.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522426/original/file-20230422-1377-2wh722.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522426/original/file-20230422-1377-2wh722.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522426/original/file-20230422-1377-2wh722.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workers at the Port of Long Beach, Calif., prepare to plug in a container ship.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/workers-at-the-port-of-long-beach-lower-cables-to-plug-in-a-news-photo/529561692">Tim Rue/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another option common in the U.S. and Europe is shutting down the ship’s engines while in port and <a href="https://theicct.org/publication/marine-ports-electrification-feb23/">plugging into the port’s electricity</a>. It’s called “cold ironing.” It avoids burning more of the ship’s fuel, which affects air quality. The <a href="https://polb.com/port-info/news-and-press/port-reaches-milestone-at-long-beach-container-terminal-08-20-2021/">Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach</a>, where smog from idling ships has been a health concern, have been a big driver of electrification. It’s also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2018.11.003">less expensive</a> for shipping companies than burning their fuel while in port.</p>
<p>As simple as those may sound, they have made <a href="https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/OurWork/Environment/Documents/FFT%20Project/Preliminary%20outputs%20for%20the%20study.pdf">huge improvements in terms of emissions</a>, but they <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11030675">aren’t enough on their own</a>.</p>
<h2>Will a higher goal set by the IMO be enough to pressure the industry to change?</h2>
<p>I used to work in shipping, and I know the maritime industry is a very old-school industry from centuries ago. But the industry has invested millions in new ships with the most effective technology available in recent years. </p>
<p>When the IMO began requiring all ships using heavy fuel in global trade to shift to low-sulfur fuel, the <a href="https://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/PressBriefings/pages/02-IMO-2020.aspx">industry pivoted to meet the rule</a>, even though retrofits were costly and time consuming. Many shipping lines complied by installing “scrubbers” that essentially filter the ship’s engine, and new ships were built to run on the low-sulfur fuel oil.</p>
<p>Now, the industry is being told the standards are changing again.</p>
<p>All industries <a href="https://www.worldshipping.org/statements/wsc-position-paper-on-eu-ets">want consistency</a> so they can be confident investing in a new technology. The shipping lines will follow what the IMO says. They will push back, but they will still do it. That’s in part because the IMO <a href="https://www.imo.org/en/About/Pages/FAQs.aspx">supports the maritime industry</a>, too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Don Maier is affiliated with the International Association of Maritime Port Executives and the Inland Rivers, Ports, & Terminals Association.</span></em></p>Shipping companies have billions invested in fleets that were built to last decades. Now, the US is calling for zero emissions by 2050, and the EU is raising the cost of fossil fuel use.Don Maier, Associate Professor of Business, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2019412023-03-23T19:06:14Z2023-03-23T19:06:14ZWant an easy $400 a year? Ditch the gas heater in your home for an electric split system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517128/original/file-20230323-18-hhruoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C0%2C5447%2C3637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Earlier this month, regulators <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-electricity-prices-going-up-again-and-will-it-ever-end-201869">flagged</a> power price rises in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Like many people, you’re probably wondering how you can minimise the financial pain.</p>
<p>Getting rid of gas and electrifying everything in your home can save you money. <a href="https://renew.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Report-Limiting-energy-bills-by-getting-off-gas.pdf">Modelling</a> by not-for-profit organisation Renew showed annual bills last year for a <a href="https://www.nathers.gov.au/owners-and-builders/home-energy-star-ratings">seven-star</a> all-electric home with solar power were between 69% (Western Sydney) and 83% (Hobart) cheaper than bills for a three-star home with gas appliances and no solar. </p>
<p>There are other reasons to kick the gas habit, too. As renewables form an ever-growing part of Australia’s energy mix, electrifying the home increasingly helps tackle climate change. What’s more, there are sound <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/news/2023/02/a-heated-debate--how-safe-are-gas-stoves--">health</a> reasons to get rid of gas appliances.</p>
<p>But where do you start? And how do you get the best bang for your buck? Here, I offer a few tips.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="hand points remote control to air conditioning unit" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517117/original/file-20230323-18-mdtovq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517117/original/file-20230323-18-mdtovq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517117/original/file-20230323-18-mdtovq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517117/original/file-20230323-18-mdtovq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517117/original/file-20230323-18-mdtovq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517117/original/file-20230323-18-mdtovq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517117/original/file-20230323-18-mdtovq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Getting rid of gas and electrifying everything in your home can save you money.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A quick guide to home energy use</h2>
<p>Australian home energy use can be separated into a few categories: </p>
<ul>
<li>space heating and cooling</li>
<li>water heating</li>
<li>cooking</li>
<li>vehicles </li>
<li>other appliances (many of which are largely already electric). </li>
</ul>
<p>Of the appliances that typically depend on gas, the <a href="https://www.rewiringaustralia.org/report/castles-and-cars-discussion-paper">largest component</a> (37%) is space heating, followed by hot water (24%) and cooking (6%). </p>
<p>This varies between states. Victoria, for example, is particularly dependent on gas. </p>
<p>But the breakdown above gives some insight into the largest contributors to energy costs in the average Australian home – particularly in the cooler southern regions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Graph of residential energy consumption by fuel and jurisdiction across Australia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515715/original/file-20230316-22-sphr9m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515715/original/file-20230316-22-sphr9m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515715/original/file-20230316-22-sphr9m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515715/original/file-20230316-22-sphr9m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515715/original/file-20230316-22-sphr9m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515715/original/file-20230316-22-sphr9m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515715/original/file-20230316-22-sphr9m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Graph of residential energy consumption by fuel and jurisdiction across Australia 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unlocking the pathway: Why electrification is the key to net zero buildings (December 2022) Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While both gas and electricity costs are rising, as they are now in most states, all-electric homes can expect lower overall increases. <a href="https://renew.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Report-Limiting-energy-bills-by-getting-off-gas.pdf">Analysis</a> by Renew has shown ditching the old gas heater in favour of a split system/reverse cycle air-conditioner (without solar panels) can lead to average savings of A$546 each year in Canberra, $440 in Adelaide, $409 in Melbourne and $256 in Perth. </p>
<p>Heating a space with a reverse-cycle air conditioner is about four times more efficient than using natural gas. And when the electricity is generated by renewables, it can be done with zero greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
<p>And what about heating water? Using the existing electricity grid, the cost of using an electric heat pump is around half that of using a natural gas water heater. </p>
<p>The costs fall even lower if a household shifts to solar panels subsidised or financed by government, backed by a home battery providing the energy. In this case, heating costs are around a third of using gas.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-electricity-prices-going-up-again-and-will-it-ever-end-201869">Why are electricity prices going up again, and will it ever end?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516215/original/file-20230319-18-dp7ipq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Worker performing heat pump maintenance, rooftop solar panels in the backround." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516215/original/file-20230319-18-dp7ipq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516215/original/file-20230319-18-dp7ipq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516215/original/file-20230319-18-dp7ipq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516215/original/file-20230319-18-dp7ipq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516215/original/file-20230319-18-dp7ipq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516215/original/file-20230319-18-dp7ipq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516215/original/file-20230319-18-dp7ipq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Using an electric heat pump is almost half the cost of using a natural gas water heater.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hvac-worker-performing-heat-pump-maintenance-2202142885">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>So what’s the payback?</h2>
<p>Buying new appliances costs money. So it’s important to examine the “payback” period - in other words, the length of time it takes for energy bill savings to equal the cost of the initial investment in a new appliance. </p>
<p>The payback period can vary depending on:</p>
<ul>
<li>cost and quality of the appliance</li>
<li>an appliance’s energy rating</li>
<li>size of the system</li>
<li>for space heating, whether a split system is replacing an existing ducted system or being added on externally.</li>
</ul>
<p>A <a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/CC_MVSA0323-CC-Report-Gas-vs-Electricity_V4-Single.pdf">report</a> last year by the Climate Council calculated the approximate cost differences between higher and lower-end electric appliances. Lower-end hot water heat pumps, reverse-cycle air conditioner and induction stoves were priced around $7,818 all together, while higher-end appliances cost around $14,936 together.</p>
<p>Both scenarios included installation costs and $3,000 for electrical upgrades and other costs. </p>
<p>The payback period for low-priced appliances ranged from five years in Hobart and Canberra to 15 years in Perth and Sydney. Higher-priced appliances were in the order of eight to ten years for most cities and 12, 16 and 19 years for Melbourne, Perth and Sydney respectively.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/people-are-shivering-in-cold-and-mouldy-homes-in-a-country-that-pioneered-housing-comfort-research-how-did-that-happen-188809">People are shivering in cold and mouldy homes in a country that pioneered housing comfort research – how did that happen?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="two pots on induction stovetop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517118/original/file-20230323-16-hs40da.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517118/original/file-20230323-16-hs40da.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517118/original/file-20230323-16-hs40da.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517118/original/file-20230323-16-hs40da.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517118/original/file-20230323-16-hs40da.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517118/original/file-20230323-16-hs40da.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517118/original/file-20230323-16-hs40da.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The cost of electrifying the home partly depends on the cost of the appliances you choose.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rolled out at scale, household electrification is also a feasible way to reduce gas demand. It may be the only practical option available to decarbonise residential energy. </p>
<p>As research <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196890422013802#b0130">recently suggested</a>, so-called “green” hydrogen – made by using low-carbon electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen – is unlikely to emerge as a cheap replacement for gas boilers. And why look for a technological solution to a problem we already know how to solve?</p>
<p>Modelling by <a href="https://environmentvictoria.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Vic-Gas-Market-Demand-Side-Study-Final-Report-1.pdf">Environment Victoria</a> has shown installing heat pumps for heating and cooling would reduce statewide gas use by 48 petajoules a year, compared to the relatively minimal 0.5 petajoules saved by installing induction cooktops. </p>
<p>At the same scale – and using a similar technology – replacing gas hot water with heat pump hot water reduces household gas use by 10 petajoules each year. That’s an enormous saving of gas.</p>
<h2>The bigger picture for all-electric homes</h2>
<p>Existing homes can benefit from a combination of electrification, rooftop solar and batteries. They can also benefit from energy efficiency measures such as installing insulation, stopping draughts, closing off rooms and wearing the right clothing for the season.</p>
<p>We can work together to speed up the transition to renewable energy and reduce the demand for gas. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Rachel Goldlust is developing a “<a href="https://renew.org.au/our-news/gastoolkitsurvey/">Getting Off Gas Toolkit</a>” for Renew. It aims to provide clear, accessible and practical advice to households on replacing gas with renewables. The public is invited to complete a survey to help design the guide.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201941/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Goldlust works for Renew on their forthcoming Getting Off Gas Toolkit. Renew has received funding from Boundless Earth and the Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation for this work.</span></em></p>Reducing gas use in our homes will help avoid energy price hikes. But where is the best place to start?Rachel Goldlust, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Archaeology and History, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1996002023-02-13T04:21:24Z2023-02-13T04:21:24ZElectric utes can now power the weekend – and the work week<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509668/original/file-20230213-16-iapt69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C30%2C4058%2C2638&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Four years ago, then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOBZOsVlUWs&ab_channel=Qldaah">famously claimed</a> electric vehicles (EVs) would end the weekend. “It’s not going to tow your trailer. It’s not going to tow your boat. It’s not going to get you out to your favourite camping spot,” he said. </p>
<p>His comments drew on the <a href="https://electricvehiclecouncil.com.au/about-ev/myth-busting">popular misconception</a> EVs are underpowered relative to petrol, gas or diesel cars. Experts <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-10/federal-election-fact-check-electric-vehicle-tow-boat/11078464">refuted</a> the claims, while <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xFDR-aEOpk&ab_channel=MashableDeals">video</a> of a Tesla towing a 130-tonne Boeing 787 circulated. </p>
<p>But one part of Morrison’s critique had longer resonance. Could utes ever go electric? These light utility cars are favoured by <a href="https://www.ceicdata.com/en/australia/employment-by-sex-and-by-occupation/employment-technicians-and-trades-workers">Australia</a> and <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sponsored-stories/a-treasure-trove-of-tradies/FFOCKMUGR63EHSHM6IS3RPVFO4/#:%7E:text=There%20are%2C%20she%20says%2C%20178%2C000,will%20be%20needed%20by%202022.">New Zealand’s</a> two million strong tradie workforce to take materials and tools to jobs. Ute drivers are more likely to drive longer distances, making range anxiety an obstacle. </p>
<p>The answer is yes, though it may take longer than for cars. Only last week Melbourne company SEA Group <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2023-02-09/sea-mevco-electric-vehicle-mining-ute-toyota-hilux-landcruiser/101896170?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=twitter&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web">announced</a> a deal to turn thousands of conventional utes electric. </p>
<p>At present, new electric utes are still more expensive. But over time, their advantages will make them an easy choice. </p>
<h2>How are electric utes different?</h2>
<p>Electric utes will have much lower running costs from fuel to maintenance. Electricity is cheaper than petrol or diesel. And doing away with the internal combustion engine means maintenance is much cheaper and less frequent. </p>
<p>They have improved performance, with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhxVDazb1V4">instant torque</a> and rapid acceleration. This makes them suited for towing and driving in environments where quick manoeuvring and agility are needed.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-electric-cars-for-under-45-000-theyre-finally-coming-to-australia-but-the-battle-isnt-over-191854">New electric cars for under $45,000? They're finally coming to Australia – but the battle isn't over</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>They have <a href="https://www.lifewire.com/why-evs-are-roomier-5202177#:%7E:text=That's%20because%20less%20is%20more,room%20for%20passengers%20and%20cargo.">more storage</a> because there’s no large engine, leaving room for a front trunk. Batteries are typically located <a href="https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/electric/ev-car-battery-capacity-tech/">under the floor</a>.</p>
<p>And for tradies, the large battery means they can <a href="https://www.whichcar.com.au/reviews/2023-ldv-et60-review-electric-ute">charge and run</a> their tools without the need for a generator. </p>
<p>Like other electric vehicles, electric utes have better energy efficiency, converting much, much more of the energy stored in the battery into motion. By contrast, internal combustion engines <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1044-august-27-2018-12-30-energy-put-conventional-car-used-move-car">lose most of the energy</a> in their fuel to heat. </p>
<figure>
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<h2>But what about ‘range anxiety’?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/industry/tourism-and-transport/survey-motor-vehicle-use-australia/latest-release">average driver</a> in Australia covers 36 kilometres per day, or around 12,000 kilometres each year. </p>
<p>But averages conceal heavy users. Owners of utes and other light commercial vehicles drive <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/industry/tourism-and-transport/survey-motor-vehicle-use-australia/latest-release">almost 40% more</a> than car drivers. </p>
<p>So, can electric utes handle the extra kilometres? In short – yes. Battery technology improves every year. The average distance an EV can drive on a single charge <a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-the-range-of-electric-cars-vs-gas-powered-cars/">doubled</a> from 138km to 349km in the decade to 2021, based on US models. </p>
<p>Batteries will get better and cheaper, meaning range will increase. You can charge your electric ute at one of almost 5,000 <a href="https://www.plugshare.com/map/australia">charging stations</a> around Australia – a number which has <a href="https://electricvehiclecouncil.com.au/2022-australian-electric-vehicle-industry-recap">almost doubled</a> in just three years. It’s also possible to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5BPL4Nm1q0">swap out</a> depleted batteries rather than stopping to recharge. </p>
<p>If there’s power available at a worksite, you can also run a power cable to <a href="https://www.carsguide.com.au/ev/advice/charging-your-electric-car-at-home-everything-you-need-to-know-85675">top up</a> your ute while on the job. </p>
<h2>Electric utes will be slower to arrive – but the bigger change is already here</h2>
<p>This year, Australia <a href="https://electricvehiclecouncil.com.au/2022-australian-electric-vehicle-industry-recap">will have</a> 100,000 electric vehicles on its roads for the first time. </p>
<p>After years in the doldrums, electric cars finally arrived in numbers. Last year, almost 40,000 hit the roads for the first time – doubling the total in a single year. </p>
<p>But there’s still a way to go. That’s just <a href="https://electricvehiclecouncil.com.au/2022-australian-electric-vehicle-industry-recap/">3.8%</a> of all new car sales – well below the global average of <a href="https://electricvehiclecouncil.com.au/2022-australian-electric-vehicle-industry-recap/">12–14%</a> and far behind world leader Norway, where <a href="https://insideevs.com/news/629068/norway-electric-car-sales-december2022/">87%</a> of vehicles sold are now electric.</p>
<p>Cars are comparatively easy to electrify. Utes and trucks are a harder challenge. Even though they come with major advantages, the higher sticker price will deter buyers. </p>
<p>This matters, because transport is now Australia’s <a href="https://www.pwc.com.au/government/government-matters/australias-road-to-zero-transport-emissions.html">third-largest</a> – and fastest growing – source of emissions, accounting for <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/nggi-quarterly-update-march-2022.pdf">close to 20%</a> of the nation’s emissions. </p>
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<p>Of these emissions, freight trucks are responsible for 23%, and light duty road vehicles – which includes utes – <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/national-inventory-report-2020-volume-1.pdf">contribute 18%</a>. </p>
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<p>For years, Australia has been at the back of the pack. Our lack of emission standards for vehicles has made us a <a href="https://thedriven.io/2022/08/08/australias-dirty-and-expensive-car-habit-5-9-billion-in-extra-fuel-costs/">dumping ground</a> for high-polluting cars and trucks. </p>
<p>Electrifying our whole fleet of vehicles – coupled with clean energy to power them – is essential if we are to meet our legislated emissions targets. </p>
<h2>Which electric utes are available now – or coming soon?</h2>
<p>Australia’s first <a href="https://www.whichcar.com.au/news/2023-ldv-et60-pricing-and-features-australia-first-electric-ute">electric ute</a> is the <a href="https://zecar.com/details/LDV-eT60-/Standard?id=7af8d140-5a4a-11ed-a0ad-a7d51a987eae&name=LDV-eT60-&imgLink=https://image.zecar.com/eT60__Standard/1672471504-ldv_et60_1">LDV eT60</a>. It’s hugely expensive at around A$93,000, almost twice the cost of its diesel counterpart.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509554/original/file-20230211-26-ixyoa8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509554/original/file-20230211-26-ixyoa8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509554/original/file-20230211-26-ixyoa8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509554/original/file-20230211-26-ixyoa8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509554/original/file-20230211-26-ixyoa8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509554/original/file-20230211-26-ixyoa8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509554/original/file-20230211-26-ixyoa8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509554/original/file-20230211-26-ixyoa8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Australia’s first electric ute, LDV eT60.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zecar</span></span>
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<p>So how can we be confident electric utes will <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-11/electric-utes-are-coming-to-australia-can-they-win-over-tradies/101508750">take off</a>? Because the technology isn’t standing still. As EVs get better and as worldwide battery production skyrockets, prices will fall. Many other models will soon be available. </p>
<p>States and territories are also introducing policies to reduce the cost of purchase, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-a-shift-to-basing-vehicle-registration-fees-on-emissions-matters-for-australia-199294">basing the cost</a> of registering a vehicle on its emissions. </p>
<p>Within seven years, electric vans and utes <a href="https://www.bcg.com/news/10october2022-electric-utes-to-boom-in-australia">are predicted</a> to make up over 50% of all light duty commercial vehicles. This could come even sooner with supportive government policies. </p>
<p>There’s also a renewed interest in local manufacturing. Queensland’s <a href="https://www.ace-ev.com.au/">Ace EV Group</a> plans to launch a small, cheap electric ute with the ability to charge your tools from its battery, while other outfits offer <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-10/electric-vehicle-conversions-take-off-amid-soaring-petrol-prices/100896286">to convert</a> your existing car to electric. </p>
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<h2>The route to electric utes</h2>
<p>The switch to electric is – at last – beginning in earnest. But time is of the essence. To accelerate, we need more variety and more affordable EVs, including light duty vehicles and utes. </p>
<p>One policy setting still holding us back is the lack of mandatory <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-road-to-new-fuel-efficiency-rules-is-filled-with-potholes-heres-how-australia-can-avoid-them-188814">fuel efficiency standards</a>. If we had these, we would see <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autoshow-geneva-carbon-explainer-idUSKBN20Q1MM">much faster change</a>. </p>
<p>Labor last year promised Australia would at last have ambitious mandatory <a href="https://www.trendsmap.com/twitter/tweet/1560411828118646784">fuel-efficiency standards</a>. They can’t come soon enough. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-is-failing-on-electric-vehicles-california-shows-its-possible-to-pick-up-the-pace-189871">Australia is failing on electric vehicles. California shows it's possible to pick up the pace</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199600/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hussein Dia receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the iMOVE Cooperative Research Centre, Level Crossing Removal Authority, Transport for New South Wales, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, and Beam Mobility Holdings.</span></em></p>Electric cars are now appearing on Australian roads. But can electric utes meet the more exacting needs of our tradies?Hussein Dia, Professor of Future Urban Mobility, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1968122023-01-23T07:19:24Z2023-01-23T07:19:24ZCopper transformed way the world works before: it’s about to do so again<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503766/original/file-20230110-16-3wjggu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/copper-transformed-way-the-world-works-before-its-about-to-do-so-again-196812&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p>Copper is all around us. The metal is both ever-present and invisible in our world. <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/your-mobile-phone-is-powered-by-precious-metals-and-minerals.html">Copper makes reading the words on this screen possible</a>. And the global spread of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030142070900021X">artificial light, electric power and telecommunications</a> all required ever-increasing quantities of copper. </p>
<p>Where does all of this copper come from? How was it produced, distributed, controlled, and sold on an ever-increasing scale? These are some of the questions addressed in a recently published book, <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/born-with-a-copper-spoon">Born with a Copper Spoon: A Global History of Copper</a>.</p>
<p>The book is a global study of a metal that has transformed the globe. Contributors to the book cover North America, Latin America, Europe, Central Africa, the Middle East, East Asia and Oceania and stretch from the early nineteenth to the early twenty-first centuries.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/zambias-copper-mines-hard-baked-racism-into-the-workplace-by-labelling-whites-expats-188751">Zambia's copper mines hard-baked racism into the workplace by labelling whites 'expats'</a>
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<p>Why are these important questions? Because of the ubiquity of copper and the fact that the world’s collective rehab from fossil fuels may cause a renewed addiction to a new mineral-based economy. Electrification, the pillar of the green transition, requires huge amounts of copper. Projections expect <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/14/copper-is-key-to-electric-vehicles-wind-and-solar-power-were-short-supply.html">a doubling of copper consumption by 2035</a> in order to reach zero-emission energy goals. Faced with the enormous task of electrification, the share of the global energy sector will increase to 40% of total copper consumption <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions/executive-summary">in the next two decades</a>.</p>
<p>They are also important questions because countries that have an abundance of copper have failed to benefit from it. Zambia is a case in point. It produces <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/2772">6%</a> of the world’s copper but is still one of the poorest countries in the world.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/born-with-a-copper-spoon">Born with a Copper Spoon</a> requires us to think differently about our material lives and the energies we use, by looking at the places where our minerals are actually produced and the way in which the production and distribution of these minerals are organised. </p>
<p>Will the next world of copper finally evolve as the long-anticipated resource blessing, or is a new global scramble, in which states and companies seek to secure access to the precious metal, going to determine otherwise? Copper became associated with the idea of a resource curse for many people. Zambia’s first president, Kenneth Kaunda, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1978/06/18/archives/kaunda-is-squeezed-from-many-sides.html">once remarked</a> that his country was “paying the price for having been born with a copper spoon in our mouths”.</p>
<p>He knew too well that the abundance of copper had caused Zambia a host of problems.</p>
<h2>Worlds of copper</h2>
<p>Our book looks at different “worlds of copper” that have arisen over the last century and a half. The term “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1740022814000345">world of copper</a>” was first coined by British historians Chris Evans and Olivia Saunders to describe a globally integrated production system that connected the smelters of South Wales to copper mines across the globe between 1830 and 1870.</p>
<p>We see this as the first world of copper. This world was then supplanted by a second world of copper centred on the US. This involved the rise and dominance of American mining companies as huge integrated enterprises controlling the production, processing and distribution of the commodity. “From mine to consumer” was the slogan of the notorious American copper mining company Anaconda, active in Montana and Chile. Underpinning the American world of copper was control over the production chain through the use of new business organisations and technologies.</p>
<p>Technological changes in mining and processing that were quite literally ground-breaking allowed for ever-greater quantities of copper to be mined and processed. Open pit extraction was first developed in North America and soon spread to Latin America and Central Africa, with often comprehensively destructive environmental consequences. Many of these pits are still being mined today.</p>
<p>The American world of copper denotes both the power of American companies and the model of controlling copper chains that is eagerly copied by non-American copper companies. This patterns becomes global: it is applied in Japan, the European empires that control the Copperbelt as well as in Latin America.</p>
<p>In the mid-twentieth century, the American world of copper disintegrated during decolonisation in the face of resource nationalism and a shifting geography of production. A wave of nationalisations by new states brought about a postcolonial world of copper, built around state power, economic sovereignty and state-level international co-operation. Developing states saw copper as their ticket to economic development and modernity. The dream of the red metal was however short-lived.</p>
<p>This postcolonial world of copper collapsed in the 1990s after a long slump in the industry. Multinational private companies reasserted themselves over the industry, but the US and European companies never regained their once dominant position.</p>
<p>Each copper world was marked by several defining features – underlying institutions, organisations, labour practices – and produced by global connections and interactions. Identifying and understanding consecutive worlds of copper is crucial to how we understand the development of the global copper industry.</p>
<p>Our current energy transition could herald a new copper world. Renewed demand for copper will likely intensify mining activity in DR Congo, Zambia and other parts of the African continent and could place states in a stronger bargaining position.</p>
<h2>The need to think differently</h2>
<p>Copper’s status as a global industry has waxed and waned. The history of the metal is not a story of steadily increasing and depending global connections as we move towards the present. It is also a history of disconnections and efforts to de-couple regions from the global economy.</p>
<p>Our book is a contribution to global history and the story of copper is necessarily a global one as extracting, refining, buying, shipping and consuming the metal takes place around the world. Global history is about more than connections, however.</p>
<p>Our book is also about periods of deglobalisation and attempts to sever connections, especially in the mid-twentieth century when a bitter contest over ownership of mineral resources briefly threatened a major realignment of the world economy. In 1967, several of the world’s largest copper producers (Congo, Chile, Peru and Zambia) met in Lusaka to establish a copper cartel that would control the industry and turn an abundance of natural resources into national economic growth.</p>
<p>That’s an ambition that still needs to be fulfilled.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196812/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Our book was funded by the Norwegian Research Council (grant number 249723).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robrecht Declercq receives funding from Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) and is guest professor at the Université Saint Louis (Brussels) where he teaches global economic history</span></em></p>The current energy transition could herald a new copper world. But will it be a long-anticipated resource blessing or yet another global scramble for the precious metal?Duncan Money, Researcher, Leiden UniversityRobrecht Declercq, Postdoctoral Researcher , Ghent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1978662023-01-18T13:39:49Z2023-01-18T13:39:49ZWhy gas stoves matter to the climate – and the gas industry: Keeping them means homes will use gas for heating too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505000/original/file-20230117-14-6rhwh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5066%2C3433&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Industry wants to keep people cooking with gas.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/new-jersey-jersey-city-close-up-of-gas-stove-burner-royalty-free-image/150973307">Jamie Grill, Tetra Images via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Gas stoves are a leading source of hazardous indoor <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-gas-stoves-bad-for-your-health-heres-why-the-federal-government-is-considering-new-safety-regulations-186454">air pollution</a>, but they emit only a tiny share of the greenhouse gases that warm the climate. Why, then, have they assumed such a heated role in climate politics? </p>
<p>This debate reignited on Jan. 9, 2023, when Richard Trumka Jr., a member of the <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/">U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission</a>, told <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-09/us-safety-agency-to-consider-ban-on-gas-stoves-amid-health-fears">Bloomberg News</a> that the agency planned to consider regulating gas stoves due to concerns about their health effects. “Products that can’t be made safe can be banned,” he noted.</p>
<p>Politicians reacted with overheated <a href="https://time.com/6247293/gas-stoves-right-wing-memes/">outrage</a>, putting gas stove ownership on a par with <a href="https://twitter.com/RonnyJacksonTX/status/1612839703018934274?s=20&t=ptxUxaAhqE1ax8FwY15cyA">the right to bear arms</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1613617882004443138">religious freedom</a>. CPSC Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric tried to douse the uproar, stating that he was “<a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/About-CPSC/Chairman/Alexander-Hoehn-Saric/Statement/Statement-of-Chair-Alexander-Hoehn-Saric-Regarding-Gas-Stoves">not looking to ban gas stoves</a>” and that his agency “has no proceeding to do so.” Neither does the Biden administration support a ban, a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2023/01/11/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-january-11-2023/">White House spokesperson said</a>.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, congressional Republicans raced to the barricades, introducing bills with titles like the <a href="https://issa.house.gov/media/press-releases/issa-introduces-gas-act-prevent-biden-administration-ban-gas-stoves">Guard America’s Stoves (GAS) Act</a> and the <a href="https://huizenga.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=401521">Stop Trying to Obsessively Vilify Energy (STOVE) Act</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1613556347488079872"}"></div></p>
<p>This skirmish may seem like a tempest in a teapot, but it reveals important contours of the battlefield on which climate politics are waged. As I explain in my book, “<a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300251678/confronting-climate-gridlock/">Confronting Climate Gridlock: How Diplomacy, Technology, and Policy Can Unlock a Clean Energy Future</a>,” gas stoves matter to climate and to the gas industry because they serve as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/10/07/1015460605/gas-stove-emissions-climate-change-health-effects">gateway appliances</a> to the dominant residential uses of natural gas: heating and hot water. </p>
<h2>Serious health effects</h2>
<p>Direct impacts from gas stoves are a much more urgent concern for <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-gas-stoves-bad-for-your-health-heres-why-the-federal-government-is-considering-new-safety-regulations-186454">human health</a> than for Earth’s climate. Gas stoves are a leading indoor source of <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-gas-stoves-bad-for-your-health-heres-why-the-federal-government-is-considering-new-safety-regulations-186454">nitrogen dioxide</a>, or NO₂, which can cause or worsen respiratory illnesses in people who are exposed to it.</p>
<p>For example, scientific studies show that living in a home with a gas stove increases children’s risk of asthma by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyt150">nearly one-third</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.201909-1744OC">contributes to pulmonary disease in adults</a>.</p>
<p>The climate doesn’t care what fuel we use to cook. Gas stoves account for just 0.1% of <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks">U.S. greenhouse gas emissions</a>, even accounting for recent findings of larger than expected <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c04707">household methane leaks</a>. They aren’t a big share of fuel sales either, burning just <a href="https://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/data/2015/index.php?view=consumption#undefined">3% of the natural gas consumed in homes</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Some experts say health risks from gas stoves could be comparable to living with a smoker.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Impeding home electrification</h2>
<p>The significance of gas stoves for the climate becomes clearer in the context of the Biden administration’s goal of <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/US-Long-Term-Strategy.pdf">achieving net-zero U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2050</a>. This target can only be achieved by curbing fossil fuel use across the economy, including in homes. </p>
<p>Installing more-efficient <a href="https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/furnaces-and-boilers">furnaces</a>, better insulation and <a href="https://www.energystar.gov/products/smart_thermostats">smart thermostats</a> are helpful first steps, but getting close to zero will require switching to electricity for space heating and water heating. In the U.S., 46% of homes use natural gas as their <a href="https://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/data/2020/index.php?view=characteristics#sh">main source of heat</a>, 40% use electricity, 10% use other fuels such as heating oil or propane, and 4% are unheated. For water heating, the percentages are 47% gas, 47% electricity and 6% other fuels.</p>
<p>Today, electric and gas heating <a href="https://wcec.ucdavis.edu/wp-content/uploads/GHG-Emissions-from-Residential-Heating-Technologies-091520.pdf">have similar carbon footprints</a>, since roughly <a href="https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/">60%</a> of U.S. electricity is generated from fossil fuels and many homes use inefficient electric resistance heaters. But the emissions intensity of electricity is rapidly <a href="https://emissionsindex.org">declining</a> as <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=54559">coal plants close</a> and <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=50818">solar and wind power expands</a>. </p>
<p>President Joe Biden has set a goal of 100% clean electricity nationally by <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/22/fact-sheet-president-biden-sets-2030-greenhouse-gas-pollution-reduction-target-aimed-at-creating-good-paying-union-jobs-and-securing-u-s-leadership-on-clean-energy-technologies/">2035</a>. Although current federal policies fall short of that target, a growing number of <a href="https://www.cesa.org/projects/100-clean-energy-collaborative/guide/table-of-100-clean-energy-states/">states</a> have committed to 100% clean electricity by 2050 or sooner.</p>
<p><iframe id="mh2AF" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/mh2AF/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Natural gas is far harder to decarbonize than electricity. Lower-carbon fuels such as <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/outlook-for-biogas-and-biomethane-prospects-for-organic-growth/the-outlook-for-biogas-and-biomethane-to-2040">biogas</a> and <a href="https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/hydrogen/experts-say-blending-hydrogen-into-gas-pipelines-wont-work">hydrogen</a> that could be blended in with natural gas are likely to remain scarce and <a href="https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/cost-curve-of-potential-global-biogas-supply-by-feedstock-2040">costly</a>.</p>
<p>Furthermore, advanced technologies enable electric <a href="https://theconversation.com/electric-heat-pumps-use-much-less-energy-than-furnaces-and-can-cool-houses-too-heres-how-they-work-154779">heat pumps</a> to heat both air and water far more efficiently than traditional electric or gas furnaces and water heaters. That’s why <a href="https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/be6d1d56/files/uploaded/zero-carbon-action-plan.pdf">various</a> <a href="https://netzeroamerica.princeton.edu/?explorer=year&state=national&table=2020&limit=200">scenarios</a> for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2020AV000284">decarbonizing</a> <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/US-Long-Term-Strategy.pdf">energy</a> all envision a major shift to electric heat pumps. This transition is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/world/europe/germany-heat-pumps.html">well underway in Europe</a> and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/23301515/heat-pump-faq-guide-heating-cooling">starting in the U.S.</a></p>
<p>Replacing existing gas furnaces and water heaters with electric heat pumps can be costly and complicated, though <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-new-incentives-for-clean-energy-arent-enough-the-inflation-reduction-act-was-just-the-first-step-now-the-hard-work-begins-188693">incentives</a> from the Inflation Reduction Act can help. But if <a href="https://rmi.org/all-electric-new-homes-a-win-for-the-climate-and-the-economy/">new homes</a> are built fully electric from the start, they avoid the cost of installing natural gas hookups, and emit far less air pollution and fewer greenhouse gases throughout the homes’ lifetime. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505027/original/file-20230117-14-byvv2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graphic showing house with features including solar power, heat pumps and high-quality insulation." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505027/original/file-20230117-14-byvv2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505027/original/file-20230117-14-byvv2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505027/original/file-20230117-14-byvv2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505027/original/file-20230117-14-byvv2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505027/original/file-20230117-14-byvv2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505027/original/file-20230117-14-byvv2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505027/original/file-20230117-14-byvv2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This schematic shows key components of a net-zero house that generates as much electricity as it consumes, using renewable energy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.efficiencyvermont.com/blog/how-to/how-to-make-your-home-net-zero">Efficiency Vermont</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>New York City and more than 50 California towns, cities and counties have already <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/states-that-outlaw-gas-bans-account-for-31-of-us-residential-commercial-gas-use-70749584">banned gas hookups in new buildings</a>. Elsewhere, 20 states have <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/states-that-outlaw-gas-bans-account-for-31-of-us-residential-commercial-gas-use-70749584">barred the enactment of natural gas bans</a>. </p>
<p>Gas stoves are a big reason why.</p>
<h2>The power of a slogan</h2>
<p>“Most people don’t care how their water is heated or how their heater works, but the Viking stove in the kitchen, people have this visceral emotional attachment,” Michael Colvin of the <a href="https://www.edf.org/">Environmental Defense Fund</a> told me in an interview for my book, “<a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300251678/confronting-climate-gridlock/">Confronting Climate Gridlock</a>.”</p>
<p>That emotional attachment makes stoves a flashpoint in battles over climate policy.</p>
<p>“Cooking is the hill that the gas industry wants to fight on,” Bruce Nilles of <a href="https://climateimperative.org/">Climate Imperative</a> told me in a 2020 <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300251678/confronting-climate-gridlock/">interview</a> that foreshadowed the current skirmish. “They’ll say, ‘Do you want the government to take away your gas stove that makes you a great chef?’”</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.aga.org/">American Gas Association</a> has promoted the notion that gas stoves make skilled cooks since the 1930s, when it introduced the advertising slogan “<a href="https://www.waltongas.com/how-deke-and-bob-started-cooking-with-gas/">Now you’re cooking with gas</a>.” An AGA executive <a href="https://www.wytv.com/news/daybreak/nugget-of-knowledge-cooking-with-gas/">planted the phrase</a> with writers for comedian Bob Hope. Soon it was picked up by <a href="https://www.wytv.com/news/daybreak/nugget-of-knowledge-cooking-with-gas/">comedian Jack Benny, and even by Daffy Duck</a>. The phrase has also <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/10/07/1015460605/gas-stove-emissions-climate-change-health-effects">appeared over time</a> in social media endorsements and hashtags.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FJRQo5aawho?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Cookin’ with Gas,‘ a 1988 commercial produced by National Fuel Gas.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Gas burners do provide more control than many stoves with electric coils, especially older models, which can be slow to heat up and cool down. Today, however, many <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/11/dining/induction-cooking.html">chefs</a>, <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/how-a-shiny-new-induction-cooktop-melted-her-heart-and-why-gas-is-so-passe/">consumers</a> and experts say gas is no longer the obvious choice. <a href="https://theconversation.com/magnetic-induction-cooking-can-cut-your-kitchens-carbon-footprint-151422">Magnetic induction cooktops</a>, which cook using electricity to generate a magnetic field, heat faster, control temperatures more precisely and use less energy than other stoves.</p>
<p>“There’s this big misconception that electric ranges don’t cook as well as gas,” Shanika Whitehurst, a member of Consumer Reports’ research and testing team, <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/appliances/inflation-reduction-act-and-new-electric-appliance-rebates-a3460144904/">said in a recent article</a>. “But the technology has improved to the point where electric and especially induction ranges and cooktops cook every bit as well, if not better than gas.” Consumer Reports ranks induction and some traditional electric stoves among its <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/ranges/best-ranges-of-the-year-a1010644947/">top-rated models</a>. </p>
<p>Homes built today will endure far beyond Biden’s 2050 net-zero target. And the longer the gas-is-better myth persists, the harder it will be to fully electrify new homes from the start. As I see it, if “cooking with gas” keeps us tethering new homes to natural gas grids for decades to come, our health, climate and wallets will pay the price.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197866/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Cohan receives funding from Project Innerspace, the Carbon Hub, and the Energy Foundation. </span></em></p>Energy companies have marketed natural gas as cooks’ favorite for years because homes with gas hookups will also use it for space and water heating.Daniel Cohan, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1946492022-11-30T11:28:05Z2022-11-30T11:28:05ZThe days of the hydrogen car are already over<p><a href="https://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/pdfs/brochure.pdf">Hydrogen fuel cell cars</a> emerged as an alternative to both the electric and combustion engine vehicle in the early 2000s. They were widely considered an avenue towards universal green motoring. Powered through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, the only tailpipe emission they produce is water. </p>
<p>The technology also promised a traditional driving experience. Drivers can refuel at filling stations and the range of a hydrogen car is comparable to the combustion engine vehicle. Hydrogen vehicle technology also offered oil companies the opportunity to shift their operations towards the production and transportation of hydrogen and hydrogen refuelling at existing stations. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-2-million-competition-to-promote-roll-out-of-hydrogen-fuelled-fleet-vehicles">UK government</a> reiterated its commitment to the technology in 2016 by investing £2 million in the promotion of hydrogen cars to UK businesses. The European Parliament have more recently agreed to set <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20221014IPR43206/car-recharging-stations-should-be-available-every-60-km-say-meps">minimum national targets</a> for the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure. Under this framework, there will be at least one hydrogen refuelling station every 100km along main EU roads.</p>
<p>But hydrogen cars have now all but disappeared. Toyota and Hyundai, the only vehicle manufacturers to produce hydrogen cars for the UK market, sold just <a href="https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/business-environment-and-energy/why-hydrogen-no-longer-fuel-future">12 hydrogen cars</a> in the country in 2021. Earlier this year, <a href="https://www.electrive.com/2022/10/18/shell-quietly-closes-all-hydrogen-filling-stations-in-the-uk/">Shell closed</a> all of its UK Hydrogen refuelling stations. </p>
<p>Meanwhile electric vehicles, despite not delivering the range or the fast refuelling of a hydrogen car, have surged in popularity. In 2010, <a href="https://www.smmt.co.uk/2012/01/december-2011-ev-and-afv-registrations/">138 electric vehicles</a> were sold in the UK. This grew to roughly <a href="https://www.smmt.co.uk/2022/01/covid-stalls-2021-uk-new-car-market-but-record-ev-sales-show-future-direction/">190,000</a> annual sales in 2021.</p>
<h2>Infrastructure is key</h2>
<p>The vehicle types are not competing with each other outright. Instead, this is a case of competition between national technology systems. And where this is the case, the technically superior product rarely triumphs.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497353/original/file-20221125-7303-wo6gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person choosing between VHS tape recorder options." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497353/original/file-20221125-7303-wo6gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497353/original/file-20221125-7303-wo6gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497353/original/file-20221125-7303-wo6gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497353/original/file-20221125-7303-wo6gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497353/original/file-20221125-7303-wo6gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497353/original/file-20221125-7303-wo6gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497353/original/file-20221125-7303-wo6gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">VHS video cassette tapes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-hand-chooses-video-cassette-tape-2192207673">Eakrin Rasadonyindee/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Betamax tape recorder failed to take control of the video cassette market in the 1980s, despite being technically superior to its competitors. The lower-quality video home system (VHS) was able to take a dominant share of the market due to their better supply chain infrastructure. As they were <a href="https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/format-wars-the-tech-that-should-have-won/">stocked</a> in more video rental stores, VHS tapes were simply more accessible than Betamax.</p>
<p>Hydrogen and electric vehicles also depend on broader technological systems. One is based on electricity generation and the other on supplying hydrogen.</p>
<p>Electric vehicles have the advantage of being able to depend on an existing power generation and distribution system – the electrical grid. An electric vehicle can be recharged wherever there is access to a plug socket. </p>
<p>Electric vehicle manufacturer, Tesla, has capitalised on this. Already with a customer base, Tesla was able to build its vehicles and recharging infrastructure simultaneously. They <a href="https://ir.tesla.com/press-release/tesla-q4-2021-vehicle-production-deliveries">produced</a> over 900,000 new vehicles in 2021 and have installed a global fast charging network of <a href="https://www.tesla.com/en_gb/supercharger">35,000 superchargers</a> to support them.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497343/original/file-20221125-14-vlv0lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A white Tesla parked at a Tesla fast charging point." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497343/original/file-20221125-14-vlv0lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497343/original/file-20221125-14-vlv0lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497343/original/file-20221125-14-vlv0lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497343/original/file-20221125-14-vlv0lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497343/original/file-20221125-14-vlv0lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497343/original/file-20221125-14-vlv0lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497343/original/file-20221125-14-vlv0lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tesla have invested in a global fast charging network.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/calgary-alberta-canada-august-23rd-2019-1494953336">canadianPhotographer56/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The infrastructure that exists to support hydrogen vehicles is limited in comparison and will require extensive investment to introduce. The pipeline infrastructure necessary for a European hydrogen distribution system alone is estimated to cost <a href="https://gasforclimate2050.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/EHB-A-European-hydrogen-infrastructure-vision-covering-28-countries.pdf">€80–143 billion</a> (£69–123 billion).</p>
<p>As hydrogen needs to be pressurised and transported either as a gas or a liquid, supply chains must also be redesigned. The cost of developing hydrogen refuelling stations and scaling up hydrogen production will also be extensive. Hydrogen production currently accounts for just <a href="https://www.irena.org/Energy-Transition/Technology/Hydrogen">3% of global energy demand</a>.</p>
<p>But governments and businesses are at present unwilling to make the required investments. There is little economic sense in building the infrastructure if the network of cars is too small to use it. Yet at the same time demand for hydrogen cars will remain low until they are supported with compatible infrastructure.</p>
<h2>Lessons for the hydrogen car</h2>
<p>The introduction of complex technologies and infrastructures have always relied on investment in large scale technology systems. But governments face a choice over which technologies they support.</p>
<p>Investment in technologies to bring public transport systems to cities in developed nations at the turn of the 20th century, to fight wars, and to power modern economies all emerged at a time when <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/139463">governments took responsibility</a> for the need to invest, plan and control production and consumption in the national interest.</p>
<p>Large scale national infrastructure projects including <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep32432#metadata_info_tab_contents">nuclear power</a> and weapons programmes, rail electrification, the development of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/sep/09/how-we-made-intercity-125">high-speed trains</a> and <a href="https://www.fai.org/page/icare-history-pioneers">manned space missions</a> all occurred throughout the remainder of the century. They all required coordinated efforts to bring them about. This involved government funding, the creation of new institutions such as Nasa and British Rail, research grants for manufacturers, and <a href="https://history.nasa.gov/moondec.html">the setting of clear targets</a>. </p>
<p>Governments have also been the customers of these technologies. The US government, for example, <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/elon-musks-spacex-wins-us-military-national-security-mission-contract-12047614">awarded</a> Elon Musk’s space technology programme, SpaceX, a contract to conduct national security launches for the US military.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497344/original/file-20221125-26-h9hr74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A train passing through a station at speed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497344/original/file-20221125-26-h9hr74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497344/original/file-20221125-26-h9hr74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497344/original/file-20221125-26-h9hr74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497344/original/file-20221125-26-h9hr74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497344/original/file-20221125-26-h9hr74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497344/original/file-20221125-26-h9hr74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497344/original/file-20221125-26-h9hr74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">High-speed rail was introduced to the UK in 1976.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/british-high-speed-passenger-train-passing-60627334">Gary Blakeley/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The planning and construction of such systems have always been underpinned by the idea that national interests are at stake. This has been the case whether the motive has been to ensure adequate military defences, to be internationally competitive or to provide societal benefits by launching satellites and developing mass public transport systems.</p>
<p>A mixed automotive economy of hydrogen and electric vehicles could accelerate the transition towards zero emissions. But a viable hydrogen automotive system will need investment on a massive scale. It will require the construction of new and complex technology systems and a fundamental shift in policy thinking and public discourse.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Stacey receives funding from ERDF. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Ivory receives funding from ERDF, FORTE (Sweden).</span></em></p>Hydrogen cars were heralded as an avenue towards universal green motoring, but progress has stalled in recent years.Tom Stacey, Senior Lecturer in Operations and Supply Chain Management, Anglia Ruskin UniversityChris Ivory, Director of the Innovative Management Practice Research Centre, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1900982022-09-19T12:21:03Z2022-09-19T12:21:03ZElectric planes are coming: Short-hop regional flights could be running on batteries in a few years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484695/original/file-20220914-9158-ybu2z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5043%2C3351&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Small planes are easier to electrify, but larger ones aren't far behind.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/traffic-at-airport-during-sunset-royalty-free-image/1139652369">Chalabala/istock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Electric planes might seem futuristic, but they aren’t that far off, at least for short hops.</em></p>
<p><em>Two-seater Velis Electros are already <a href="https://investor.textron.com/news/news-releases/press-release-details/2022/Textron-Completes-Acquisition-of-Pipistrel/default.aspx">quietly buzzing around Europe</a>, <a href="https://harbourair.com/harbour-air-and-magnix-announce-successful-flight-of-worlds-first-commercial-electric-airplane/">electric sea planes</a> are being tested in British Columbia, and larger planes are coming. <a href="http://heartaerospace.com/heart-aerospace-unveils-new-airplane-design-confirms-air-canada-and-saab-as-new-shareholders/">Air Canada</a> announced on Sept. 15, 2022, that it would buy 30 electric-hybrid regional aircraft from Sweden’s Heart Aerospace, which expects to have its 30-seat plane in service by 2028. Analysts at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab note that the <a href="https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy22osti/80220.pdf">first hybrid electric 50- to 70-seat</a> commuter plane <a href="https://www.electricaviationgroup.com/electric-flight/">could be ready</a> not long after that. In the 2030s, they say, electric aviation could really take off.</em></p>
<p><em>That matters for managing climate change. About 3% of global emissions come from aviation today, and with more passengers and flights expected as the population expands, aviation could be producing <a href="https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy22osti/80220.pdf">three to five times more</a> carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic.</em></p>
<p><em>Aerospace engineer and assistant professor <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KIbLE10AAAAJ&hl=en">Gökçin Çınar</a> develops sustainable aviation concepts, including hybrid-electric planes and hydrogen fuel alternatives, at the University of Michigan. We asked her about the key ways to cut aviation emissions today and where technologies like electrification and hydrogen are headed.</em></p>
<h2>Why is aviation so difficult to electrify?</h2>
<p>Aircraft are some of the most complex vehicles out there, but the biggest problem for electrifying them is the battery weight.</p>
<p>If you tried to fully electrify a 737 with today’s batteries, you would have to take out all the passengers and cargo and fill that space with batteries just to fly for under an hour.</p>
<p>Jet fuel can hold about 50 times more energy compared to batteries per unit mass. So, you can have 1 pound of jet fuel or 50 pounds of batteries. To close that gap, we need to either make lithium-ion batteries lighter or develop new batteries that hold more energy. New batteries are being developed, but they aren’t yet ready for aircraft.</p>
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<img alt="Illustration of an Air Canada Heart Aerospace electric plane." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484951/original/file-20220915-37168-hs6bel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484951/original/file-20220915-37168-hs6bel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484951/original/file-20220915-37168-hs6bel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484951/original/file-20220915-37168-hs6bel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484951/original/file-20220915-37168-hs6bel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484951/original/file-20220915-37168-hs6bel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484951/original/file-20220915-37168-hs6bel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Air Canada and United Airlines have ordered 30-seat regional hybrid-electric planes from Heart Aerospace that can go about 125 miles (200 km) fully electric and 250 miles (400 km) as hybrids. With a 25-passenger configuration, the company says the hybrid distance doubles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://heartaerospace.com/heart-aerospace-unveils-new-airplane-design-confirms-air-canada-and-saab-as-new-shareholders/">Heart Aerospace</a></span>
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<p>An <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/10/5880">electric alternative</a> is hybrids.</p>
<p>Even though we might not be able to fully electrify a 737, we can get some fuel burn benefits from batteries in the larger jets by using hybrid propulsion systems. We are trying to make that happen in the short term, with a 2030-2035 target for smaller regional planes. The less fuel burned during flight, the fewer greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
<h2>How does hybrid aviation work to cut emissions?</h2>
<p>Hybrid electric aircraft are similar to hybrid electric cars in that they use a combination of batteries and aviation fuels. The problem is that no other industry has the weight limitations that we do in the aerospace industry.</p>
<p>That’s why we have to be very smart about how and how much we are hybridizing the propulsion system.</p>
<p>Using batteries as a power assist during takeoff and climb are very promising options. Taxiing to the runway using just electric power could also save a significant amount of fuel and reduce the local emissions at airports. There is a sweet spot between the added weight of the battery and how much electricity you can use to get net fuel benefits. This optimization problem is at the center of my research.</p>
<p>Hybrids would still burn fuel during flight, but it could be considerably less than just relying entirely on jet fuel.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">How hybrid electric aviation could work on large aircraft.</span></figcaption>
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<p>I see hybridization as a mid-term option for larger jets, but a near-term solution for regional aircraft.</p>
<p>For 2030 to 2035, we’re focused on hybrid turboprops, typically regional aircraft with 50-80 passengers or used for freight. These hybrids could <a href="https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.C036919">cut fuel use by about 10%</a>.</p>
<p>With electric hybrids, airlines could also <a href="https://sacd.larc.nasa.gov/sacd/wp-content/uploads/sites/167/2021/04/2021-04-20-RAM.pdf">make more use of regional airports</a>, reducing congestion and time larger planes spend idling on the runway.</p>
<h2>What do you expect to see in the near term from sustainable aviation?</h2>
<p>Shorter term we’ll see more use of sustainable aviation fuels, or SAF. With today’s engines, you can dump sustainable aviation fuel into the same fuel tank and burn it. Fuels made from <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/2016-billion-ton-report">corn, oilseeds</a>, <a href="https://biomassmagazine.com/articles/18484/honeywell-technology-enables-jet-flights-with-saf-from-algal-oil">algae</a> and other fats are already being used.</p>
<p>Sustainable aviation fuels can reduce an aircraft’s net carbon dioxide emissions <a href="https://www.iata.org/en/programs/environment/sustainable-aviation-fuels/">by around 80%</a>, but supply is limited, and using more biomass for fuel could compete with food production and lead to deforestation.</p>
<p>A second option is using synthetic sustainable aviation fuels, which involves capturing carbon from the air or other industrial processes and synthesizing it with hydrogen. But that’s a complex and costly process and does not have a high production scale yet.</p>
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<img alt="A pilot walks away from a small plane at an airport" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484694/original/file-20220914-9420-x9isjy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484694/original/file-20220914-9420-x9isjy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484694/original/file-20220914-9420-x9isjy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484694/original/file-20220914-9420-x9isjy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484694/original/file-20220914-9420-x9isjy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484694/original/file-20220914-9420-x9isjy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484694/original/file-20220914-9420-x9isjy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Ampaire reported that its hybrid electric EEL had fuel savings up to 40% compared with a standard version of the similar Cessna Skymaster.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ampaire.com/press">Ampaire</a></span>
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<p>Airlines can also optimize their operations in the short term, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-aviation-industry-must-look-beyond-carbon-to-get-serious-about-climate-change-186947">route planning</a> to avoid flying nearly empty planes. That can also reduce emissions.</p>
<h2>Is hydrogen an option for aviation?</h2>
<p>Hydrogen fuel has been around a very long time, and when it’s <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-production-electrolysis">green hydrogen</a> – produced with water and electrolysis powered by renewable energy – it doesn’t produce carbon dioxide. It can also hold more energy per unit of mass than batteries.</p>
<p>There are two ways to use hydrogen in an airplane: either in place of regular jet fuel in an engine, or combined with oxygen to power hydrogen fuel cells, which then generate electricity to power the aircraft.</p>
<p>The problem is volume – hydrogen gas takes up a lot of space. That’s why engineers are looking at methods like keeping it very cool so it can be stored as liquid until it’s burned as a gas. It <a href="https://www.iata.org/contentassets/d13875e9ed784f75bac90f000760e998/fact_sheet7-hydrogen-fact-sheet_072020.pdf">still takes up more space</a> than jet fuel, and the storage tanks are heavy, so how to store, handle or distribute it on aircraft is still being worked out.</p>
<p>Airbus is doing a lot of research on hydrogen combustion using modified gas turbine engines with an A380 platform, and <a href="https://www.airbus.com/en/innovation/zero-emission/hydrogen/zeroe">aiming to have mature technology by 2025</a>. Australia’s Rex airline expects to start <a href="https://australianaviation.com.au/2022/07/rex-to-trial-electric-planes-on-short-routes-in-2024/">testing a 34-seat, hydrogen-electric airplane</a> for short hops in the next few years.</p>
<p>Due to the variety of options, I see hydrogen as one of the key technologies for sustainable aviation.</p>
<h2>Will these technologies be able to meet the aviation industry’s goals for reducing emissions?</h2>
<p>The problem with aviation emissions isn’t their current levels – it’s the fear that their emissions will increase rapidly as demand increases. By 2050, we could see three to five times more carbon dioxide emissions from aviation than before the pandemic. </p>
<p><iframe id="5mb3z" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/5mb3z/6/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.icao.int/about-icao/Pages/default.aspx">International Civil Aviation Organization</a>, a United Nations agency, generally defines the industry’s goals, looking at what’s feasible and how aviation can push the boundaries.</p>
<p>Its long-term goal is to <a href="https://www.icao.int/Meetings/2022-ICAO-LTAG-GLADS/Pages/default.aspx">cut net carbon dioxide emissions 50%</a> by 2050 compared with 2005 levels. Getting there will require a mix of different technologies and optimization. I don’t know if we’re going to be able to reach it by 2050, but I believe we must do everything we can to make future aviation environmentally sustainable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190098/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gökçin Çınar receives research funding from the government and other entities to work on sustainable aviation technologies. </span></em></p>Air Canada and United Airlines both have orders for hybrid electric 30-seaters. An aerospace engineer explains where electrification, hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuels are headed.Gökçin Çınar, Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1888042022-09-01T20:03:05Z2022-09-01T20:03:05ZGood news – there’s a clean energy gold rush under way. We’ll need it to tackle energy price turbulence and coal’s exodus<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482210/original/file-20220901-20-gfta5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C5168%2C3437&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lucas Pezeta/Pexels</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week, the Australian Energy Market Operator warned <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-31/power-supplies-in-australias-biggest-grid-to-run-short-by-2025/101389018">gaps in electricity supply</a> are likely within three years.</p>
<p>The reason? Coal plants are quitting the market earlier than expected, as well as becoming less reliable. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove coal, gas, petrol and diesel prices to painful highs. Domestic energy bills are soaring too, due in large part to <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-did-gas-prices-go-from-10-a-gigajoule-to-800-a-gigajoule-an-expert-on-the-energy-crisis-engulfing-australia-184304">ballooning gas prices</a>. At one stage, outages and fuel shortages at coal and gas plants, coupled with low solar and wind output, <a href="https://www.aemo.com.au/-/media/files/electricity/nem/market_notices_and_events/market_event_reports/2022/nem-market-suspension-and-operational-challenges-in-june-2022.pdf">very nearly</a> cut power to a third of all east coast customers. </p>
<p>But the good news is there’s a clean energy gold rush under way, now we have a legislated emissions target and <a href="https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/national-partnership-at-last-for-an-affordable-reliable-net-zero-power-system-20220814-p5b9ok">strong engagement</a> between state and federal energy ministers. Investors are moving with <a href="https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/labor-opens-up-stunning-green-investment-opportunity-20220524-p5ao1l">increased confidence</a>, accelerating their investments in clean energy generation and storage.</p>
<p>Even so, there’s a big task ahead to reach the goal of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/06/labor-has-set-an-exceptionally-ambitious-target-for-renewable-energy-can-it-be-met">82% renewables by 2030</a>. We’ll need rapid deployment – not only to meet grid demand, but also new demand from the move to “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/17/why-we-need-electrify-everything-according-saul-griffith/">electrify everything</a>” in our homes and on our roads. </p>
<p>So what changes can you expect to see? </p>
<h2>Solar panels and wind farms will pop up in many more places</h2>
<p>The first thing you’re likely to notice is the rapid construction of new clean energy projects.</p>
<p>Over the past year, many of our coal power stations have become <a href="https://www.aemo.com.au/-/media/files/electricity/nem/market_notices_and_events/market_event_reports/2022/nem-market-suspension-and-operational-challenges-in-june-2022.pdf?la=en">less reliable</a> due to old age, heat stress and lack of fuel. There’s going to be a rush to the exit for coal. What’s the point of operators spending money propping up power stations at the end of their service life? </p>
<p>As a result, five coal plants are now expected to shut by the end of the decade – significantly more than anticipated.</p>
<p>What will replace them? Solar and wind farms, as these are the <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/news/News-releases/2022/GenCost-2022#:%7E:text=even%20when%20considering%20additional%20integration%20costs%20arising%20due%20to%20the%20variable%20output%20of%20renewables%2C%20such%20as%20energy%20storage%20and%20transmission">cheapest forms of new generation</a>, supported by energy storage in batteries and pumped hydro. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1564749994720219137"}"></div></p>
<p>The market operator conservatively expects 7.3 gigawatts of new generation to be built by the end of 2026-27, with half this again (3.4GW) “anticipated” to be built, meaning AEMO has a good degree of confidence these renewables will be built. </p>
<p>Even so, this is only a tiny fraction of the <a href="https://www.aemo.com.au/energy-systems/major-publications/integrated-system-plan-isp/2022-integrated-system-plan-isp">estimated 45GW</a> of renewable opportunities in Australia readily available to investors and clean energy developers. We’ll need to build all 45GW – and then at least 5GW more – to hit our renewable target of 82%. </p>
<p>Unlike thermal power stations, solar and wind farms are made of simple building blocks that are quicker to scale in manufacturing and deployment. </p>
<p>In particular, you can expect to see solar and wind farms popping up in <a href="https://www.energy.nsw.gov.au/renewables/renewable-energy-zones">renewable energy zones</a> like New England and the central west of New South Wales. These zones are designed to share the costs of new grid construction amongst a concentration of clean energy generation in areas with good sun and wind resources.</p>
<h2>Batteries to store and transmission lines to move electricity</h2>
<p>Further major infrastructure investments will be made into energy storage and transmission lines.</p>
<p>The increasing value to the grid of storage is driving major investments like the plans for <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/us-investment-giant-blackrock-in-1-billion-big-battery-play-in-australia/">A$1 billion of new grid-scale batteries</a> recently announced by US investment giant Blackrock, as well as AGL’s A$763 million plan to build batteries next to the <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/agl-gets-green-light-for-2gwh-battery-at-liddell/">decommissioned Liddell coal power plant</a>.</p>
<p>Much of this investment is occurring in coal country, like Victoria’s Gippsland and the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/world-s-largest-battery-to-be-built-in-hunter-valley-20210204-p56zns.html">Hunter Valley in NSW</a>. Here, companies are vying to place grid-scale batteries at old coal stations. Why? To take advantage of the existing strong connections to the grid. </p>
<p>While our existing transmission infrastructure will host many new renewable power stations and batteries, new transmission lines will need to be built. Especially between states, like <a href="https://www.projectenergyconnect.com.au/">EnergyConnect</a> between NSW and South Australia, as well as new grid extensions to connect renewable energy zones to major cities.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/4-reasons-our-gas-and-electricity-prices-are-suddenly-sky-high-184303">4 reasons our gas and electricity prices are suddenly sky-high</a>
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<h2>A focus on flexible use of power</h2>
<p>In addition to the infrastructure placed in the grid, there will be a new focus on unlocking the value of flexibility in energy demand to better match the variability of when solar and wind plants generate electricity.</p>
<p>Storage is one source of flexibility. Timing our own electricity use is another. </p>
<p>Flexible energy use is far less resource intensive than new infrastructure and offers the greatest benefit to system reliability. But it relies on human behaviour and our willingness to change established habits. </p>
<p>Expect to see strong price incentives for you to use electricity when it’s abundant. The sunniest hours are already the <a href="https://www.sapowernetworks.com.au/future-energy/projects-and-trials/timeofuse-network-tariffs">cheapest time</a> to use power in most of Australia - and this will only get cheaper.</p>
<p>Not only that, but you will likely see <a href="https://arena.gov.au/knowledge-bank/origin-energy-electric-vehicles-smart-charging-trial-lessons-learnt-2/">grid incentives</a> at times of peak demand. Picture notifications offering you a financial incentive to turn off energy-hungry appliances such as electric vehicle chargers, home batteries and heaters use at particular times - and for these functions to be offered through automation.</p>
<p>This focus on the demand-side of electricity use is already well understood by <a href="https://flowpower.com.au/the-wholesale-demand-response-mechanism-explained/">energy-hungry industries</a>. Last year, for the first time, this demand response was <a href="https://www.aemc.gov.au/rule-changes/wholesale-demand-response-mechanism">enabled for home users</a> as well. </p>
<h2>What can you to do prepare?</h2>
<p>The long-overdue energy transformation will affect everyone, in how we use energy at home as well as the infrastructure in our communities.</p>
<p>This transition depends on us all for support and direction. Projects will need social licence – support by local communities – political backing, and, in some cases, personal investment in technology and services. </p>
<p>Investments of time will be particularly important if we want to save billions of dollars and millions of tonnes of critical materials through making demand-side flexibility a reality. </p>
<p>So be ready to see change, and to take part in it. While change can be daunting, the energy transition is really about embracing flexible new paths to the same goal, as my <a href="https://bjornsturmberg.com/amys-balancing-act/">children’s book</a> on the energy transition shows. And the benefits are huge: abundant, cheap power, generated locally and in flourishing regions.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-want-to-be-part-of-that-movement-residents-embrace-renewable-energy-but-worry-how-their-towns-will-change-184743">'We want to be part of that movement': residents embrace renewable energy but worry how their towns will change</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188804/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bjorn Sturmberg has received funding from the State and Federal governments, including from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, for work related to solar, batteries, microgrids, and electric vehicles. He is the author of the illustrated children's book, Amy's Balancing Act.</span></em></p>Coal plants are exiting the grid faster than expected. We’ll need to redouble efforts to add flexibility into our energy systems and build renewables and storage.Bjorn Sturmberg, Research Leader, Battery Storage & Grid Integration Program, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1810412022-04-11T12:17:54Z2022-04-11T12:17:54ZElectrifying homes to slow climate change: 4 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457229/original/file-20220410-41193-jw2pqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C112%2C4977%2C3630&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">LED lightbulbs are just the start.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/close-up-of-high-wattage-energy-efficient-led-lightbulb-news-photo/1270292416">Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/">latest reports</a> from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change show that to avoid massive losses and damage from global warming, nations must act quickly to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The good news is that experts believe it’s possible to <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/speech/half-measures-will-not-halve-emissions">cut global greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030</a> through steps such as using energy more efficiently, slowing deforestation and speeding up the adoption of renewable energy.</p>
<p>Many of those strategies require new laws, regulations or funding to move forward at the speed and scale that’s needed. But one strategy that’s increasingly feasible for many consumers is powering their homes and devices with electricity from clean sources. These four articles from our archives explain why electrifying homes is an important climate strategy and how consumers can get started.</p>
<h2>1. Why go electric?</h2>
<p>As of 2020, home energy use accounted for <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=48236">about one-sixth of total U.S. energy consumption</a>. Nearly half (47%) of this energy came from electricity, followed by natural gas (42%), oil (8%) and renewable energy (7%). By far the largest home energy use is for <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=36412&src=%E2%80%B9%20Consumption%20%20%20%20%20%20Residential%20Energy%20Consumption%20Survey%20(RECS)-b2">heating and air conditioning</a>, followed by lighting, refrigerators and other appliances.</p>
<p>The most effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from home energy consumption is to substitute electricity generated from low- and zero-carbon sources for oil and natural gas. And the power sector is rapidly moving that way: As a 2021 report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory showed, power producers have <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-us-electric-power-sector-is-halfway-to-zero-carbon-emissions-159190">reduced their carbon emissions by 50%</a> from what energy experts predicted in 2005. </p>
<p>“This drop happened thanks to policy, market and technology drivers,” a team of Lawrence Berkeley lab analysts concluded. Wind and solar power have scaled up and cut their costs, so utilities are using more of them. Cheap natural gas has replaced generation from dirtier coal. And public policies have encouraged the use of energy-efficient technologies like <a href="https://www.energystar.gov/productfinder/product/certified-light-bulbs/results">LED light bulbs</a>. These converging trends make electric power an increasingly climate-friendly energy choice.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-us-electric-power-sector-is-halfway-to-zero-carbon-emissions-159190">The US electric power sector is halfway to zero carbon emissions</a>
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<span class="caption">The U.S. is using much more low-carbon and carbon-free electricity today than projected in 2005.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<h2>2. Heat pumps for cold and hot days</h2>
<p>Since heating and cooling use so much energy, switching from an oil- or gas-powered furnace to a heat pump can greatly reduce a home’s carbon footprint. As University of Dayton sustainability expert <a href="https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=kc0ETzIAAAAJ&hl=en">Robert Brecha</a> explains, heat pumps work by moving heat in and out of buildings, not by burning fossil fuel.</p>
<p>“Extremely cold fluid circulates through coils of tubing in the heat pump’s outdoor unit,” Brecha writes. “That fluid absorbs energy in the form of heat from the surrounding air, which is warmer than the fluid. The fluid vaporizes and then circulates into a compressor. Compressing any gas <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qe1Ueifekg">heats it up</a>, so this process generates heat. Then the vapor moves through coils of tubing in the indoor unit of the heat pump, heating the building.”</p>
<p>In summer, the process reverses: Heat pumps take energy from indoors and move that heat outdoors, just as a refrigerator removes heat from the chamber where it stores food and expels it into the air in the room where it sits.</p>
<p>Another option is a geothermal heat pump, which collects warmth from the earth and uses the same process as air source heat pumps to move it into buildings. These systems cost more, since installing them involves excavation to bury tubing below ground, but they also reduce electricity use.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/electric-heat-pumps-use-much-less-energy-than-furnaces-and-can-cool-houses-too-heres-how-they-work-154779">Electric heat pumps use much less energy than furnaces, and can cool houses too – here's how they work</a>
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<h2>3. Cooking without gas – or heat</h2>
<p>For people who like to cook, the biggest sticking point of going electric is the prospect of using an electric stove. Many home chefs see gas flames as more responsive and precise than electric burners.</p>
<p>But magnetic induction, which cooks food by generating a magnetic field under the pot, eliminates the need to fire up a burner altogether. </p>
<p>“Instead of conventional burners, the cooking spots on induction cooktops are called hobs, and consist of wire coils embedded in the cooktop’s surface,” writes Binghamton University electrical engineering professor <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VcXxSfkAAAAJ&hl=en">Kenneth McLeod</a>. </p>
<p>Moving an electric charge through those wires creates a magnetic field, which in turn creates an electric field in the bottom of the cookware. “Because of resistance, the pan will heat up, even though the hob does not,” McLeod explains.</p>
<p>Induction cooktops warm up and cool down very quickly and offer highly accurate temperature control. They also are easy to clean, since they are made of glass, and safer than electric stoves since the hobs don’t stay hot when pans are lifted off them. Many utilities are offering rebates to cover the higher cost of induction cooktops.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/magnetic-induction-cooking-can-cut-your-kitchens-carbon-footprint-151422">Magnetic induction cooking can cut your kitchen's carbon footprint</a>
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<h2>4. Electric cars as backup power sources</h2>
<p>Electrifying systems like home heating and cooking made residents even more vulnerable to power outages. Soon, however, a new backup system could become available: powering your home from your electric vehicle. </p>
<p>With interest in electric cars and light trucks <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2021/12/22/electric-vehicles-consumers-2022/">rising in the U.S.</a>, auto makers are introducing many new EV models and designs. Some of these new rides will offer <a href="https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1134639_american-households-might-use-evs-as-backup-power-with-this-bidirectional-charger">bidirectional charging</a> – the ability to charge a car battery at home, then move that power back into the house, and eventually, into the grid. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-150ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Only a few models offer this capacity now, and it requires special equipment that can add several thousand dollars to the price of an EV. But Penn State energy expert <a href="https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=07sAJX8AAAAJ&hl=en">Seth Blumsack</a> sees <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-my-electric-car-power-my-house-not-yet-for-most-drivers-but-vehicle-to-home-charging-is-coming-163332">value in this emerging technology</a>.</p>
<p>“Enabling homeowners to use their vehicles as backup when the power goes down would reduce the social impacts of large-scale blackouts. It also would give utilities more time to restore service – especially when there is substantial damage to power poles and wires,” Blumsack explains. “Bidirectional charging is also an integral part of a broader vision for a next-generation electric grid in which millions of EVs are constantly taking power from the grid and giving it back – a key element of an electrified future.”</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-my-electric-car-power-my-house-not-yet-for-most-drivers-but-vehicle-to-home-charging-is-coming-163332">Can my electric car power my house? Not yet for most drivers, but vehicle-to-home charging is coming</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181041/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Many people want to know about practical suggestions to help slow climate change. Effective action starts at home.Jennifer Weeks, Senior Environment + Cities Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1633322022-03-29T12:35:13Z2022-03-29T12:35:13ZCan my electric car power my house? Not yet for most drivers, but vehicle-to-home charging is coming<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454777/original/file-20220328-15-1ko71us.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C15%2C5084%2C3374&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Think of your car as a home power supply on wheels.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/renault-zoe-electric-car-woman-charging-the-battery-of-her-news-photo/1371868478">Tesson/Andia/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As manufacturers introduce new models of electric vehicles, demand for them is growing steadily. New EV sales in the U.S. <a href="https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/articles/new-plug-electric-vehicle-sales-united-states-nearly-doubled-2020-2021#:%7E:text=Energy%20Saver-,New%20Plug%2Din%20Electric%20Vehicle%20Sales%20in%20the%20United%20States,Doubled%20from%202020%20to%202021&text=Sales%20of%20new%20light%2Dduty,2020%20to%20608%2C000%20in%202021.">roughly doubled in 2021</a> and could double again in 2022, from <a href="https://cleantechnica.com/2022/02/07/us-electric-vehicle-sales-might-nearly-double-in-2022/">600,000 to 1.2 million</a>. Auto industry leaders expect that EVs could account for <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/30/auto-executives-say-more-than-half-of-us-car-sales-will-be-evs-by-2030-kpmg-survey-shows.html">at least half of all new U.S. car sales</a> by the end of the decade. </p>
<p>EVs appeal to different customers in different ways. Many buyers want to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/wheels/features/ev-survey">help protect the environment</a>; others want to save money on gasoline or <a href="https://evannex.com/blogs/news/tesla-made-electric-cars-cool-and-they-re-still-the-coolest">try out the latest, coolest technology</a>. </p>
<p>In areas like <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-fire-power-outages-shutoffs-wildfire/">California</a> and <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/series/winter-storm-power-outage/">Texas</a> that have suffered large weather-related power failures in recent years, consumers are starting to consider EVs in a new way: as a potential electricity source when the lights go out. Ford has made backup power a selling point of its electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck, which is due to arrive in showrooms sometime in the spring of 2022. The company says the truck can <a href="https://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/f150-lightning/2022/">fully power an average house for three days on a single charge</a>. </p>
<p>So far, though, <a href="https://www.cleanenergyreviews.info/blog/bidirectional-ev-charging-v2g-v2h-v2l">only a few vehicles can charge a house in this way</a>, and it requires special equipment. Vehicle-to-home charging, or V2H, also poses challenges for utilities. Here are some of the key issues involved in bringing V2H to the mainstream.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Gasoline can flow only one way, from pump to car, but with some technical advances, EVs soon will be able to send power back to homes.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>The ABCs of V2H</h2>
<p>The biggest factors involved in using an EV to power a home are the size of the vehicles’s battery and whether it is set up for “bidirectional charging.” Vehicles with this capacity can use electricity to charge their batteries and can send electricity from a charged battery to a house. </p>
<p>There are two ways to judge how “big” a battery is. The first is the total amount of electric fuel stored in the battery. This is the most widely publicized number from EV manufacturers, because it determines how far the car can drive. </p>
<p>Batteries for electric sedans like the Tesla Model S or the Nissan Leaf might be able to store 80 to 100 kilowatt-hours of electric fuel. For reference, 1 kilowatt-hour is enough energy to power a typical refrigerator for five hours. </p>
<p>A typical U.S. home uses <a href="https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3">around 30 kilowatt-hours per day</a>, depending on its size and which appliances people use. This means that a typical EV battery can store enough electric fuel to supply the total energy needs of a typical home for a couple of days.</p>
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<p>The other way to assess the capacity of an EV battery is its maximum power output in backup power mode. This represents the largest amount of electric fuel that could be delivered to the grid or a house at any given moment. An EV operating in backup mode will typically have a lower maximum power output than when in driving mode. The backup power capacity is important, because it indicates how many appliances an EV battery could power at once. </p>
<p>This figure is not as widely publicized for all EVs, in part because vehicle-to-home charging hasn’t yet been widely deployed. Ford has advertised that its electric F-150 would have a maximum V2H power output of <a href="https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a39493654/can-your-ev-power-your-house/">2.4 kilowatts, potentially upgradable to 9.6 kilowatts</a> – about the same as a single higher-end <a href="https://www.tesla.com/powerwall">Tesla Powerwall</a> home energy storage unit. </p>
<p>On the low end, 2.4 kilowatts is enough power to run eight to 10 refrigerators at the same time and could run much of a typical household continuously for a few days – or much more if the electricity is used sparingly. On the high end, a power level of 9.6 kilowatts could run more appliances or higher-powered ones, but that level of usage would drain the battery faster. </p>
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<span class="caption">People shelter at a church warming center in Houston on Feb. 16, 2021, during a record cold wave that caused widespread power outages in Texas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/WinterWeatherTexasPowerFailures/d97dd7e7852f48ff913869ce19f35924/photo">AP Photo/David J. Phillip</a></span>
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<h2>Storing power when it’s cheaper</h2>
<p>To draw home power from their cars, EV owners need a bidirectional charger and an electric vehicle that is compatible with V2H. Bidirectional chargers are already commercially available, though some can add several thousand dollars to the price of the car. </p>
<p>A limited number of EVs on the market now are compatible with V2H, including the Ford Lightning, <a href="https://www.nissanusa.com/vehicles/electric-cars/leaf/features/range-charging-battery.html">Nissan Leaf</a> and <a href="https://www.mitsubishicars.com/cars-and-suvs/outlander">Mitsubishi Outlander</a>. General Motors and Pacific Gas & Electric plan to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/08/1085233003/gm-electric-vehicles-home-power">test V2H charging in California</a> in mid-2022 using multiple GM electric vehicles.</p>
<p>Some homeowners might hope to use their vehicle for what utility planners call “<a href="https://www.nrel.gov/state-local-tribal/blog/posts/when-does-energy-storage-make-sense-it-depends.html">peak shaving</a>” – drawing household power from their EV during the day instead of relying on the grid, thus reducing their electricity purchases during peak demand hours. To do this, they might need to install special metering equipment that can control both the discharging of the vehicle battery and the flow of power from the grid to the home. </p>
<p>Peak shaving makes the most sense in areas where utilities have time-of-use electric pricing, which makes power from the grid much more expensive during the day than at night. A peak-shaving household would use cheap electricity at night to charge the EV battery and then store that electricity to use during the day, avoiding high electricity prices. </p>
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<h2>Utilities and the future of V2H</h2>
<p>While V2H capabilities exist now, it will likely be a little while before they see widespread adoption. The market for V2H-compatible electric vehicles will need to grow, and the costs of V2H chargers and other equipment will need to come down. As with Tesla’s Powerwall, the biggest market for V2H will probably be homeowners who want backup power for when the grid fails but don’t want to invest in a special generator just for that purpose.</p>
<p>Enabling homeowners to use their vehicles as backup when the power goes down would reduce the social impacts of large-scale blackouts. It also would give utilities more time to restore service – especially when there is substantial damage to power poles and wires, as occurred during <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/18/us/ida-louisiana-power-outages.html">Hurricane Ida</a> in Louisiana in August 2021.</p>
<p>Power companies will still have to spend money building and maintaining the grid to provide reliable service. In some areas, those grid maintenance costs are passed on to customers through peak demand charges, meaning that people without V2H – who will be more likely to have lower incomes – may well bear a greater share of those costs than those with V2H, who will avoid purchasing peak power from the grid. This is especially true if lots of EV owners <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-rooftop-solar-is-disruptive-to-utilities-and-the-grid-39032">use rooftop solar panels</a> to charge their car batteries and use those vehicles for peak shaving. </p>
<p>Still, even with V2H, electric vehicles are a huge potential market for electric utilities. Bidirectional charging is also an integral part of a broader vision for a <a href="https://www.nrel.gov/transportation/project-ev-grid-integration.html">next-generation electric grid</a> in which millions of EVs are constantly taking power from the grid and giving it back – a key element of an electrified future. First, though, energy planners will need to understand <a href="https://cleantechnica.com/2022/03/13/ford-gm-pge-to-begin-vehicle-to-grid-trials/">how their customers use V2H</a> and how it may affect their strategies for keeping the grid reliable. </p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s science, health and technology editors pick their favorite stories.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=science&source=inline-science-favorite">Weekly on Wednesdays</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163332/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Seth Blumsack receives funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Heising Simons Foundation.</span></em></p>Bidirectional charging is the next big stage for electric vehicles. But storing power in your car and sending it back to your house involves more than flipping a switch.Seth Blumsack, Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics and International Affairs, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1786882022-03-18T08:43:06Z2022-03-18T08:43:06ZIn a rush to replace Russian gas, the EU has damaged its own climate change strategy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452853/original/file-20220317-25-mz3eu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4928%2C3260&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/natural-gas-255749269">Yuratosno3/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The European Union’s recent <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_1511">proposals</a> to end imports of Russian gas before 2030 in the wake of the Ukraine invasion are blighted by the bloc’s support for unnecessary and expensive technologies.</p>
<p>The race to replace Russian imports, which make up <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/europes-plan-wean-itself-off-russian-gas-faster-2022-03-02/">40%</a> of the EU’s gas supply, has focused the minds of EU leaders on climate solutions that favour replacement gases, such as hydrogen and biogas in heating. The more efficient solution would be to swap fossil fuel burning boilers for alternatives that run on electricity, such as heat pumps. These new proposals supplement the original <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52020DC0562">2030 climate target plan</a>, published in September 2020.</p>
<p>The new proposals, which aim to end EU demand for Russian gas through securing new suppliers and fast-tracking the roll-out of “renewable gases” to phase out natural gas in space heating, have been highly praised. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/04/climate/ukraine-russia-fossil-fuels.html">The New York Times</a> said they will “speed up climate action”. </p>
<p>In fact, it is not clear that the new proposals will accelerate the clean energy transition. This is because incentivising farmers, multinational oil and gas companies and energy utilities to produce hydrogen and biogas is likely to increase consumer bills at a time when many people are already struggling with the soaring cost of heating and electricity. That, in turn, might reduce funding available for measures that can cut emissions more efficiently.</p>
<h2>The dash for alternative gases</h2>
<p>The pre-war <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52020DC0562">2030 climate target plan</a> outlined how the EU could reduce greenhouse emissions 55% by 2030 through 70% cuts to coal use and by reducing oil and gas use 30% and 25% respectively. Increasing power generation from wind, solar and other sources would ensure renewables met 40% of all energy use by the end of the decade. Meanwhile, the rate at which buildings in the EU are being renovated with insulation and other measures to make them more energy efficient would need to “double and more” up to 2030. On its own, this plan would replace nearly two-thirds of gas from Russia by 2030.</p>
<p>Then, in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission announced <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_1511">a new strategy</a> for phasing out the EU’s “dependence on fossil fuels from Russia … well before 2030”. This included an 80-gigawatt increase in wind and solar power generation by 2030 solely to make green hydrogen – a low-carbon fuel that is the product of splitting water molecules using renewable electricity. It also proposed ramping up the production of <a href="https://www.cleanenergywire.org/dossiers/bioenergy-germany#:%7E:text=There%20are%20nearly%209%2C000%20biogas,methane%20and%2050%20percent%20CO2">biogas</a> – a fuel made from the anaerobic digestion of energy crops, such as maize, and farm waste, such as manure.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two domed buildings surrounded by machinery and a maize crop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452850/original/file-20220317-13-1gft0ok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452850/original/file-20220317-13-1gft0ok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452850/original/file-20220317-13-1gft0ok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452850/original/file-20220317-13-1gft0ok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452850/original/file-20220317-13-1gft0ok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452850/original/file-20220317-13-1gft0ok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452850/original/file-20220317-13-1gft0ok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This plant converts maize into biogas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/biogas-plant-behind-maize-field-1354225391">Wolfgang Jargstorff/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Altogether, the EU needs to replace 155 billion cubic metres of natural gas to end its reliance on Russian suppliers. This can be done without increasing the production of what the EU calls “renewable gases” like hydrogen and biogas. The pre-war climate plan indicated that 100 billion cubic metres of Russian gas could be substituted with new renewable energy and the new plan projects 70 billion cubic metres could come from new LNG supplies from Qatar and the US and pipeline gas from places like Norway, Algeria and Azerbaijan.</p>
<p>In effect, the post-war plan is promoting not just the replacement of all Russian gas before 2030, but producing extra biogas and hydrogen on top of that. </p>
<p>Producing an extra 25 to 50 billion cubic metres of hydrogen to replace natural gas by 2030 will require a massive build-up of equipment, pipelines and storage depots over several years, either for producing hydrogen fuel within the EU or importing it from overseas. Meeting the target of 18 billion cubic metres of biogas each year by 2030 will require paying farmers to expand energy crops. These crops will need fertiliser and other chemical inputs that emit greenhouse gases during production, potentially <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1849/htm">cancelling out the climate benefits</a> of biogas.</p>
<p>Incentives that would otherwise pay for producing green hydrogen or biogas should be used to install extra millions of electric heat pumps and renovate buildings to ensure they waste less energy instead. <a href="https://theconversation.com/hydrogen-where-is-low-carbon-fuel-most-useful-for-decarbonisation-147696">Experts have argued</a> that prioritising the replacement of natural gas with hydrogen in heating represents a big waste of renewable power compared with using that same electricity in heat pumps. According to one analysis, heat pumps use renewable electricity to produce warmth <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030626192101343X">four times more efficiently</a> and at much lower costs to the consumer compared to green hydrogen. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large white-and-black fan unit outside an apartment window." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452852/original/file-20220317-17-1wdrmby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452852/original/file-20220317-17-1wdrmby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452852/original/file-20220317-17-1wdrmby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452852/original/file-20220317-17-1wdrmby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452852/original/file-20220317-17-1wdrmby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452852/original/file-20220317-17-1wdrmby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452852/original/file-20220317-17-1wdrmby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Heat pumps work like a refrigerator in reverse to keep homes warm using electricity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/airair-heat-pump-heating-hot-water-1714397851">Klikkipetra/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are around <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/650798/initiated-dwellings-by-country-europe/">131 million buildings</a> in the EU, yet under <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_1511">its latest plans</a>, the EU projects that only 40 million will be fitted with heat pumps by 2030. The new proposals offer no clear commitment to increasing the building renovation rate.</p>
<p>Making lots of hydrogen and biogas <a href="https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/utilities-on-both-sides-of-atlantic-follow-oil-majors-hydrogen-lead">reinforces</a> the model of heating that fossil fuel companies are designed to fulfil – that is, pumping a gas into building central heating systems – simply to give those companies a new lease of life supplying a new product. This is not the route that will cut emissions the quickest.</p>
<p>It is clear from the European Commission’s figures that dependence on Russian gas can be ended just as quickly without having to either rely on unsustainable energy crops or large-scale hydrogen production to provide space heating.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Toke is Director of 100percentrenewableuk Ltd, a non-profit organisation.</span></em></p>Electricity, not what the EU calls ‘renewable gases’, offer the fastest route to decarbonising heating.David Toke, Reader in Energy Policy, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1769742022-02-24T19:10:27Z2022-02-24T19:10:27ZLimitless power arriving too late: why fusion won’t help us decarbonise<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448211/original/file-20220224-9042-zvjwr0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1997%2C1332&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EUROfusion</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I first heard the standard joke about fusion as an undergraduate physics student in the 1960s: Fusion power is fifty years away – and probably always will be. </p>
<p>More than fifty years later, we still don’t have fusion. That’s because of the huge experimental challenges in recreating a miniature sun on earth. </p>
<p>Still, real progress is being made. This month, UK fusion researchers managed to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00391-1">double previous records</a> of producing energy. Last year, American scientists <a href="https://theconversation.com/nuclear-fusion-breakthrough-what-do-new-results-mean-for-the-future-of-infinite-energy-166456">came close to ignition</a>, the tantalising moment where fusion puts more energy out than it needs to start the reaction. And small, fast-moving fusion startups are <a href="https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-021-03401-w/index.html">making progress</a> using different techniques. </p>
<p>A limitless, clean source of baseload power might be within reach – without the nuclear waste of traditional fission nuclear plants. That’s good, right? </p>
<p>Not quite. While we’re closer than ever to making commercial fusion viable, this new power source simply won’t get here in time to do the heavy lifting of decarbonisation. </p>
<p>We are racing the clock to limit damage from climate change. Luckily, we already have the technologies we need to decarbonise. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448222/original/file-20220224-19-4lrpnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Solar panels with wind turbines" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448222/original/file-20220224-19-4lrpnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448222/original/file-20220224-19-4lrpnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448222/original/file-20220224-19-4lrpnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448222/original/file-20220224-19-4lrpnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448222/original/file-20220224-19-4lrpnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448222/original/file-20220224-19-4lrpnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448222/original/file-20220224-19-4lrpnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Solar, wind and storage - the new electricity model.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How much progress is being made on fusion?</h2>
<p>Five seconds. That’s how long the UK’s Joint European Torus was able to sustain a fusion reaction, producing enough energy to run a typical Australian household for about three days. That’s a small fraction of the energy needed to make the fusion reaction happen, which used two 500 megawatt <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/flywheels">flywheels</a>. That amount of power would meet the peak needs of 100,000 average Australian households. So we are still a long way from getting a net energy benefit from fusion. </p>
<p>On a technical front, achievements like this are incredible. Nuclear fusion is the process that powers stars like the sun, and we are working to harness this for our own use. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nuclear-fusion-how-excited-should-we-be-177161">Nuclear fusion: how excited should we be?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>At very high temperatures, light atoms such as hydrogen can combine to produce another element such as helium, releasing enormous quantities of energy in the process. </p>
<p>In the sun, these fusion reactions take place at temperatures about 10 million degrees. We can’t do it at that temperature, because we don’t have access to the enormous gravitational pressure at the centre of the sun. </p>
<p>To achieve fusion on earth, we need to go hotter. Much hotter. Experiments like the one in the UK are able to superheat a body of gas called a plasma to inconceivable temperatures, reaching as high as 150 million°C. The plasma has to be confined by incredibly strong magnetic fields and heated by powerful lasers. </p>
<p>This temperature is far hotter than anywhere else in our solar system – even the centre of the sun. </p>
<p>While the recent progress represents a major step forward, sober reflection suggests the dream of limitless clean energy from hydrogen is still a long way off. </p>
<p>On the megaproject front, the next step is the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) being built in southern France. Far too big for any one country, this is a joint effort by countries including USA, Russia, China, the UK and EU member countries. </p>
<p>The project is enormous, with a vessel ten times the size of the UK reactor and around 5,000 technical experts, scientists and engineers working on it. Famously, the project’s largest magnet is <a href="https://www.iter.org/newsline/-/2924">strong enough</a> to lift an aircraft carrier. </p>
<p>Even this enormous project is only expected to produce slightly more power than it uses - around 500 megawatts. The first experiments are expected by 2025. </p>
<p>To me, this illustrates how far away commercial fusion really is. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448224/original/file-20220224-27-1hmdp88.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="ITER fusion reactor site" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448224/original/file-20220224-27-1hmdp88.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448224/original/file-20220224-27-1hmdp88.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448224/original/file-20220224-27-1hmdp88.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448224/original/file-20220224-27-1hmdp88.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448224/original/file-20220224-27-1hmdp88.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448224/original/file-20220224-27-1hmdp88.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448224/original/file-20220224-27-1hmdp88.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor megaproject seen from a drone as of October 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ITER Organization</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Fusion won’t get here in time</h2>
<p>It will take decades yet to go from these promising experiments to a proven technology powering modern society. That means it simply will not get here in time to make a real contribution to slowing and reversing climate change. </p>
<p>To have a decent chance of keeping climate change below 2°C, we have to get to net zero emissions worldwide in under 30 years. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nuclear-fusion-breakthrough-what-do-new-results-mean-for-the-future-of-infinite-energy-166456">Nuclear fusion breakthrough: what do new results mean for the future of 'infinite' energy?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We can’t wait. We have to decarbonise energy supply and energy use as quickly as possible. </p>
<p>Many countries are already moving at speed. The UK is planning to get to zero-emissions electricity within 12 years. States like South Australia and New South Wales should get there around the same time. The International Energy Agency predicts renewables <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/a37d0ddf-8fb1-4b47-9fba-7ebde29fc510">will become</a> the largest source of electricity generation worldwide by 2025.</p>
<h2>The shift away from baseload</h2>
<p>Even if fusion arrives, it would face major challenges due to the cost of the plants and the changing nature of the grid. </p>
<p>In the second half of the twentieth century, power stations became larger to achieve economies of scale. That worked, until recently. Only ten years ago, large coal-fired or nuclear power stations produced cheaper electricity than solar farms or wind turbines. </p>
<p>This picture has changed dramatically. In 2020, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/nuclear-climate-mycle-schneider-renewables-fukushima/a-56712368">global average prices</a> of power from new large wind turbines was 4.1 cents per kilowatt-hour, while solar farms were even cheaper at 3.7 c/kWh. The average for new coal? 11.2 c/kWh.</p>
<p>Ever more favourable economics drove a massive investment in renewables in 2020: 127 gigawatts of new solar, 111 of new wind and 20 of hydro-power. By contrast, only 3GW of net nuclear power came online, while coal-fired power actually dropped. </p>
<p>As a result, we’re seeing a global shift away from old models of baseload power, where power is generated in large power stations and transported to us by the grid. </p>
<p>These shifts are driven by cost. The price of electricity from renewables is now falling below the running costs of old coal-fired or nuclear power stations. Coal power requires digging the stuff up, transporting it, and burning it. Renewables get their power source delivered free of charge. </p>
<p>The idea of fusion power is alluring. There’s a real appeal in the idea we could replace large coal and gas stations with one large clean fusion power plant. That, after all, is the selling point of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor: to <a href="https://www.iter.org/sci/Fusion">produce baseload power</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Fusion power plant and grid" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448228/original/file-20220224-21-1pi34lc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448228/original/file-20220224-21-1pi34lc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448228/original/file-20220224-21-1pi34lc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448228/original/file-20220224-21-1pi34lc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448228/original/file-20220224-21-1pi34lc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448228/original/file-20220224-21-1pi34lc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448228/original/file-20220224-21-1pi34lc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fusion power is premised on the old baseload grid model, as seen in this EUROfusion diagram of a planned future fusion power plant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.euro-fusion.org/news/2020/december/expert-panel-approves-next-demo-design-phase/">EUROfusion</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But will we need it? The pattern of power supply is changing. The massive take-up of solar power by households means we have now permanently shifted from the old model of large power stations to one where supply is distributed around the network. </p>
<p>It will be a technological marvel if we are finally able to build fusion plants in the second half of this century. It’s just that they won’t be in time. </p>
<p>Luckily for us, we don’t need fusion. We already have what we need.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176974/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Lowe received funding in the 1980s from the National Energy Research, Development and Demonstration Council for a study of Australia's future energy needs. He is a former President of the Australian Conservation Foundation.
</span></em></p>Fusion seems nearer than ever - but it won’t be the silver bullet to stop climate change.Ian Lowe, Emeritus Professor, School of Science, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1676052021-09-10T12:27:25Z2021-09-10T12:27:25ZBiden’s proposed tenfold increase in solar power would remake the US electricity system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420320/original/file-20210909-17-1eu6g4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1997%2C1314&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Solar panels on the roof of the Casa Dominguez low-income housing development in East Rancho Dominguez, Calif.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-solar-panels-on-the-roof-of-the-complex-in-casa-news-photo/566068839">Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>President Joe Biden has called for <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/22/fact-sheet-president-biden-sets-2030-greenhouse-gas-pollution-reduction-target-aimed-at-creating-good-paying-union-jobs-and-securing-u-s-leadership-on-clean-energy-technologies/">major clean energy investments</a> as a way to curb climate change and generate jobs. On Sept. 8, 2021, the White House <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar-futures-study">released a report</a> produced by the U.S. Department of Energy that found that solar power could generate up to 45% of the U.S. electricity supply by 2050, compared to <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar-energy-united-states">less than 4% today</a>. We asked Joshua D. Rhodes, an energy technology and policy researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, what it would take to meet this target.</em></p>
<h2>Why such a heavy focus on solar power? Doesn’t a low-carbon future require many types of clean energy?</h2>
<p>The Energy Department’s <a href="https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-releases-solar-futures-study-providing-blueprint-zero-carbon-grid">Solar Futures Study</a> lays out three future pathways for the U.S. grid: business as usual; decarbonization, meaning a massive shift to low-carbon and carbon-free energy sources; and decarbonization with economy-wide electrification of activities that are powered now by fossil fuels.</p>
<p>It concludes that the latter two scenarios would require approximately 1,050-1,570 gigawatts of solar power, which would meet about 44%-45% of expected electricity demand in 2050. For perspective, one gigawatt of generating capacity is equivalent to about <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/how-much-power-1-gigawatt">3.1 million solar panels or 364 large-scale wind turbines</a>.</p>
<p>The rest would come mostly from a mix of other low- or zero-carbon sources, including wind, nuclear, hydropower, biopower, geothermal and combustion turbines run on zero-carbon synthetic fuels such as hydrogen. Energy storage capacity – systems such as large installations of high-capacity batteries – would also expand at roughly the same rate as solar. </p>
<p>One advantage solar power has over many other low-carbon technologies is that <a href="https://www.nrel.gov/gis/solar-resource-maps.html">most of the U.S. has lots of sunshine</a>. Wind, hydropower and geothermal resources aren’t so evenly distributed: There are large zones where these resources are poor or nonexistent. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420296/original/file-20210909-23-lu2ajp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of yearly U.S. solar resources." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420296/original/file-20210909-23-lu2ajp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420296/original/file-20210909-23-lu2ajp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420296/original/file-20210909-23-lu2ajp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420296/original/file-20210909-23-lu2ajp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420296/original/file-20210909-23-lu2ajp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420296/original/file-20210909-23-lu2ajp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420296/original/file-20210909-23-lu2ajp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most areas of the U.S. can generate at least some solar power year-round. This map shows annual global horizontal irradiance – the amount of sunlight that strikes a horizontal surface on the ground.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nrel.gov/gis/assets/images/solar-annual-ghi-2018-usa-scale-01.jpg">NREL</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Relying more heavily on region-specific technologies would mean developing them extremely densely where they are most abundant. It also would require building more high-voltage transmission lines to move that energy over long distances, which could increase costs and draw opposition from landowners.</p>
<h2>Is generating 45% of U.S. electricity from solar power by 2050 feasible?</h2>
<p>I think it would be technically possible but not easy. It would require an accelerated and sustained deployment far larger than what the U.S. has achieved so far, even as <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=48736#">the cost of solar panels has fallen dramatically</a>. Some regions have <a href="https://twitter.com/tylerhnorris/status/1435635206321541125?s=20">attained this rate of growth</a>, albeit from low starting points and usually not for long periods.</p>
<p>The Solar Futures Study estimates that producing 45% of the nation’s electricity from solar power by 2050 would require deploying about 1,600 gigawatts of solar generation. That’s a 1,450% increase from the 103 gigawatts that are <a href="https://www.seia.org/us-solar-market-insight">installed in the U.S. today</a>. For perspective, there are currently about <a href="https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860/">1,200 gigawatts of electricity generation capacity</a> of all types on the U.S. power grid.</p>
<p>The report assumes that 10%-20% of this new solar capacity would be deployed on homes and businesses. The rest would be large utility-scale deployments, mostly solar panels, plus some large-scale solar thermal systems that use mirrors to reflect the sun to a central tower.</p>
<p>Assuming that utility-scale solar power requires roughly <a href="https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy13osti/56290.pdf">8 acres per megawatt</a>, this expansion would require approximately 10.2 million to 11.5 million acres. That’s an area <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsm8_037652.htm">roughly as big as Massachusetts and New Jersey combined</a>, although it’s less than 0.5% of total U.S. land mass. </p>
<p>I think goals like these are worth setting, but are good to reevaluate over time to make sure they represent the most prudent path.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1435651189245415428"}"></div></p>
<h2>What are the biggest obstacles?</h2>
<p>In my view, the biggest challenge is that driving change on this scale requires sustained political will. Other issues could also slow progress, including <a href="https://www.pv-tech.org/solar-industry-nears-crisis-amidst-material-shortages/">shortages of critical solar panel materials like polysilicon</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-solar-company-files-request-extend-trump-era-solar-tariffs-2021-08-02/">trade disputes</a> and <a href="https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/can-rooftop-solar-thrive-in-an-economic-downturn">economic recessions</a>. But the engineering challenges are understood and rather straightforward. </p>
<p>Natural gas, coal and oil provided almost <a href="https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/content/assets/images/charts/Energy/Energy_2020_United-States.png">80% of primary energy input</a> to the U.S. economy in 2020, including electric power generation. Replacing much of it with low-carbon sources would also require retooling most major U.S. energy companies. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420313/original/file-20210909-13-1hxcglw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Diagram showing U.S. energy consumption by fuel type and sector." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420313/original/file-20210909-13-1hxcglw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420313/original/file-20210909-13-1hxcglw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420313/original/file-20210909-13-1hxcglw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420313/original/file-20210909-13-1hxcglw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420313/original/file-20210909-13-1hxcglw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420313/original/file-20210909-13-1hxcglw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420313/original/file-20210909-13-1hxcglw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shifting to a low-carbon economy would require generating much more energy from low- and zero-carbon sources and electrifying many activities now powered by fossil fuels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/content/assets/images/charts/Energy/Energy_2020_United-States.png">LLNL</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Such a shift is likely to meet resistance, although some energy companies are starting to <a href="https://www.powermag.com/oil-and-gas-majors-focus-on-renewable-energy-hydrogen-and-carbon-capture/">expand that way</a>. The Biden administration plans to use the <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/08/23/1032393/the-3-5-trillion-budget-bill-could-transform-the-us-power-sector-and-slash-climate-pollution/">Clean Electricity Payment Program</a>, a provision in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/24/us/politics/house-budget-social-safety-net.html">$3.5 trillion budget plan</a> pending in Congress, to create incentives for electric utilities to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/business/energy-environment/biden-solar-energy-climate-change.html">generate more power from carbon-free sources</a>. </p>
<p>Studies like this solar report also assume that a lot of supporting infrastructure that’s essential to fulfill their scenarios will be available. According to the Solar Futures Study, the U.S. would have to expand its electric transmission capacity by 60%-90% to support the levels of solar deployment that it envisions. </p>
<p>Building long-distance transmission lines is very hard in the U.S., especially when they cross state lines, which is <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/12/15/big-affordable-effort-needed-america-reach-net-zero-emissions-2050-princeton-study">what a massive solar deployment would require</a>. Unless some agency, such as the <a href="https://www.ferc.gov/">Federal Energy Regulatory Commission</a>, is empowered to approve new transmission lines, this kind of expansion might be almost impossible.</p>
<p>One potential solution is gaining traction: building transmission lines along existing rights of way next to <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/531793-a-transportation-infrastructure-and-climate-priority">highways and railroad lines</a>, which avoids the need to secure agreement from numerous private landowners.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420318/original/file-20210909-13-4ldxtv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three glowing solar towers in the desert." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420318/original/file-20210909-13-4ldxtv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420318/original/file-20210909-13-4ldxtv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420318/original/file-20210909-13-4ldxtv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420318/original/file-20210909-13-4ldxtv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420318/original/file-20210909-13-4ldxtv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420318/original/file-20210909-13-4ldxtv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420318/original/file-20210909-13-4ldxtv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Ivanpah solar thermal plant in California’s Mojave Desert uses mirrors to concentrate the sun’s energy onto three solar collectors, which heat water to run steam turbines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-ivanpah-solar-power-facility-a-concentrated-solar-news-photo/1296519809">Jon G. Fuller, VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How would the current system have to change to support so much solar power?</h2>
<p>Our power system currently gets about 59% of its electricity from <a href="https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-in-the-us-generation-capacity-and-sales.php">coal and natural gas</a>. These resources are generally, <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/blogs/electric-power/041521-texas-electricity-market-february-freeze-power-outages">although not always</a>, available on demand. This means that when utility customers demand more power for their lights or air conditioners, the companies can call on these types of plants to increase their output. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Moving to a grid dominated by renewables will require utilities and energy regulators to rethink the old way of matching supply and demand. I think the grid of the future will need much higher levels of transmission, energy storage and programs that encourage customers to shift the times when they use power to periods when it’s most abundant and affordable. It also will require much greater coordination between North America’s regional power grids, which aren’t well configured now for <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-us-needs-a-macrogrid-to-move-electricity-from-areas-that-make-it-to-areas-that-need-it-155938">moving electricity seamlessly over long distances</a>.</p>
<p>All of this is feasible and will be necessary if the U.S. opts to rely on a solar-heavy, decarbonized electricity grid to cost-effectively meet future demand.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167605/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua D. Rhodes is a consultant at IdeaSmiths LLC which does energy systems analysis and studies for utilities and environmental groups. At UT-Austin, he has received multiple grants from non-profits, for-profit companies and local, state, and federal governments. He sits on the board of the non-profit Texas Solar Energy Society. He is friends and acquaintances with multiple contributors to the report discussed in this article.</span></em></p>A decade ago, solar power was a tiny sliver of the US energy supply. Today it’s expanding rapidly – and the Biden administration wants to make it much, much bigger.Joshua D. Rhodes, Research Associate, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1547792021-06-14T12:26:34Z2021-06-14T12:26:34ZElectric heat pumps use much less energy than furnaces, and can cool houses too – here’s how they work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404365/original/file-20210603-17-oo48xp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C9%2C3244%2C1822&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Heating or cooling? I do both.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/2kKjBWT">FanFan61618/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>To help curb climate change, President Biden has set a goal of lowering U.S. greenhouse gas emissions <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/22/fact-sheet-president-biden-sets-2030-greenhouse-gas-pollution-reduction-target-aimed-at-creating-good-paying-union-jobs-and-securing-u-s-leadership-on-clean-energy-technologies/">50%-52% below 2005 levels by 2030</a>. Meeting this target will require rapidly converting as many fossil fuel-powered activities to electricity as possible, and then generating that electricity from low-carbon and carbon-free sources such as wind, solar, hydropower and nuclear energy. </p>
<p>The buildings that people <a href="https://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/">live</a> and <a href="https://www.eia.gov/consumption/commercial/">work</a> in consume substantial amounts of energy. In 2019, commercial and residential buildings accounted for <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions">more than one-seventh</a> of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. New heating and cooling strategies are an important piece of the puzzle. </p>
<p>Fortunately, there’s an existing technology that can do this: electric heat pumps that are three to four times more efficient than furnaces. These devices heat homes in winter and cool them in summer by moving heat in and out of buildings, rather than by burning fossil fuel.</p>
<p>As a scientist focusing on <a href="https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=kc0ETzIAAAAJ&hl=en">renewable and clean energy</a>, I study <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-014-9291-5">energy use in housing</a> and what slowing climate change means for <a href="https://climateanalytics.org/publications/2020/decarbonization-of-australias-energy-system-integrated-modeling-of-the-transformation-of-electricity-transportation-and-industrial-sectors/">industrialized</a> and <a href="https://climateanalytics.org/publications/2019/threshold-electricity-consumption-enables-multiple-sustainable-development-goals/">developing countries</a>. I see powering buildings with clean, renewable electricity as an essential strategy that also will save consumers money. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-vU9x3dFMrU?wmode=transparent&start=440" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Heat pumps draw in air from the outside and use the difference in temperature between indoor and outdoor air to heat buildings. Many also provide cooling, using nearly the same mechanism.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Heat pumps work by moving heat, not air</h2>
<p>Most heating systems in the U.S. use forced-air furnaces that run on natural gas or electricity, or in some cases <a href="https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/heating-oil/use-of-heating-oil.php">heating oil</a>. To heat the building, the systems burn fuel or use electricity to heat up air, and then blow the warm air through ducts into individual rooms. </p>
<p>A heat pump <a href="https://www.brighthubengineering.com/machine-design/15932-difference-between-heat-pumps-and-refrigerators/">works more like a refrigerator</a>, which extracts energy from the air inside the fridge and dumps that energy into the room, leaving the inside cooler. To heat a building, a heat pump extracts energy from <a href="https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/heat-and-cool/heat-pump-systems/air-source-heat-pumps">outdoor air</a> or <a href="https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/heat-and-cool/heat-pump-systems/geothermal-heat-pumps">from the ground</a> and converts it to heat for the house. </p>
<p>Here’s how it works: Extremely cold fluid circulates through coils of tubing in the heat pump’s outdoor unit. That fluid absorbs energy in the form of heat from the surrounding air, which is warmer than the fluid. The fluid vaporizes and then circulates into a compressor. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qe1Ueifekg">Compressing any gas heats it up</a>, so this process generates heat. Then the vapor moves through coils of tubing in the indoor unit of the heat pump, heating the building. </p>
<p>In summer, the heat pump runs in reverse and takes energy from the room and moves that heat outdoors, even though it’s hotter outside – basically, functioning like a bigger version of a refrigerator.</p>
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<h2>More efficient than furnaces</h2>
<p>Heat pumps require some electricity to run, but it’s a relatively small amount. Modern heat pump systems can transfer three or four times more thermal energy in the form of heat than they consume in electrical energy to do this work – and that the homeowner pays for. </p>
<p>In contrast, converting energy from one form to another, as conventional heating systems do, <a href="https://www.livescience.com/50941-second-law-thermodynamics.html">always wastes some of it</a>. That’s true for burning oil or gas to heat air in a furnace, or using electric heaters to heat air – although in that case, the waste occurs when the electricity is generated. About two-thirds of the energy used to produce electricity at a power plant is <a href="https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy-facts/">lost in the process</a>. </p>
<p>Retrofitting <a href="https://www.aceee.org/sites/default/files/publications/researchreports/a1602.pdf">residences</a> and <a href="https://www.aceee.org/research-report/b2004">commercial buildings</a> with heat pumps increases heating efficiency. When combined with a switch from fossil fuels to renewables, it further lowers energy use and carbon emissions.</p>
<h2>Going electric</h2>
<p>Growing <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063674561">restrictions on fossil fuel use</a> and <a href="https://www.aceee.org/blog-post/2020/06/these-states-are-showing-how-encourage-lowest-carbon-hvac">proactive policies</a> are <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/heat-pumps">driving sales of heat pumps</a> in the U.S. and internationally. Heat pumps are currently used in 5% of heating systems worldwide, a share that will need to increase to one-third by 2030 and much higher after to reach <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2020/achieving-net-zero-emissions-by-2050">net-zero emissions by 2050</a>. </p>
<p>In warmer areas with relatively low heating demands, heat pumps are cheaper to run than furnaces. Tax credits, utility rebates or other subsidies may also provide incentives to help with up-front costs, including federal incentives <a href="https://www.energystar.gov/about/federal_tax_credits/non_business_energy_property_tax_credits">reinstated by the Biden administration</a>. </p>
<p>In extremely cold climates, these systems have an extra internal heater to help out. This unit is not as efficient, and can significantly run up electric bills. People who live in cold locations may want to consider <a href="https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/heat-and-cool/heat-pump-systems/geothermal-heat-pumps">geothermal heat pumps</a> as an alternative. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404369/original/file-20210603-27-1r5bu0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Infographic advertising rebates for installing geothermal heat pumps in New Jersey." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404369/original/file-20210603-27-1r5bu0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404369/original/file-20210603-27-1r5bu0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1500&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404369/original/file-20210603-27-1r5bu0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404369/original/file-20210603-27-1r5bu0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1500&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404369/original/file-20210603-27-1r5bu0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1885&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404369/original/file-20210603-27-1r5bu0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1885&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404369/original/file-20210603-27-1r5bu0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1885&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Geothermal heat pumps may be a better option than air-source versions in colder climates.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nj.gov/dep/aqes/images/infographics/Geothermal%20Heat%20Pump.jpg">NJDEP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These systems leverage the fact that ground temperature is warmer than the air in winter. Geothermal systems collect warmth from the earth and use the same fluid and compressor technology as air source heat pumps to transfer heat into buildings. They cost more, since installing them involves excavation to bury tubing below ground, but they also <a href="https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/heat-pump-systems">reduce electricity use</a>.</p>
<p>New, smaller “<a href="https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/heat-pump-systems/ductless-mini-split-heat-pumps">mini-split” heat pump systems</a> work well in all but the coldest climates. Instead of requiring ducts to move air through buildings, these systems connect to wall-mounted units that heat or cool individual rooms. They are easy to install and can be selectively used in individual apartments, which makes retrofitting large buildings easier. </p>
<p>Even with the best heating and cooling systems, <a href="https://www.energystar.gov/campaign/seal_insulate/why_seal_and_insulate">installing proper insulation and sealing building leaks</a> are key to reducing energy use. You can also experiment with your thermostat to see how little you can heat or cool your home while keeping everyone in it comfortable.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398194/original/file-20210430-15-dv68ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Mini split heat pump indoor unit mounted over a fireplace." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398194/original/file-20210430-15-dv68ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398194/original/file-20210430-15-dv68ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398194/original/file-20210430-15-dv68ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398194/original/file-20210430-15-dv68ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398194/original/file-20210430-15-dv68ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398194/original/file-20210430-15-dv68ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398194/original/file-20210430-15-dv68ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A new mini split heat pump system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Robert Brecha</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For help figuring out whether a heat pump can work for you, one good source of information is your electricity provider. Many utilities offer home energy audits that can identify cost-effective ways to make your home more energy-efficient. Other good sources include the <a href="https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/heat-and-cool/heat-pumps">U.S. Department of Energy</a> and the <a href="https://www.aceee.org/">American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy</a>. As the push to electrify society gains speed, heat pumps are ready to play a central role.</p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s science, health and technology editors pick their favorite stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-favorite">Weekly on Wednesdays</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154779/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Brecha does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Heat pumps are the technology of choice for heating and cooling buildings more efficiently and with fewer carbon emissions than furnaces and air conditioning.Robert Brecha, Professor of Sustainability, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.