tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/energy-use-6066/articlesEnergy use – The Conversation2024-02-13T16:37:59Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2081352024-02-13T16:37:59Z2024-02-13T16:37:59ZFour ways AI could help us respond to climate change – despite how much energy it uses<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574980/original/file-20240212-26-7p58kw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C7612%2C4159&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/tropical-dense-forest-environmental-technology-wide-2203611343">Metamorworks/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Advanced AI systems are coming under <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-ai-boom-could-use-a-shocking-amount-of-electricity/">increasing critcism</a> for how much energy they use. But it’s important to remember that AI could also contribute in various ways to <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3485128#Bib0239">our response to climate change</a>. </p>
<p>Climate change can be broken down into several smaller problems that must be addressed as part of an overarching strategy for adapting to and mitigating it. These include identifying sources of emissions, enhancing the production and use of renewable energy and predicting calamities like floods and fires. </p>
<p>My own research looks at how AI can be harnessed for predicting greenhouse gas emissions <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdata.2022.822573/full">from cities</a> and <a href="https://repository.ifipaiai.org/abstracts/2023/AIAI/AIAI206771.html">farms</a> or
to understand changes in <a href="https://www.climatechange.ai/papers/icml2021/3">vegetation, biodiversity</a> and <a href="https://www.climatechange.ai/papers/icml2021/9">terrain</a> from satellite images.</p>
<p>Here are four different areas where AI has already managed to master some of the smaller tasks necessary for a wider confrontation with the climate crisis.</p>
<h2>1. Electricity</h2>
<p>AI could help reduce energy-related emissions by more accurately <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?hl=en&volume=32&publication_year=2016&pages=1094-1102&journal=International+Journal+of+Forecasting&issue=3&author=Romain+Juban&author=Henrik+Ohlsson&author=Mehdi+Maasoumy&author=Louis+Poirier&author=J.+Zico+Kolter&title=A+multiple+quantile+regression+approach+to+the+wind,+solar,+and+price+tracks+of+GEFCom2014">forecasting</a> energy supply and demand. </p>
<p>AI can learn patterns in how and when people use energy. It can also accurately forecast how much energy will be generated from sources like wind and solar depending on the weather and so help to maximise the use of clean energy.</p>
<p>For example, by estimating the amount of solar power generated from panels (based on sunlight duration or weather conditions), AI can help plan the timing of laundry or charging of electric vehicles to help consumers <a href="https://uk.pcmag.com/smart-home/137197/the-best-smart-home-devices-for-2021">make the most of this renewable energy</a>. On a grander scale, it could help grid operators pre-empt and mitigate gaps in supply.</p>
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<img alt="A woman hanging out white clothes on a laundry line." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574979/original/file-20240212-21-vp9d9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574979/original/file-20240212-21-vp9d9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574979/original/file-20240212-21-vp9d9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574979/original/file-20240212-21-vp9d9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574979/original/file-20240212-21-vp9d9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574979/original/file-20240212-21-vp9d9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574979/original/file-20240212-21-vp9d9d.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">AI can help make the most of renewable energy when it is abundant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dried-laundry-503768179">Kazoka/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210670720305461">Researchers in Iran</a> used AI to predict the energy consumption of a research centre by taking account of its occupancy, structure, materials and local weather conditions. The system also used algorithms to optimise the building’s energy use by proposing appropriate insulation measures and heating controls and how much lighting and power was necessary based on the number of people present, ultimately reducing it by 35%.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-is-supposed-to-make-us-more-efficient-but-it-could-mean-we-waste-more-energy-220990">AI is supposed to make us more efficient – but it could mean we waste more energy</a>
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<h2>2. Transport</h2>
<p>Transport accounts for roughly <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-transport">one-fifth of global CO₂ emissions</a>. AI models can encourage green travel options by suggesting the most efficient routes for drivers, with fewer hills, less traffic and constant speeds, and so minimise emissions.</p>
<p>An AI-based system suggested routes for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191261520304549">electric vehicles</a> in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. The system used features like vehicle speed and the location of charging points to find optimal routes that minimised energy use.</p>
<h2>3. Agriculture</h2>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?hl=en&publication_year=2015&author=Paul+Hawken&title=Drawdown:+The+Most+Comprehensive+Plan+Ever+Proposed+to+Reverse+Global+Warming">Studies</a> have shown that better farming practices can reduce emissions. AI can ensure that space and fertilisers (which contribute to climate change) are used sparingly.</p>
<p>By predicting how much of a crop people will buy in a particular market, AI can help producers and distributors minimise waste. A 2017 study <a href="https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AAAI/article/view/11172">conducted by Stanford University</a> in the US even showed that advanced AI models can predict county-level soybean yields.</p>
<p>This was possible using images from satellites to analyse and track the growth of crops. Researchers compared multiple models to accurately predict crop yields and the best performing one could predict a crop’s yield based on images of growing plants and other features, including the climate. </p>
<p>Knowing a crop’s probable yield weeks in advance can help governments and agencies plan alternative means of procuring food in advance of a bad harvest.</p>
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<img alt="Wicker baskets filled with purple acai fruit." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574977/original/file-20240212-26-2oayl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574977/original/file-20240212-26-2oayl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574977/original/file-20240212-26-2oayl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574977/original/file-20240212-26-2oayl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574977/original/file-20240212-26-2oayl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574977/original/file-20240212-26-2oayl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574977/original/file-20240212-26-2oayl2.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">
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<span class="caption">Accurate yield predictions can better prepare countries for food shortages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/acai-small-superfruit-brazilian-amazon-very-104384573">JBK/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>4. Disaster management</h2>
<p>The prediction and management of disasters is a field where AI has made major contributions. <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7547">AI models</a> have studied images from drones to predict flood damage in the Indus basin in Pakistan.</p>
<p>The system is also useful for detecting the onset of a flood, helping with real-time rescue operation planning. The system could be used by government authorities to plan prompt relief measures. </p>
<p>These potential uses don’t erase the problem of AI’s energy consumption, however, To ensure AI can be a force for good in the fight against climate change, something will still have to be done about this.</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>Lakshmi Babu Saheer 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>From making journeys more fuel-efficient to reducing food waste.Lakshmi Babu Saheer, Director of Computing Informatics and Applications Research Group, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2068782023-09-18T14:54:01Z2023-09-18T14:54:01ZFrance used 10% less electricity last winter – three valuable lessons in fighting climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548138/original/file-20230913-34250-su4cro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6709%2C4476&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">French authorities dimmed public lights in December 2022 to avert energy shortages.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/paris-france-december-8-2019-sacre-1582766470">Jerome Labouyrie/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Measures which help people use less energy at home, while travelling or at work could <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-3/">significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions</a> according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. When there is less demand for energy, that means less low-carbon electricity needs to be generated to replace fossil fuels and reach net zero.</p>
<p>Making do with less energy was important last winter when Russia’s war in Ukraine caused energy prices to soar and restricted gas supplies. To avoid shortages, France implemented a “sobriety plan” with the aim of lowering total energy consumption by 10% within two years. </p>
<p>France’s experience is instructive for other countries considering how to manage high energy prices and reach net zero with <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-winter-energy-crunch-in-europe-looks-a-distinct-possibility-212269">another winter energy crunch</a> possibly looming. It showed that sufficiency measures can slash energy consumption and so cut the emissions driving climate change <a href="https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/22152_Plan-sobriete_DP-2023-if-2.pdf">quickly</a>. But deeper changes to how society is organised are necessary to maximise the potential contribution of these measures to decarbonisation.</p>
<h2>A 15-point ‘energy sobriety’ plan</h2>
<p>Energy sufficiency measures aim to limit how much energy is consumed to meet public need. They can involve people lowering the thermostat on their heating or switching to public transport instead of driving.</p>
<p>France’s <a href="https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/sobriete-energetique-plan-reduire-notre-consommation-denergie">plan de sobriété énergétique</a> in October 2022 contained 15 measures, including a maximum temperature of 19°C in public buildings, support for teleworking and car-sharing and dimming or turning off public lights at certain hours. The plan also included subsidies for installing more efficient heating systems, like heat pumps.</p>
<p>To reduce the risk of power cuts, the plan sent an alert via an app called Ecowatt three days before energy supply was forecast to fall below demand. This worked by asking households to lower their electricity consumption by switching off appliances or avoiding using them during peak times like the early evening.</p>
<p>Combined with people using less energy anyway due to higher prices, the sobriety plan cut electricity consumption in December by almost 10% compared with previous years. This varied by sector and ranged from 12% in industry to 7% in homes, cafés, shops and restaurants. Meanwhile, when adjusted for temperature differences, natural gas consumption was 17% lower than the previous winter.</p>
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<img alt="A line graph showing smaller peak energy use in 2022-2023 compared with previous winters." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548090/original/file-20230913-29-pip1de.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548090/original/file-20230913-29-pip1de.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548090/original/file-20230913-29-pip1de.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548090/original/file-20230913-29-pip1de.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548090/original/file-20230913-29-pip1de.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548090/original/file-20230913-29-pip1de.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548090/original/file-20230913-29-pip1de.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=419&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">Even accounting for temperature differences, winter 2022-2023 saw electricity consumption fall sharply.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.rte-france.com/synthese-hebdomadaire-consommation-electrique-francaise">RTE</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Given fossil fuel use must fall to tackle climate change, what has France’s experiment revealed about the necessary effort to decarbonise?</p>
<h2>Lesson 1: sufficiency measures can cut emissions quickly</h2>
<p>During winter 2022, France’s emissions <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CBsQw7AJahcKEwiA39uJ25OBAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ecologie.gouv.fr%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2F22152_Plan-sobriete_DP-2023-if-2.pdf&psig=AOvVaw2dlSg67XD25JZFuve7aF5D&ust=1694011588357975&opi=89978449">fell by around 8%</a> compared with pre-pandemic levels. In a <a href="https://www.rte-france.com/actualites/comprendre-piloter-electrification-ici-2035-conditions-cles-relever-defis-transition">survey</a> of 12,000 people by the French transmission system operator, a majority indicated that they might be willing to continue actions taken during winter 2022-2023. </p>
<p>This is encouraging. The sufficiency measures not only lowered emissions within a few months; the lack of any <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/in-the-press/20220928-french-minister-suggests-wearing-turtleneck-sweater-to-keep-warm-this-winter">significant</a> backlash also suggested that people may be receptive to similar measures to rein in fossil fuel use.</p>
<h2>Lesson 2: economics a bigger motivator than environment</h2>
<p>In December 2022, gas prices <a href="https://www.energie-info.fr/les-tarifs-reglementes-nevoluent-pas-en-decembre-2022/">increased</a> by almost 130% compared with 2021, while <a href="https://www.statistiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/prix-de-lelectricite-en-france-et-dans-lunion-europeenne-en-2022">electricity prices in 2022</a> more than doubled.</p>
<p>Lower-income households are less able to reduce their typically low levels of energy use during shortages and are less capable of investing in more energy-efficient systems. Higher-income households can cut their consumption more easily, but their usage is less sensitive to increases in energy costs.</p>
<p>The survey revealed that the cheapest heating systems were invariably the most sought after. But many people were reluctant or unable to switch to such energy-efficient alternatives without a guarantee of the same level of service and without the cost of installation being subsidised. The French sobriety plan did include financial support for households to replace oil heating systems. The subsidy was offered based on income and could reach up to €15,500 (£13,350).</p>
<p>While higher prices can induce small cuts to energy demand, bigger changes which could permanently lower emissions will need further <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921800921000641?via%3Dihub">incentives</a> or regulation.</p>
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<img alt="An electric car plugged into a charger in a French street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548139/original/file-20230913-23-uenp98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548139/original/file-20230913-23-uenp98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548139/original/file-20230913-23-uenp98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548139/original/file-20230913-23-uenp98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548139/original/file-20230913-23-uenp98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548139/original/file-20230913-23-uenp98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548139/original/file-20230913-23-uenp98.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">Survey respondents indicated they would need help to make bigger changes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/issylesmoulineaux-france-november-2022-electric-car-2230535027">JeanLucIchard/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Lesson 3: research can take time to be endorsed by policymakers</h2>
<p>Negawatt, an association that models France’s energy transition scenarios, first introduced the concept of “sobriety” in a public debate ten years ago. This led to France adopting a goal of reducing total energy consumption by 50% by 2050 compared with 2012. Very few policies have been enacted since to support this target.</p>
<p>In the last few years total energy consumption fell <a href="https://www.statistiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/edition-numerique/chiffres-cles-energie-2022/">mainly due to COVID restrictions</a>. In that regard, the energy sobriety plan marks a shift in the government’s attitude, though its embracing of sufficiency measures was triggered by concerns around energy security and costs – not carbon neutrality.</p>
<p>To fully capture the climate benefits of energy sufficiency measures, France must go further than the current plan. Lowering energy use in line with the national target requires integrating energy sufficiency into a broader transformation of society.</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>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>To overcome last winter’s energy crunch, France successfully introduced a 15-point ‘energy sobriety’ plan to cut gas and electricity use and reduce emissions.Ariane Millot, Research Associate in Energy Systems Modelling, Imperial College LondonSteve Pye, Associate Professor in Energy Systems, UCLLicensed 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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<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>
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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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<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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<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>
<figure class="align-center ">
<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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<p>
<em>
<strong>
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>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
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>
<figure class="align-center ">
<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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<p>
<em>
<strong>
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/2042812023-06-04T20:04:59Z2023-06-04T20:04:59ZUsing electric water heaters to store renewable energy could do the work of 2 million home batteries – and save us billions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523358/original/file-20230428-28-izz5as.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3612&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>Australia’s energy transition is well under way. Some <a href="https://iea-pvps.org/snapshot-reports/snapshot-2022/">3 million households have rooftop solar</a> and <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/first-past-the-post-evs-race-to-front-in-sales-of-medium-sized-cars-20230420-p5d1yj.html">sales of medium-sized electric cars</a> are surging. But as we work towards fully electric households powered by renewable energy, have we overlooked a key enabling technology, the humble electric water heater?</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="a smart electric water heater" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529729/original/file-20230602-17-jsaz8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529729/original/file-20230602-17-jsaz8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529729/original/file-20230602-17-jsaz8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529729/original/file-20230602-17-jsaz8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529729/original/file-20230602-17-jsaz8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529729/original/file-20230602-17-jsaz8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529729/original/file-20230602-17-jsaz8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">By storing solar energy as hot water, a smart electric heater can effectively act as a household battery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>About <a href="https://www.energynetworks.com.au/resources/fact-sheets/reliable-and-clean-gas-for-australian-homes-2/">half of Australian households</a> use electric water heaters, while the rest use gas. So what’s so great about electric water heaters? </p>
<p>Electric water heaters offer a cheap way to store large amounts of energy, in the form of hot water. A heater with a 300-litre tank can store about as much energy as a second-generation Tesla Powerwall – at a fraction of the cost. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/isf/explore-research/projects/domestic-hot-water-and-flexibility">Our research</a> at the UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures has found Australians could use household electric water heaters to store as much energy as over 2 million home batteries of that kind. This could eventually save over A$6 billion a year on our energy bills while getting us closer to net-zero carbon emissions.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/2023-06/Domestic%20Hot%20Water%20and%20Flexibility.pdf">Our report</a>, published today and funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), recommends that, to halve emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050, we urgently need policies to rapidly replace gas water heaters with “smart” electric water heaters. Smart heaters can be switched on and off in response to changes in electricity supply and demand across the grid. </p>
<p>This means these heaters can soak up excess “off-peak” renewable energy, particularly from solar, and so help us solve two key problems at once. They can help reduce and eventually eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. And they can make our electricity grid more stable by providing flexible demand that helps balance out the fluctuating supply from renewable sources.</p>
<h2>Cutting emissions</h2>
<p>There are three main types of electric water heater. A conventional “resistance” heater uses electricity to heat water directly. Solar water heaters use sunlight and electricity, but have become less popular as newer “heat pump” units emerged. These collect heat from the air and “pump” it into water. A heat pump uses three to four times less electricity than a resistance heater. </p>
<p>Back in 2010, a resistance electric water heater typically produced around four times more emissions than its gas equivalent. Heat pump emissions were about the same as for gas. That’s because electric water heaters <a href="https://www.energy.gov.au/households/hot-water-systems">use a lot of electricity</a>, and most of it came from burning coal. </p>
<p>As we generate more electricity from renewables, this picture is changing dramatically. Australia’s energy market operator, AEMO, publishes regularly updated pathways to a clean-energy future. In the most likely outcome, the “<a href="https://aemo.com.au/en/energy-systems/major-publications/integrated-system-plan-isp/2022-integrated-system-plan-isp">step-change scenario</a>”, gas will become the most greenhouse-intensive water-heating option by 2030. </p>
<p>By 2040, once the transition to a renewable electricity system is largely complete, emissions from resistance and heat pump water heaters will be much lower than for their gas counterparts. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529733/original/file-20230602-25-jsaz8u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph showing projected emissions from 3 kinds of water heaters: electric resistance, heat pump and gas" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529733/original/file-20230602-25-jsaz8u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529733/original/file-20230602-25-jsaz8u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529733/original/file-20230602-25-jsaz8u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529733/original/file-20230602-25-jsaz8u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529733/original/file-20230602-25-jsaz8u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529733/original/file-20230602-25-jsaz8u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529733/original/file-20230602-25-jsaz8u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&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 projected emissions intensity of resistance and heat pump water heaters in NSW will soon be much lower than for their gas counterparts. Results for Queensland, Victoria and the ACT are similar to those for NSW.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Water heaters can last 15 years or more. So the stock of heaters in our homes for the next two decades depends on what we install today. Replacing gas heaters with electric heaters should therefore be an immediate priority in our energy transition. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/2023-05/Domestic%20Hot%20Water%20and%20Flexibility.pdf">Our work</a> explored a range of scenarios, each with a different mix of water-heating technologies. One was a business-as-usual baseline where gas water heaters remain prevalent. In alternative scenarios gas is phased out over the next 10–20 years. </p>
<p>We found that replacing gas with electric water heating would not only help us get to net-zero emissions sooner, it would save us money. </p>
<p>Gas is expensive and unlikely to get much cheaper. Abundant renewables offer an excess of cheap electricity that water heaters can help soak up. Embracing this opportunity could save over $6 billion a year on our energy bills by 2040.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529735/original/file-20230602-23-u38b97.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graphs comparing stock of different water heater technologies across the NEM from 1990 to 2040" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529735/original/file-20230602-23-u38b97.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529735/original/file-20230602-23-u38b97.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529735/original/file-20230602-23-u38b97.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529735/original/file-20230602-23-u38b97.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529735/original/file-20230602-23-u38b97.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529735/original/file-20230602-23-u38b97.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529735/original/file-20230602-23-u38b97.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In our modelling of the National Electricity Market, business-as-usual policy (left) locks in costly and high-emissions gas units for decades to come. In our rapid electrification scenario (right), electric water heaters rapidly replace gas units.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Boosting grid stability</h2>
<p>Solar and wind are now the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/renewables-cheapest-form-power">cheapest technologies we’ve ever had for generating electricity</a>. But to maintain a stable electricity system, we need to match demand with the fluctuating supply from renewable sources. Batteries offer a partial solution, but are still relatively costly. </p>
<p>Electric water heaters offer a much cheaper way to store large amounts of energy and provide the demand flexibility the grid needs.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/isf/explore-research/projects/domestic-hot-water-and-flexibility">Our research</a> found that, compared to the business-as-usual baseline, a scenario that emphasises demand flexibility using smart electric water heaters could provide an extra 30GWh of daily flexible demand capacity. That’s the equivalent of over 2 million home batteries across the National Electricity Market, which supplies electricity to eastern and southern Australia. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1361120769548320770"}"></div></p>
<h2>Back to the future for water heating</h2>
<p>Since the 1950s, “off-peak hot water” has seen Australian electricity providers turning household water heaters off during the day and on at night to better match demand and supply. In return, customers received heavily discounted prices. </p>
<p>In recent decades we’ve moved away from off-peak electric hot water, as incentives dwindled and more homes <a href="https://www.energynetworks.com.au/resources/fact-sheets/reliable-and-clean-gas-for-australian-homes-2/">connected to natural gas</a>.</p>
<p>As we electrify our hot water, which technology should we embrace: resistance or heat pump? The answer is both. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/isf/explore-research/projects/domestic-hot-water-and-flexibility">Our research</a> explored the trade-off between highly flexible resistance water heaters versus highly efficient but less flexible heat pumps.</p>
<p>Heat pumps use less electricity and cost less to run. Where electricity prices are high or power flow is limited, using heat pumps makes sense. However, they have a higher upfront cost and are not suited to all homes. Many apartments, for example, lack access to suitable outdoor space. </p>
<p>And because they use less electricity, heat pumps offer less flexible demand. As renewables, particularly solar, increasingly power our grid, the ability of resistance electric heaters to soak up excess “off-peak” renewable energy is a big advantage.</p>
<p>With the right policies and market reforms, we will all benefit from a system that once again rewards customers with cheap off-peak electricity in exchange for network operators being able to switch our water heaters off and on as needed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204281/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Roche works for the Institute for Sustainable Futures, which received funding for this work from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).</span></em></p>A heater with a 300-litre tank can store as much energy as a home battery at a fraction of the cost. Being able to store surplus solar energy at the right times helps grid stability and cuts emissions.David Roche, Research Director - Strategic Energy Collaborations, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2053802023-05-10T04:15:17Z2023-05-10T04:15:17ZBudget’s energy bill relief and home retrofit funding is a good start, but dwarfed by the scale of the task<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525290/original/file-20230510-27-kqidgu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=139%2C8%2C2793%2C1854&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>The quality and performance of our housing have big impacts on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/7-star-housing-is-a-step-towards-zero-carbon-but-theres-much-more-to-do-starting-with-existing-homes-189542">environment</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-youre-renting-chances-are-your-home-is-cold-with-power-prices-soaring-heres-what-you-can-do-to-keep-warm-184472">cost of living</a> and our <a href="https://theconversation.com/die-of-cold-or-die-of-stress-social-housing-is-frequently-colder-than-global-health-guidelines-164598">health and wellbeing</a>. The 2023-24 federal budget’s announcement of $1.6 billion for energy-saving upgrades to housing recognises the broad importance of retrofitting Australian homes.</p>
<p>Until now, much of the focus in Australia has been on improving the quality and <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-still-building-4-in-every-5-new-houses-to-no-more-than-the-minimum-energy-standard-118820">performance of new housing</a>. Recent changes to the National Construction Code improve <a href="https://ncc.abcb.gov.au/editions-national-construction-code">minimum standards for new housing</a> for the first time in more than a decade.</p>
<p>But more than 10.8 million existing dwellings fall short of the quality and performance needed for a low-carbon and affordable future. We must urgently shift our attention to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-other-99-retrofitting-is-the-key-to-putting-more-australians-into-eco-homes-91231">delivering a deep retrofit</a> – including solar panels, double glazing and other insulation – of the homes 99% of us live in. This would not only be good for the environment and reduce living costs, it would also improve our health and wellbeing and help increase the reliability of the energy grid.</p>
<p>Most of our existing houses were built before minimum performance standards were adopted. Houses built before 1990 typically perform at a level of <a href="https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/research-data-and-insights/research/research-reports/household-retrofit-trials">1-3 stars</a> on the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) (0 being worst, 10 best), compared to the 7 stars required of homes built after this October in most states. </p>
<p>Improving a house from 1 to 5 stars would reduce the energy needed for heating and cooling by about 70% in the Melbourne climate zone. And that means the household’s energy bills and emissions would be much lower too. </p>
<p>All this means the budget announcements are a welcome, but long-overdue, move to start a retrofit revolution in Australia.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1655886484396994561"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-other-99-retrofitting-is-the-key-to-putting-more-australians-into-eco-homes-91231">The other 99%: retrofitting is the key to putting more Australians into eco-homes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What was announced?</h2>
<p>The 2023-24 budget includes: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>$3 billion in rebates that directly reduce energy bills for over 5 million households</p></li>
<li><p>$1.3 billion to set up the Household Energy Upgrades Fund, which will provide $1 billion to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to finance home energy upgrades for around 110,000 households </p></li>
<li><p>$300 million to co-fund 60,000 social housing retrofits with the states and territories</p></li>
<li><p>$36.7 million to expand and upgrade NatHERS to apply to existing homes, which will give households better information for decisions on energy upgrades and renting or buying homes</p></li>
<li><p>expand and modernise the Greenhouse Energy Minimum Standards (GEMS) to cover more products. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>This funding will help make our existing housing more energy-efficient and cheaper to run.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1656044118135672833"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/die-of-cold-or-die-of-stress-social-housing-is-frequently-colder-than-global-health-guidelines-164598">'Die of cold or die of stress?': Social housing is frequently colder than global health guidelines</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>It’s a start but much more is needed</h2>
<p>Much of the budget is focused on providing short-term relief for vulnerable households facing rising energy bills. But the bigger, long-term challenge is to help existing housing become more sustainable, affordable and liveable.</p>
<p>The cash rebate on energy bills is a short-term fix. The money could be better spent on prevention rather than cure. Retrofitting goes to the heart of the problem – ageing, energy-guzzling homes – and is a responsible use of taxpayer money. </p>
<p>The benefits of retrofitting a house outlive the current residents. It should be seen as an investment in the national housing stock rather than a handout to individual households. A cash rebate to reduce energy bills does nothing to improve housing performance.</p>
<p>The expansion of NatHERS to better account for existing housing is a welcome incentive to upgrade these homes. We need to make sure, though, that the information provided is <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-a-lemon-law-to-make-all-the-homes-we-buy-and-rent-more-energy-efficient-204369">robust, reliable and accessible</a> to all households. Households need practical information about the cost-efficient retrofit actions they can take. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/7-star-housing-is-a-step-towards-zero-carbon-but-theres-much-more-to-do-starting-with-existing-homes-189542">7-star housing is a step towards zero carbon – but there's much more to do, starting with existing homes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In other parts of the world, such as the United Kingdom and Europe, information about a home’s performance must be disclosed at point of sale or lease. This helps households make informed decisions. It also provides better data to governments about the quality and performance of the housing stock. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522900/original/file-20230426-152-s8qq58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Screenshot of a section of a UK Energy Performance Certificate" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522900/original/file-20230426-152-s8qq58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522900/original/file-20230426-152-s8qq58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522900/original/file-20230426-152-s8qq58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522900/original/file-20230426-152-s8qq58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522900/original/file-20230426-152-s8qq58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522900/original/file-20230426-152-s8qq58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522900/original/file-20230426-152-s8qq58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=260&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 UK’s Energy Performance Certificate provides prospective buyers and renters with detailed information about a home’s energy rating, its energy costs and potential to be improved.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/5996/2116821.pdf">Source: Energy Performance Certificate, GOV.UK</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Australia we have very poor data about our existing housing. We are developing policy and support with one hand tied behind our back.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-a-lemon-law-to-make-all-the-homes-we-buy-and-rent-more-energy-efficient-204369">We need a 'lemon law' to make all the homes we buy and rent more energy-efficient</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The scale of the retrofit challenge is huge</h2>
<p>Another key issue is the scale and urgency of the retrofit task we face. The budget announcement will make only a small dent in the work to be done. If we assume the performance of most of our existing homes is below-par, that means we will need to deliver deep retrofit to more than 45 homes every hour between now and 2050. </p>
<p>Upgrading 110,000 private homes and 60,000 social housing units is better than nothing, but we clearly need to scale up this work well beyond these numbers. This will require much more ambition and coordination from all levels of government.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A woman installs a strip of foam insulation around a door" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525285/original/file-20230510-19-phza6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525285/original/file-20230510-19-phza6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525285/original/file-20230510-19-phza6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525285/original/file-20230510-19-phza6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525285/original/file-20230510-19-phza6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525285/original/file-20230510-19-phza6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525285/original/file-20230510-19-phza6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Low-tech solutions like sealing gaps offer great value for money and shouldn’t be overlooked.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We must also focus more on those who are most vulnerable, such as private renters on low incomes. Low-cost loans are good – if you qualify and have the means to repay them. What will those on the lowest incomes or without access to resources do? </p>
<p>We also need to make sure these loans don’t simply fund technology upgrades when there are cheaper and simpler things to do first, such as sealing gaps and cracks.</p>
<p>Scaling up is more than just a matter of providing support to households. We need to strengthen and develop retrofit capacity across the building industry to ensure demand can be met. </p>
<p>The industry needs certainty about the commitment of all levels of government to assist and sustain a low-carbon retrofit industry over time. This will allow the industry to plan and invest in capacity. This approach would help bolster the struggling construction industry while feeding into Australia’s wider net-zero ambitions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205380/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. He is a trustee of the Fuel Poverty Research Network.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ralph Horne receives funding from various organisations including the Australian Research Council, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Victorian Government and various industry partners. </span></em></p>Most of our 10.8 million existing homes are in need of a retrofit to improve their performance and cut household energy use and emissions. The $1.6 billion for energy upgrades covers 170,000 homes.Trivess Moore, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT UniversityRalph Horne, Associate Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research & Innovation, College of Design & Social Context, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2046722023-05-01T06:42:41Z2023-05-01T06:42:41Z1 in 4 households struggle to pay power bills. Here are 5 ways to tackle hidden energy poverty<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523558/original/file-20230501-14-l8bw6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=592%2C0%2C5398%2C3583&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><a href="https://energyconsumersaustralia.com.au/news/how-increases-in-energy-prices-are-impacting-consumers#:%7E:text=Energy%2520affordability%2520is%2520not%2520just,in%2520the%2520past%252012%2520months.">One in four Australian households</a> are finding it hard to pay their gas and electricity bills. As winter looms, <a href="https://www.aer.gov.au/news-release/default-market-offer-2023%25E2%2580%259324-draft-determination">energy price rises</a> will make it even harder. Cold homes and disconnections resulting from energy poverty threaten people’s health and wellbeing. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.acoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ACOSS-cost-of-living-report2-March-2023_web_FINAL.pdf">Income support for welfare recipients</a> and retrofitting homes to make them more thermally efficient – by adding insulation, for example – can ease the burden. And when homes are not too cold or hot, <a href="https://theconversation.com/fuel-poverty-makes-you-sick-so-why-has-nothing-changed-since-i-was-a-child-living-in-a-cold-home-201787">people’s health benefits</a>. This in turn <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/319556">eases pressure on the public health system</a>. </p>
<p>However, many people are missing out on assistance as programs often do not recognise their difficulties. Their energy vulnerability is hidden.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1557264492932714496"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-youre-renting-chances-are-your-home-is-cold-with-power-prices-soaring-heres-what-you-can-do-to-keep-warm-184472">If you're renting, chances are your home is cold. With power prices soaring, here's what you can do to keep warm</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What forms does hidden energy poverty take?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629623000737">Our newly published study</a> has revealed six aspects of hidden energy vulnerability. These are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>underconsumption – households limit or turn off cooling, heating and/or lights to avoid disconnections</p></li>
<li><p>incidental masking – other welfare support, such as rent relief, masks difficulties in paying energy bills</p></li>
<li><p>some households disguise energy poverty by using public facilities such as showers or pooling money for bills between families </p></li>
<li><p>some people conceal their hardship due to pride or fear of legal consequences, such as losing custody of children if food cannot be refrigerated because the power has been cut off</p></li>
<li><p>poor understanding of energy efficiency and the health risks of cold or hot homes adds to the problem</p></li>
<li><p>eligibility criteria for energy assistance programs may exclude some vulnerable households. For example, people with income just above the welfare threshold are missing out on energy concessions. Energy retailer hardship programs also ignore people who have voluntarily disconnected due to financial hardship. </p></li>
</ol>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/die-of-cold-or-die-of-stress-social-housing-is-frequently-colder-than-global-health-guidelines-164598">'Die of cold or die of stress?': Social housing is frequently colder than global health guidelines</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>5 ways to help these households</h2>
<p>Our studies suggest trusted intermediaries such as people working in health, energy and social services can play a vital role in identifying and supporting such households.</p>
<p>First, energy efficiency and hardship initiatives may be <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/care-at-home-system-improvements">integrated into the My Aged Care in-home care system</a>. Energy poverty risk identification, response and referral could be built into the national service’s assessment form. This could leverage existing client screening processes.</p>
<p>The system’s front-line staff could connect at-risk householders with energy counsellors. These counsellors could help people access better energy contracts, concessions, home retrofits and appliance upgrade programs. </p>
<p>A new Commonwealth “energy supplement” could help pay for essential energy-related home modifications. This would help avoid My Aged Care funds being diverted from immediate healthcare needs. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1649229071644241921"}"></div></p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-a-lemon-law-to-make-all-the-homes-we-buy-and-rent-more-energy-efficient-204369">We need a 'lemon law' to make all the homes we buy and rent more energy-efficient</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Second, general practitioners and other health professionals could help identify energy vulnerability among patients with medical conditions of concern. They could also provide letters of support emphasising renters’ health-based need for air conditioners or heaters.</p>
<p>Third, energy providers could use household energy data to identify those that seem to be under-consuming or are often disconnected. They could also identify those that are not on “best offer” deals. They could be proactive in checking struggling householders’ eligibility for ongoing energy concessions and one-off debt relief grants offered by states and territories.</p>
<p>Energy providers could also make it easier for social housing providers to ensure concessions for tenants renew automatically.</p>
<p>Fourth, local councils could use their data to identify at-risk householders. They might include those with a disability parking permit, discounted council rates or in arrears, on the social housing waiting list, Meals on Wheels clients and social housing tenants. Maternal and child health nurses and home and community care workers making home visits could call attention to cold or hot homes. </p>
<p>Councils could employ in-house energy counsellors to provide assistance and energy literacy training. Council home maintenance teams could develop bulk-buying, insulation and neighbourhood retrofit programs. </p>
<p>Strategies to reduce vulnerability to energy poverty should be part of municipal public health and wellbeing plans. Under these strategies, net-zero-carbon funds set up by states and local councils to reduce emissions could finance targeted housing retrofits.</p>
<p>We also suggest setting up a central helpline to improve access to energy assistance via local referrals. </p>
<p>Fifth, residential energy-efficiency programs could become more person-centric. For example, we already have <a href="https://www.homescorecard.gov.au/">Residential Efficiency Scorecard</a> audits to assess the thermal quality of a home. These audits could also explore whether concessions and better energy deals are available to the household.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-all-need-energy-to-survive-here-are-3-ways-to-ensure-australias-crazy-power-prices-leave-no-one-behind-193459">We all need energy to survive. Here are 3 ways to ensure Australia's crazy power prices leave no-one behind</a>
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<h2>Building capacity at all levels</h2>
<p><a href="https://cur.org.au/cms/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/tackling-hidden-energy-final.pdf">Capacity-building strategies</a> are needed at all levels – individual, community and government – to overcome the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629623000737">challenges</a> of reducing energy poverty. Current obstacles include the competing priorities of service providers, lack of time and resources, and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214629622003553">poor co-ordination between siloed</a> programs and services.</p>
<p>Access to essential energy services should be part of state and local governments’ strategic health plans. Housing, energy and health departments could work together to include housing retrofits in preventive health programs. </p>
<p>A comprehensive approach is needed to overcome hidden energy poverty. It must include public education, integrated services and well-funded energy-efficiency programs. Regulatory reforms and ongoing funding are both needed to improve the availability of energy-efficient, affordable homes for tenants.</p>
<p>Our suggested strategies start with improving the skills and knowledge of trusted intermediaries. Doctors, social workers, housing officers, community nurses and volunteers can play a central role. Using these front-line professionals to help identify and act on energy poverty offers a novel, cost-effective and targeted solution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204672/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicola Willand receives or has received funding for research from various organisations, including the Australian Research Council, the Victorian State Government, the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, the Future Fuels Collaborative Research Centre and the Australian National Health and Medical Research Centre. She is affiliated with the Australian Institute of Architects. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nooshin Torabi receives or has received funding for research from various organisations, including the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation,</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ralph Horne receives or has received funding for research from various organisations, including the Australian Research Council, the Victorian State Government, the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.</span></em></p>Energy poverty puts people’s health and wellbeing at risk, but many vulnerable households go undetected. Trusted intermediaries, such as doctors and community workers, can help solve this problem.Nicola Willand, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT UniversityNooshin Torabi, Lecturer, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT UniversityRalph Horne, Associate Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research & Innovation, College of Design & Social Context, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2043692023-04-26T20:03:37Z2023-04-26T20:03:37ZWe need a ‘lemon law’ to make all the homes we buy and rent more energy-efficient<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522912/original/file-20230426-195-isrm2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4883%2C3260&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>A long-awaited increase in energy-efficiency requirements for new homes is part of revised Australian construction standards <a href="https://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/knauf-insulation/building-energy-efficient-homes-to-meet-ncc-2022">taking effect on May 1</a>. All new homes must achieve a <a href="https://ncc.abcb.gov.au/editions-national-construction-code">minimum 7-star whole-of-home energy rating</a> from October, following a six-month transition period. </p>
<p>It’s a crucial step in responding to the climate crisis and decarbonising Australian society. It will also make our homes more <a href="https://theconversation.com/low-energy-homes-dont-just-save-money-they-improve-lives-81084">affordable and comfortable to live in</a>, and improve our <a href="https://theconversation.com/cold-homes-increase-the-risk-of-severe-mental-health-problems-new-study-193125">health and wellbeing</a>. </p>
<p>These regulations affect the roughly 150,000 new homes built each year across Australia. But what about the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/industry/building-and-construction/estimated-dwelling-stock/jun-quarter-2022">other 10.8 million homes</a> we’re already living in?</p>
<p>Any transition towards a low-carbon future must include big improvements to existing housing. Housing accounts for around <a href="https://www.energy.gov.au/government-priorities/buildings/residential-buildings">24% of overall electricity use</a> and 12% of carbon emissions in Australia. </p>
<p>As a nation we spend at least as much on renovations and retrofits as on building new housing. <a href="https://theconversation.com/7-star-housing-is-a-step-towards-zero-carbon-but-theres-much-more-to-do-starting-with-existing-homes-189542">Upgrading the energy performance</a> of existing homes should get at least as much attention as new homes to help make the transition to low-carbon living.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1648462283914489858"}"></div></p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/7-star-housing-is-a-step-towards-zero-carbon-but-theres-much-more-to-do-starting-with-existing-homes-189542">7-star housing is a step towards zero carbon – but there's much more to do, starting with existing homes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>How do you know if a home’s a lemon?</h2>
<p>Australians can access lots of information about the performance of <a href="https://www.energyrating.gov.au/">appliances</a> and <a href="https://www.greenvehicleguide.gov.au/">vehicles</a>, but almost nothing about the quality and performance of our housing. </p>
<p>When buying an appliance or a car we can see how much energy it will use and how much it will cost to run. We can then compare options and improve our decision-making. </p>
<p>We also have rights if our purchase doesn’t perform as described. Australia doesn’t have a specific “<a href="https://www.consumeraffairs.com/lemon-law/">lemon law</a>” like the United States. Nonetheless, a raft of laws protect buyers of both new and used vehicles. </p>
<p>Yet when it comes to our biggest and most important buying decision – buying or renting a home – we have a right to precisely nothing in terms of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111370">information on its energy efficiency</a> and readiness for a sustainable future. What little information is provided is <a href="https://theconversation.com/spruiking-the-stars-some-home-builders-are-misleading-consumers-about-energy-ratings-136402">often misleading</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ive-never-actually-met-them-what-will-motivate-landlords-to-fix-cold-and-costly-homes-for-renters-188827">'I've never actually met them': what will motivate landlords to fix cold and costly homes for renters?</a>
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<hr>
<h2>Energy performance must be disclosed in other countries</h2>
<p>Housing energy rating schemes are used <a href="https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/energy-efficiency/energy-efficient-buildings/energy-performance-buildings-directive_en">worldwide</a>. These schemes rate and compare the energy use of housing to help people decide what they will rent and buy. </p>
<p>Energy ratings are important. They tell us how much we are likely to spend on essential activities such as heating and cooling our homes. Amid a cost-of-living crisis, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/energy-bills-why-yours-is-now-so-expensive-and-where-all-the-money-goes-176443">soaring energy prices</a>, this matters to all Australians, particularly those doing it tough. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522900/original/file-20230426-152-s8qq58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Screenshot of a section of a UK Energy Performance Certificate" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522900/original/file-20230426-152-s8qq58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522900/original/file-20230426-152-s8qq58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522900/original/file-20230426-152-s8qq58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522900/original/file-20230426-152-s8qq58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522900/original/file-20230426-152-s8qq58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522900/original/file-20230426-152-s8qq58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522900/original/file-20230426-152-s8qq58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=260&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 UK’s Energy Performance Certificate tells prospective buyers and renters about a home’s energy rating, its energy costs and potential to be improved.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/5996/2116821.pdf">Source: Energy Performance Certificate, GOV.UK</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Australia had a world-leading housing energy rating scheme <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frsc.2022.801460">when it was adopted in the ACT</a> in 2003. Since then progress has stalled on a national scheme similar to those established globally in recent decades. </p>
<p>Energy ratings also reveal the underlying condition of our housing. Housing in Australia built before the early 2000s typically has only a <a href="https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/research-data-and-insights/research/research-reports/household-retrofit-trials">1-3 star energy rating</a>. That level of performance more than doubles its energy bills and emissions compared to a new home. </p>
<p>People looking to buy or rent could avoid the housing equivalent of a lemon if we had a national scheme that requires a standard, independently verified energy performance assessment be made available to them. This would create an incentive for sellers and landlords to improve the energy performance of housing. It would also give policymakers a national picture of where retrofit schemes could best be targeted to meet our emission-reduction commitments.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/homes-with-higher-energy-ratings-sell-for-more-heres-how-australian-owners-could-cash-in-128548">Homes with higher energy ratings sell for more. Here's how Australian owners could cash in</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What are the prospects for such a scheme?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.energy.gov.au/government-priorities/buildings/residential-buildings">Discussions</a> are taking place in Australia about introducing a requirement for households to obtain some sort of energy or sustainability rating on their dwelling, potentially at point of sale or lease. A similar requirement is in place in other locations like <a href="https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/energy-efficiency/energy-efficient-buildings/energy-performance-buildings-directive_en">Europe</a>, the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/buy-sell-your-home/energy-performance-certificates">United Kingdom</a> and even the ACT. </p>
<p>We have the resources and knowledge to establish a robust system that is: accurate and holistic, robust and consistent, applied and clear, transparent and adaptive. </p>
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<p>The benefits of such a scheme include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>encouraging energy-efficient retrofits of existing homes for the health and comfort of Australians</p></li>
<li><p>supporting social equity between people living in older homes and those in newer homes, and particularly for renters and low-income households</p></li>
<li><p>giving Australians a better understanding of the houses they rent or buy, in the same way they choose their appliances</p></li>
<li><p>reducing emissions from housing to help achieve the target of net-zero emissions</p></li>
<li><p>providing information to inform and develop policies for existing homes that then align with policies for new homes.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/will-7-star-housing-really-cost-more-it-depends-but-you-can-keep-costs-down-in-a-few-simple-ways-189627">Will 7-star housing really cost more? It depends, but you can keep costs down in a few simple ways</a>
</strong>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>The key is not to do a cheap job on this. That would waste the effort, time and money we put into retrofitting homes, and risk us missing our climate commitments. It would also mean our most vulnerable households would find it even more difficult to access decent, energy-efficient housing. </p>
<p>Doing a proper job means we will all have access to independent verified information. It will help fix market failures and provide peace of mind about the places we live, with the potential to upgrade them reliably and cost-effectively.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204369/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. He is a trustee of the Fuel Poverty Research Network.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa de Kleyn is a Research Fellow on projects that receive funding from various organisations including the Australian Research Council, Victorian Government, and various industry partners.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ralph Horne has received funding from various organisations including the Australian Research Council, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Victorian Government and various industry partners. </span></em></p>Improving the performance of nearly 11 million existing homes will make a much bigger difference to housing energy costs and emissions than an incoming 7-star energy standard for new homes.Trivess Moore, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT UniversityLisa de Kleyn, Research Fellow, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT UniversityRalph Horne, Associate Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research & Innovation, College of Design & Social Context, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1996722023-02-14T19:09:38Z2023-02-14T19:09:38ZFuture home havens: Australians likely to use more energy to stay in and save money<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509923/original/file-20230213-26-g3n76y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4201%2C2792&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>Soaring energy costs are a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/44d4e730-f713-4932-9295-9e08013fc912">major factor</a> in Australia’s cost-of-living crisis. The conventional wisdom is people will reduce their energy use in response to rising prices – and this may be the case <a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/data/taking-the-pulse-of-the-nation-2022/2023/energy-poverty">for the most vulnerable households</a>. However, our <a href="https://www.monash.edu/digital-energy-futures/releases/digital-energy-futures-scenarios-for-future-living-20302050">research published today</a> suggests rising costs of living are more likely to increase household energy use as people economise by doing more at home. </p>
<p>Our research shows people relate to energy through what it helps them do: feed the family, clean the house and stay healthy, comfortable and entertained. Energy itself is rarely the first consideration. When we understand energy as embedded in everyday life, the simple laws of supply and demand become complicated. </p>
<p>For example, in the face of the cost-of-living crisis, households are investing in home luxuries, our research shows. Rather than spending money on outside activities, it’s going into upgrades and technologies that bring them fun, comfort and safety. </p>
<p>Many are adding air conditioning, air filtration, pools, spas, heated outdoor entertaining areas and bar fridges. They are adding or renovating sheds and outdoor areas to create extra living space. All these changes increase their energy use. </p>
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<p>Drawing on a four-year study of households in Victoria and New South Wales, our research developed four scenarios of everyday life in 2030 and 2050. In two scenarios, the home takes on an even more essential role in everyday life. This has significant implications for both energy forecasts and social inequality.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/older-australians-on-the-tough-choices-they-face-as-energy-costs-set-to-increase-180974">Older Australians on the tough choices they face as energy costs set to increase</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why are people doing this?</h2>
<p>Many people reason investing in a home cinema, kitchen appliance, spa or bar is more affordable than going out all the time. Setting up a home office may also be cheaper and more convenient than commuting. </p>
<p>For example, research participants Haruki and Sara (both pseudonyms) were converting a disused shed into a recreation space, complete with a television, video games, refrigerator, heating and cooling, and an electric drum kit. It would be a space where their three children spend their free time, but also serve as an office for Sara to teach music.</p>
<p>COVID-19 lockdowns were a strong impetus for these trends. Many people’s homes became their main site of work and play. They were schools, workplaces and gyms all in one. They also become a haven from the airborne threats outside. </p>
<p>Some might expect these trends to reverse with COVID restrictions lifted and the cost of living soaring. However, our research shows these expectations of the home are continuing and accelerating. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/flexibility-makes-us-happier-with-3-clear-trends-emerging-in-post-pandemic-hybrid-work-180310">Flexibility makes us happier, with 3 clear trends emerging in post-pandemic hybrid work</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As activities like going on holidays, or going out for dinner, become more expensive, investing in the home makes sense. Staying home, even if it involves higher energy costs or buying new appliances, may still mean big savings for the overall household budget.</p>
<p>Our in-depth research provides a nuanced view of how diverse consumers will engage with the energy system beyond merely responding to energy prices. This evidence can help the sector improve forecasting and energy future scenarios. We provide resources to help incorporate aspects of our scenarios into industry modelling. </p>
<h2>4 scenarios of everyday life in 2030 and 2050</h2>
<p>Our team at Monash University’s Emerging Technologies Research Lab developed the <a href="https://www.monash.edu/digital-energy-futures/releases/digital-energy-futures-scenarios-for-future-living-20302050">Scenarios for Future Living</a> report. It presents four scenarios of everyday life – two each in 2030 and 2050. </p>
<p>The scenarios are based on qualitative research with households in Victoria and New South Wales for the <a href="https://www.monash.edu/digital-energy-futures">Digital Energy Futures project</a>, as well as national data from the <a href="https://ecss.energyconsumersaustralia.com.au/behaviour-survey-oct-2022/">Energy Consumer Behaviour Survey</a>. We studied people’s everyday routines, priorities and future visions, including the use of emerging digital and energy technologies. The scenarios also draw on broader demographic, technological, economic and environmental <a href="https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/2900623/Digital-Energy-Futures-Report.pdf">trends</a> and the latest <a href="https://www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au/">climate science</a>.</p>
<p>One 2030 scenario, called “Creature Comforts”, envisions a world where, in response to rising living costs, households invest in consumer electronics and home upgrades. Energy use remains high as households seek to create a comfortable and safe haven. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509909/original/file-20230213-18-rpgcnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509909/original/file-20230213-18-rpgcnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509909/original/file-20230213-18-rpgcnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509909/original/file-20230213-18-rpgcnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509909/original/file-20230213-18-rpgcnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509909/original/file-20230213-18-rpgcnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509909/original/file-20230213-18-rpgcnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509909/original/file-20230213-18-rpgcnn.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"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2030 scenario ‘Creature Comforts’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Illustration by Stephen Elliget (https://epicsteve.com/)/Digital Energy Futures: Scenarios for Future Living Report</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/top-10-tips-to-keep-cool-this-summer-while-protecting-your-health-and-your-budget-193723">Top 10 tips to keep cool this summer while protecting your health and your budget</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The 2050 scenario, “Hunkering Down”, takes this trend further. Homes are optimised to provide a safe, productive and comfortable refuge from extreme weather and climate change. Institutions regularly close due to more frequent extreme weather events. People who can afford housing and technology upgrades stay home, where additional spaces and advanced equipment enable most work, school, exercise and entertainment activities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509911/original/file-20230213-24-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509911/original/file-20230213-24-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509911/original/file-20230213-24-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509911/original/file-20230213-24-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509911/original/file-20230213-24-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509911/original/file-20230213-24-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509911/original/file-20230213-24-kb2qti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509911/original/file-20230213-24-kb2qti.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"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2050 scenario ‘Hunkering Down’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Illustration by Stephen Elliget (https://epicsteve.com/)/Digital Energy Futures: Scenarios for Future Living Report</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the second 2030 scenario, “Sharing the Load”, households continue to invest, where possible, in solar panels, household batteries and electric vehicles. They prioritise being resourceful and generous with excess power by sharing it with others. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509914/original/file-20230213-29-g1v2zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509914/original/file-20230213-29-g1v2zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509914/original/file-20230213-29-g1v2zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509914/original/file-20230213-29-g1v2zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509914/original/file-20230213-29-g1v2zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509914/original/file-20230213-29-g1v2zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509914/original/file-20230213-29-g1v2zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509914/original/file-20230213-29-g1v2zz.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"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2030 scenario ‘Sharing the Load’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Illustration by Stephen Elliget (https://epicsteve.com/)/Digital Energy Futures: Scenarios for Future Living Report</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-maximise-savings-from-your-home-solar-system-and-slash-your-power-bills-197415">How to maximise savings from your home solar system and slash your power bills</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the second 2050 scenario, “Sunrises and Siestas”, institutions and society adapt to climate change through policy and community initiatives and infrastructures. The home remains important to people’s safety and comfort – but there are more services and technologies that ease the financial pressures on households due to their energy use.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509915/original/file-20230213-18-2j486b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509915/original/file-20230213-18-2j486b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509915/original/file-20230213-18-2j486b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509915/original/file-20230213-18-2j486b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509915/original/file-20230213-18-2j486b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509915/original/file-20230213-18-2j486b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509915/original/file-20230213-18-2j486b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509915/original/file-20230213-18-2j486b.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"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2050 scenario ‘Sunrises and Siestas’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Illustration by Stephen Elliget (https://epicsteve.com/)/Digital Energy Futures: Scenarios for Future Living Report</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Energy planning must take account of inequalities</h2>
<p>To bring these scenarios to life, we created narratives for three households: a wealthy and technology-savvy suburban household, a low-income renter, and a retired rural household. Following these households across each scenario reveals the varying impacts on households of different socio-economic and geographic backgrounds. </p>
<p>Wealthy households can afford to insulate themselves from external threats. They manage changing conditions by upgrading their homes. In contrast, people without the means to invest in such upgrades are left exposed to rising costs and extreme weather conditions.</p>
<p>Our research has critical implications for energy policymakers and industry. It underscores the need for a sophisticated, comprehensive approach to considering people’s lives, social change and household investment. Energy planning must account for how various futures can amplify or reduce inequities. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/energy-poverty-in-the-climate-crisis-what-australia-and-the-european-union-can-learn-from-each-other-177316">Energy poverty in the climate crisis: what Australia and the European Union can learn from each other</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199672/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kari Dahlgren and the Digital Energy Futures Research was funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council’s Linkage Projects funding Scheme (‘Digital Energy Futures’ project number LP180100203) in partnership with Monash University, Ausgrid, AusNet Services and Energy Consumers Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yolande Strengers receives funding from the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council’s Linkage Projects funding Scheme (‘Digital Energy Futures’ project number LP180100203) in partnership with Monash University, Ausgrid, AusNet Services and Energy Consumers Australia.</span></em></p>A 4-year study of households has shown how the increasing focus on our homes as sites of work, rest and play can increase energy use despite soaring prices.Kari Dahlgren, Research Fellow Emerging Technologies Research Lab, Monash UniversityYolande Strengers, Professor, Emerging Technologies Research Lab, Monash University, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1974152023-01-18T19:23:49Z2023-01-18T19:23:49ZHow to maximise savings from your home solar system and slash your power bills<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504576/original/file-20230116-20-8lxhys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=77%2C0%2C6974%2C4671&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><a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/federal-budget/australians-will-feel-the-pinch-later-this-year-with-the-treasurer-revealing-one-key-date/news-story/86f3e0ddb9c7753ca8726ccdb622a4cc">Soaring electricity prices</a> have made 15% of Aussies think about installing solar panels, a <a href="https://www.finder.com.au/soaring-energy-bills-push-australians-to-consider-solar">recent survey</a> found. Another 6% were already weighing up the move, on top of the 28% who had panels. </p>
<p>With costs falling, the average system size is growing rapidly. Households now typically install 8-10kW solar systems, often with a battery – roof area often limits the system’s size. </p>
<p>But does that guarantee no future electricity costs? No, some are still paying stubbornly high bills. </p>
<p>This is because they are often feeding energy into the grid during peak sunshine hours, when retailers pay low feed-in tariffs of five cents per kWh or less (a response to surging rooftop solar generation). To encourage customers to use energy at these times, retailers offer generous time-of-use (“solar sponge”) tariffs. </p>
<p>But the cost doubles during peak demand periods (around 6-10am and 3-11pm) when solar output is low or zero. Most rooftop solar owners are still paying for the electricity they use then.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-closely-monitoring-households-energy-data-can-unleash-their-solar-outputs-and-possibly-make-them-more-money-196134">How closely monitoring households' energy data can unleash their solar outputs and (possibly) make them more money</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The solution is a matter of getting three things right:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>choosing efficient appliances</p></li>
<li><p>using smart technology or simple timers to run them during times of ample solar generation</p></li>
<li><p>choosing a retail electricity plan that best matches your use. </p></li>
</ol>
<h2>How much difference can appliances make?</h2>
<p>To cut energy costs, the starting point is to understand your usage patterns. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504566/original/file-20230115-25905-13i0d4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Pie chart showing breakdown of energy use in the average Australian home" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504566/original/file-20230115-25905-13i0d4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504566/original/file-20230115-25905-13i0d4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504566/original/file-20230115-25905-13i0d4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504566/original/file-20230115-25905-13i0d4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504566/original/file-20230115-25905-13i0d4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504566/original/file-20230115-25905-13i0d4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504566/original/file-20230115-25905-13i0d4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=623&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 breakdown of energy use in the average Australian home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/energy-and-environment/using-saving-energy/home-energy-use">www.sa.gov.au</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/top-10-tips-to-keep-cool-this-summer-while-protecting-your-health-and-your-budget-193723">Top 10 tips to keep cool this summer while protecting your health and your budget</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Heating and cooling account for 30-45% of typical home energy use. Our testing at the University of South Australia suggests air conditioners use more energy as they age. Yet many homes have air conditioners older than ten years with 2-3 star ratings. Modern split systems with 6 stars use less than half as much electricity.</p>
<p>Users can program or control air conditioners remotely with a mobile phone to run for an hour or two before getting home. They then use cheap solar electricity to create a comfortable home. Smart and affordable controllers can also reduce cooling or heating when they sense a room is unoccupied or windows are open. </p>
<p>Typically, another quarter to a third of energy use is for water heating. Ample solar electricity and soaring gas prices make heat pump water heaters the best option. With <a href="https://enviro-friendly.com/solar-hot-water/heat-pump-hot-water-rebates/">government subsidies</a>, their initial cost is similar to conventional gas or electric systems and they typically use a third of the energy. </p>
<p>Again, they can be programmed to heat water at times of peak solar generation and store it, thus providing almost free hot water when needed. </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>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Many other smart appliances and lights are available. Induction cooktops deliver fast and impressive results using little electricity. Along with the microwave, air fryer and pressure cooker, they can reduce energy use. Ovens and slow cookers can be programmed to use solar power and have meals ready when we get home. </p>
<p>As well as having options with high star ratings, appliances to wash and dry clothes and dishes can easily be set to run during sunshine hours. </p>
<p>Energy-efficient fridges also cut costs. However, while people are happy to buy such fridges, our <a href="https://www.unisa.edu.au/research/research-node-for-low-carbon-living/lochiel-park-research-projects/sustainable-housing/">research</a> <a href="https://www.unisa.edu.au/siteassets/episerver-6-files/global/itee/bhi/lochiel-park/whaleyberrysaman_impactoffeedbackdisplays_eedal.pdf">survey</a> found some keep the old one, using three to four times the electricity, for drinks. </p>
<p>Homes with swimming pools or spas are notorious for having the highest electricity bills. A pool will typically use 2,000-3,000kWh of electricity per year (depending on type of pump, hours of use and whether the pool is heated), at a cost of A$700-1,200. Solar pool heaters are an excellent alternative. A simple timer switch can ensure most power is consumed during sunshine hours. </p>
<p>A typical outdoor spa uses 5kW for water heating and circulating. Much heat is lost to the surroundings if you let the thermostat keep it warm all the time. By installing a timer switch, you can use solar power for heating and have the spa ready for use after working hours.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A backyard swimming pool" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504577/original/file-20230116-25-5xgp61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504577/original/file-20230116-25-5xgp61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504577/original/file-20230116-25-5xgp61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504577/original/file-20230116-25-5xgp61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504577/original/file-20230116-25-5xgp61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504577/original/file-20230116-25-5xgp61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504577/original/file-20230116-25-5xgp61.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pools can rack up big bills for running pumps and heaters – unless a timer ensures they’re using solar power.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Use smart technology to control time of use</h2>
<p>The key to making the best use of your solar output is avoiding energy wastage and matching the timing of energy supply with household demand. An affordable smart control system – for the whole home or individual appliances – can do this. </p>
<p>This system can set seven-day schedules for all appliances. It can turn off lights and air conditioning after you leave home. On a hot day, it can lower blinds and switch on the ceiling fan and air conditioner before you return, then adjust the bedroom temperature for comfortable sleep. </p>
<p>With improved energy supply and demand forecasting and artificial intelligence, future controllers will provide the optimal energy options with little human intervention. If smart gadgets are not for you, simple timer switches start at less than $10.</p>
<p>Energy storage remains a key technology for enabling use at night and on days of no sunshine. A recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/thinking-of-buying-a-battery-to-help-power-your-home-heres-what-you-need-to-know-192610">Conversation article</a> discussed home batteries. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/thinking-of-buying-a-battery-to-help-power-your-home-heres-what-you-need-to-know-192610">Thinking of buying a battery to help power your home? Here's what you need to know</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Another emerging technology is <a href="https://www.ecohome.net/guides/2208/thermal-batteries-all-about-storing-solar-heat/">thermal batteries</a> for heating and cooling. During sunshine hours a reverse-cycle air conditioner generates heat or cool to store in the thermal battery (commonly as hot or chilled water) for later use. </p>
<p>Electric vehicles that connect to the grid will go a long way towards making better use of rooftop electricity and storing it for evening use. Their battery capacity is several times that of home batteries. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Mother and son head into house leaving electric vehicle plugged in to charger in the garage" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504579/original/file-20230116-47292-h1zqc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504579/original/file-20230116-47292-h1zqc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504579/original/file-20230116-47292-h1zqc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504579/original/file-20230116-47292-h1zqc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504579/original/file-20230116-47292-h1zqc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504579/original/file-20230116-47292-h1zqc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504579/original/file-20230116-47292-h1zqc6.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">Electric vehicles can help households make better use of solar generation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Find the best energy plan for your home</h2>
<p>With 45 energy retailers in southern and eastern Australia, each offering multiple tariffs, it’s no wonder consumers are confused about which one to choose. The Australian Energy Regulator provides the most reliable <a href="https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au/">guide</a>. By uploading a few basic details, including the National Meter Identifier (NMI) shown on your bill, you can find the best offers based on your recorded electricity use. </p>
<p>Using this site, my son, who had paid an $800 quarterly bill despite having a large solar system, achieved a potential annual bill below $1,500 simply by switching retailers. Installing a timer switch so their outdoor spa uses solar electricity, instead of paying 33c/kWh, is likely to further save up to $5 a day. Their goal of no electricity bills is becoming a reality.</p>
<p>We are seeing the emergence of a new Australian dream of living in a well-designed home with rooftop solar, an electric car and smartly controlled energy-efficient appliances. It will enable most single/double-storey households to be carbon-neutral while living in comfort without a big hit to their hip pockets.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197415/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wasim Saman has received multiple federal and state research grants from the Australian Research Council, government departments, the CRC for Low Carbon Living and several industry partners for research into low carbon housing.</span></em></p>To achieve low or even no electricity bills, there are three areas owners of home solar systems should focus on getting right.Wasim Saman, Emeritus Professor of Sustainable Energy Engineering, University of South AustraliaLicensed 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>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_6cXiqrIueo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Some experts say health risks from gas stoves could be comparable to living with a smoker.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<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/1957592022-12-13T17:11:41Z2022-12-13T17:11:41ZFive unusual energy-saving tips to help you slash your bills<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500699/original/file-20221213-13986-rbisur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=110%2C30%2C6587%2C4428&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Heat the room you'll spend the most time in.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-middleaged-woman-next-fireplace-relaxes-1024115590">Nikodash/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As temperatures drop over the winter period and the cost of energy rises across the UK and Europe, how to spend less money on gas and electricity is on everyone’s minds. </p>
<p>The UK energy regulator Ofgem <a href="https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-advice-households/average-gas-and-electricity-use-explained">reports</a> that an average two- to three-person household in the UK consumes eight kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity and 33kWh of gas daily. This equates to around 2,900kWh of electricity and 12,000kWh of gas a year. For comparison, an electric oven in your house uses 2kWh for 30 minutes of use. </p>
<p>With the rising cost of living, even the smallest tweaks and changes will help you save money. And by following these somewhat unusual energy-saving tips, you will not only cut costs but will also help to conserve resources for future generations.</p>
<h2>1. Vacuum your fridge</h2>
<p>Keeping your <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/9/11/128">fridge clean</a> and organised can help save energy in two ways. First, <a href="https://www.realtor.com/advice/home-improvement/how-to-clean-refrigerator-coils/">by cleaning the coils</a>, you can keep your fridge running more efficiently, which will reduce the amount of energy it uses. </p>
<p>Second, while fridges work more efficiently when full, it’s important not to overcrowd them, as enabling cool air to circulate will keep the temperature at an optimal level. This will prevent the cooling system from having to work harder to keep the food cold, thus saving energy. </p>
<h2>2. Get more from your kettle</h2>
<p>Removing limescale from your kettle can also help save energy as limescale can cause the kettle to take longer to heat up, using more energy. But be aware that if your appliances are getting on in age, it may be better to replace them with more energy-efficient upgrades which can save even more money in the long run. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.eea.europa.eu/archived/green-tips/use-a-thermos-flask-to-save-energy">Using a thermos flask</a> for any leftover kettle water is an excellent money saving tip. Not only does it mean that any excess water you’ve just boiled doesn’t go to waste, but it also means you’ve got boiling water when you need it without having to reboil the kettle again.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman pouring kettle water into mug." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500405/original/file-20221212-103551-8rn68c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500405/original/file-20221212-103551-8rn68c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500405/original/file-20221212-103551-8rn68c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500405/original/file-20221212-103551-8rn68c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500405/original/file-20221212-103551-8rn68c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500405/original/file-20221212-103551-8rn68c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500405/original/file-20221212-103551-8rn68c.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">A descaled kettle boils quicker and so uses less energy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dirty-coolant-tubes-radiating-fins-back-1878792160">goffkein.pro/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Heat one room efficiently</h2>
<p>Heating only specific areas that you use the most can be beneficial in many ways. Limiting the areas that need to be heated, perhaps using <a href="https://www.techadvisor.com/article/723403/best-smart-thermostat-2.html">a smart thermostat with multiple zone setting</a>, can help you avoid wasting energy to heat the entire house. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-stay-warm-when-youre-working-from-home-without-turning-the-heating-on-195250">How to stay warm when you're working from home (without turning the heating on)</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>By <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032118303381">heating only the areas you need</a>, you are also putting less strain on your heating, ventilation, or air conditioning system. This can help to reduce the wear and tear on your system and help it last longer. And limiting the amount of air that needs to be heated reduces the amount of dust and other contaminants.</p>
<p>You might also want to think about rearranging your furniture to make sure that <a href="https://theconversation.com/10-ways-to-keep-your-house-warm-and-save-money-this-winter-67285">your radiators have enough space to breathe</a>. Leaving a gap between any furniture or curtains lets the air circulate properly, which means your are heating your room in the most efficient way possible. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Couple lifting up sofa in living room." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500404/original/file-20221212-105856-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500404/original/file-20221212-105856-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500404/original/file-20221212-105856-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500404/original/file-20221212-105856-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500404/original/file-20221212-105856-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500404/original/file-20221212-105856-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500404/original/file-20221212-105856-k8glwk.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">Rearrange your furniture to give your radiators room.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-happy-african-american-couple-moving-1702087351">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Consider going off-peak</h2>
<p>Some energy suppliers offer cheaper tariffs if you run your appliances during off-peak times when fewer people are demanding energy supplies – and this can <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378778816313913">save you money</a>.</p>
<p>Your washing machine, dishwasher and tumble dryer are often the highest energy using appliances. In the UK, for example, avoiding using them during the peak hours of between 4pm and 9pm will not only result in lower electricity costs if you have an off-peak tariff. It will also reduce strain on the electricity grid and cut the need for additional energy production at peak times, which can reduce emissions from power plants. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman loading up washing machine." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500406/original/file-20221212-105171-vpmwvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500406/original/file-20221212-105171-vpmwvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500406/original/file-20221212-105171-vpmwvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500406/original/file-20221212-105171-vpmwvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500406/original/file-20221212-105171-vpmwvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500406/original/file-20221212-105171-vpmwvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500406/original/file-20221212-105171-vpmwvm.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">You can save money on specific energy tariffs by doing your laundry later at night.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-worthy-caucasian-blonde-smiling-housewife-1541044256">Dusan Petkovic/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>5. Unplug devices, close doors and do the washing up</h2>
<p>Focusing on your own <a href="https://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/research/energy/downloads/boardman07-hometruths.pdf">behaviour</a> matters the most when it comes to energy conservation. You should make sure to put on layers of clothes so that you can be comfortable without having to crank up the thermostat. </p>
<p>Also be more conscious of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378778814010019">turning off unwanted lights</a>, closing the doors when leaving a room to conserve the heat and unplugging devices that are not being used. </p>
<p>For small loads of dirty dishes, you should wash them by hand in a small amount of water rather than running a dishwasher half empty. Use pan lids when cooking to reduce the amount of energy used. </p>
<p>These are all small but positive actions that can reduce wasteful energy use, save money and help conserve the environment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195759/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sankar Sivarajah 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>By following these unusual energy-saving tips, you will not only cut costs but will also help to conserve resources for future generations.Sankar Sivarajah, Professor of Technology Management and Circular Economy, University of BradfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1953882022-12-12T13:02:45Z2022-12-12T13:02:45ZFive things you can do to save energy if you rent your home<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497943/original/file-20221129-20-qp5on0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C0%2C6578%2C4365&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tenants are restricted in how far they can change their property.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cold-home-wintertime-man-freezing-his-2064203561">Studio Romantic/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Research suggests that our motivation to save energy is influenced by factors including our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494412000072">personality</a>, the attitudes of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2011.10.001">our family</a>, and the behaviour of those <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127560">sharing our residence</a>. </p>
<hr>
<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/five-things-you-can-do-to-save-energy-if-you-rent-your-home-195388 &bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Yet for environmentally conscious tenants, renting can be a particular challenge. Restricted in how far we can change our properties, tenants have less freedom to undertake energy-saving home improvements. Even the efficiency of the appliances in our homes is often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.05.053">determined</a> by our landlord. </p>
<p>But here are five ways that research suggests you can save energy in your rented property while maintaining a good relationship with your landlord.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Quarter life, a series by The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.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><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Quarter Life</a></strong>, a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://PASTE-URL-HERE-BUT-DO-NOT-REMOVE-TEXT-AFTER-QUESTION-MARK.com?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Five things to do in your 20s and 30s to reduce your risk of preventable cancer</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/cost-of-living-crisis-what-are-your-rights-if-your-landlord-wants-to-increase-your-rent-189089?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Cost of living crisis: what are your rights if your landlord wants to increase your rent?</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/houseplants-dont-just-look-nice-they-can-also-give-your-mental-health-a-boost-186982?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Houseplants don’t just look nice – they can also give your mental health a boost</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>1. Keep the heat in</h2>
<p>Heat leaks out of your home through windows, doors and floors. Draught-proofing – where gaps that let cold air in or warm air out are blocked – is an effective way of preventing heat loss. </p>
<p>Curtains and blinds help to retain heat. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2019.02.007">Research</a> has shown that the effective use of curtains can improve the heat retention of a double-glazed window by around 38%.</p>
<p>Another option is to install insulating plastic film covers over your windows. This can allow your home to retain <a href="http://cchrc.org/media/window_insulation_final.pdf">around 24%</a> more heat. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497934/original/file-20221129-26-mgrhpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A window and a white window sill covered in plastic film." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497934/original/file-20221129-26-mgrhpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497934/original/file-20221129-26-mgrhpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497934/original/file-20221129-26-mgrhpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497934/original/file-20221129-26-mgrhpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497934/original/file-20221129-26-mgrhpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497934/original/file-20221129-26-mgrhpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497934/original/file-20221129-26-mgrhpw.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">Plastic film covers can prevent heat escaping through leaks in windows.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/window-covered-by-plastic-film-insulation-2229494901">New Africa/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are various <a href="https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/draught-proofing/">ways to draught-proof</a> your doors. Brush strips can be installed to close gaps at their base, brush covers can prevent heat from escaping through the letterbox, and a disc flap can cover the keyhole. </p>
<p>But up to <a href="https://www.thegreenage.co.uk/where-am-i-losing-heat-home/">10%</a> of your home’s heat is lost through the floor. Cold air circulates below ground-floor floorboards and can rise through the gaps between them. </p>
<p>Covering the floor with rugs or mats adds a layer of insulation. But it is important that the entire floor area is covered and that the carpet pile is thick. One study suggests that a <a href="https://www.carpetinstitute.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/factsh_thermal.pdf">10mm-high</a> pile of carpet can reduce your energy use by 12.8% on average.</p>
<h2>2. Make better use of your radiator</h2>
<p>Giving your radiator space will allow heat to radiate into the room instead of being absorbed by the furniture. Around 30cm of space in front of the radiator will help to circulate warm air.</p>
<p>Because of their high surface temperature, you may have installed wooden casings on the external surface of your radiators. But these casings are insulating and can reduce a radiator’s heat output by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378778816310027">up to 40%</a>. </p>
<p>An alternative is to apply a magnetic radiator cover. The reduction in a radiator’s heat output falls to just 11% when replaced with a magnetic cover.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497935/original/file-20221129-16-ojhz7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A radiator covered in a wooden casing next to a bed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497935/original/file-20221129-16-ojhz7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497935/original/file-20221129-16-ojhz7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497935/original/file-20221129-16-ojhz7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497935/original/file-20221129-16-ojhz7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497935/original/file-20221129-16-ojhz7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497935/original/file-20221129-16-ojhz7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497935/original/file-20221129-16-ojhz7a.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">Many households cover their radiators in wooden casings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/wooden-cover-radiator-314676878">Marko Poplasen/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Lower the temperature</h2>
<p>Room temperatures can also be reduced without sacrificing our own comfort. The extent to which a room is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-48963-y">naturally lit</a> alters our perception of how warm we are.</p>
<p>Warming up <a href="https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/heat-the-human-not-the-home-save-energy/">parts of the body</a> can also trigger a perception response in humans. This process is called <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09613218.2015.989662">spatial alliesthesia</a>. The pleasure we feel from one part of the body being warm can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2015.06.086">improve our overall comfort</a> at lower temperatures.</p>
<h2>4. Save energy in your kitchen</h2>
<p>Cooking can be energy intensive. A conventional oven costs <a href="https://energyguide.org.uk/how-much-electricity-do-appliances-use/">around 71p</a> an hour to run. </p>
<p>Alternative cooking appliances including air-fryers and microwaves use <a href="https://theconversation.com/air-fryers-and-pressure-cookers-how-you-can-save-money-on-your-cooking-bills-192303">significantly less energy</a>. They tend to be smaller than a conventional oven and do not require pre-heating, thus reducing overall energy use. </p>
<p>Many rental properties have their kitchen appliances already installed. But energy savings can be achieved by using them efficiently. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497938/original/file-20221129-12-y1xnou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A pan on an gas stove with steam condensing on the lid." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497938/original/file-20221129-12-y1xnou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497938/original/file-20221129-12-y1xnou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497938/original/file-20221129-12-y1xnou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497938/original/file-20221129-12-y1xnou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497938/original/file-20221129-12-y1xnou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497938/original/file-20221129-12-y1xnou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497938/original/file-20221129-12-y1xnou.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">Cooking in a pan with a lid can save roughly one-third of the energy used when cooking in an uncovered pan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/steel-pan-stands-on-gas-stove-1592343355">Leka Sergeeva/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cooking in a pan with the lid on traps heat and allows the cooking temperature to be maintained with a lower input of energy. This can <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/energy_saving_tips#:%7E:text=Put%20the%20lid%20on%20Cooking%20in%20a%20pan,in%20an%20uncovered%20pan%2C%20according%20to%20Dr%20Reynolds.">save you 30%</a> of the energy used when cooking in an uncovered pan. However, the savings depend on using the right size pan and only heating the amount you need. </p>
<p>A fridge <a href="https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/advice/how-much-electricity-does-a-fridge-use">consumes energy continuously</a>. A pressurised refrigerant fluid absorbs heat from the fridge as it turns from a liquid into a gas. The coils at the back of the fridge then help to cool and condense the refrigerant, releasing heat from the fridge in the process. But dust accumulates on the coils and interferes with the transfer of heat by adding a layer of insulation. Cleaning the coils can deliver energy savings by <a href="https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/seven-tips-to-help-lower-the-cost-of-running-your-fridge-freezer-aG1a84M1Ivan">up to 25%</a>.</p>
<p>By filling empty fridge space with containers, you can also reduce the work your fridge has to do to cool its internal space. This reduces the volume of cool air that escapes each time the door is opened. </p>
<h2>5. Understand your energy use</h2>
<p>However, research has shown that energy-saving advice is unlikely to improve our energy consciousness. One <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/14/1/55/1790108?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false">study</a> found that variable electricity pricing did not induce energy conservation. Although consumers responded by switching their energy use towards cheaper off-peak periods, their overall energy use increased. </p>
<p>What impels us to change our energy use is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800919311607?via%3Dihub">visualising</a> the immediate impact of our energy consumption. Smart meters <a href="https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/guide-to-smart-meters/">visually display</a> our energy use and its associated cost, allowing us to better manage our energy consumption. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378778821003789">study</a> of 200 Danish rental apartments, consumption of electricity, heating and water all fell in rental properties following the installation of a smart meter. But other factors may have also influenced consumers’ behaviour. The researchers found that residents used less energy regardless of whether they actively interacted with the smart meter or not.</p>
<p>The fabric of rental homes is often fixed. But by combining greater awareness of our energy use with improving the efficiency of our living spaces, we can reduce our energy use.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195388/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharon George receives funding from Research England </span></em></p>Renting can be a challenge for environmentally conscious tenants, but there are several ways you can save energy while remaining on good terms with your landlord.Sharon George, Research Chair, Indigenous Approaches to Environmental Management, Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1939972022-11-22T16:52:23Z2022-11-22T16:52:23ZSmart meters show your energy use but here’s how you can actually save money<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495895/original/file-20221117-19-2zesyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C0%2C8155%2C5444&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There are gaps in UK households' understanding of their energy usage</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/smart-energy-meter-kitchen-measuring-electricity-2116196165">Daisy Daisy/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Soaring energy prices are squeezing homes and businesses across the UK and Europe, prompting leaders to implement support measures such as the UK’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-bills-support/energy-bills-support-factsheet-8-september-2022">Energy Price Guarantee</a>. Yet it is often unclear to a consumer how much they are spending on energy. For those not on prepayment meters, there is no direct fee each time a light is switched on or a cup of tea is made. </p>
<p>Energy bills also tend to be paid in average monthly sums spread across a year. This protects households from winter price rises when energy use increases. But it also means that the amount households pay for energy is not directly linked to their daily or monthly energy consumption. This separates households from their energy use and the bills they pay. </p>
<p>Smart electricity meters could change how households use energy. They track a household’s energy use and express the cost on an in-home display. </p>
<p>There are now <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1099629/Q2_2022_Smart_Meters_Statistics_Report.pdf">25.6 million</a> smart meters installed in homes and businesses across the UK. Though the number of installations varies, an additional one million smart meters are installed on average each year. </p>
<p>The UK government believe that smart meters could cut household energy bills by 2–3% on average based on trials from their nationwide <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/831716/smart-meter-roll-out-cost-benefit-analysis-2019.pdf">smart meter roll-out programme</a>. But research <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/277045/key_findings_summary_quantitative_sm_public_attitudes_research_wave_4.pdf">cautions</a> against the benefits of smart meters for households. </p>
<h2>Not so smart meters</h2>
<p>A smart meter can reveal which of a household’s appliances use the most energy. Their proponents argue that they <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421516300039#bib13">support</a> behavioural change and incite discipline over energy use by raising household energy consciousness. But the effectiveness of a smart meter depends on the decision of an individual not to consume or waste energy. </p>
<p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/657766/Leeds_Core_Cities_Green_Deal_Final_Report.pdf">Research</a> that I co-authored found evidence that there are gaps in UK households’ understanding of their energy usage. In other words, many households exhibit what we call a low level of “energy literacy”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A technician servicing his boiler." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496464/original/file-20221121-23-qc5bn3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496464/original/file-20221121-23-qc5bn3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496464/original/file-20221121-23-qc5bn3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496464/original/file-20221121-23-qc5bn3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496464/original/file-20221121-23-qc5bn3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496464/original/file-20221121-23-qc5bn3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496464/original/file-20221121-23-qc5bn3.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">Many households do not understand their heating control systems.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/technician-servicing-gas-boiler-hot-water-182175488">Alexander Raths/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Heating control systems can be complex, often involving timers and zonal controls that regulate the temperature across different rooms. We found that it was common for people to misunderstand these systems. </p>
<p>Some of the households interviewed admitted that they did not know how their boiler worked or how to adjust its controls. Others had their heating on continuously and simply turned the boiler on and off at the wall. This can lead to over or under heating parts of a house, resulting in wasted energy. It is therefore likely that those who respond to the prompts offered by smart meters will already be conscientious energy users. </p>
<p>However, the move away from physical heating controls may exacerbate the problem. Not all people will be able and willing to engage with smart meters. While there is a lack of research into the extent of energy literacy across different social groups in the UK, digital exclusion may leave some households still unable to control their own heating. </p>
<p>Understanding fuel bills is also a part of energy literacy. Research shows that many households have a limited understanding of their energy bills. In a 2021 survey, <a href="https://cdn.literacytrust.org.uk/media/documents/Energy_bills_and_literacy_report_-_final_002.pdf">just 46.6%</a> of the 2,520 UK adult bill payers questioned were able to identify the correct definitions of six terms commonly used on their energy bills. Without guidance, many households will be unable to use the information provided by their smart meter effectively. </p>
<p>Energy suppliers instead accrue considerable benefits from smart meters. A smart meter delivers <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988314001649">information</a> about a home’s energy use to suppliers remotely and reduces the necessity for routine door-to-door meter reads. </p>
<h2>Finding a place for smart meters</h2>
<p>Smart meters may prove valuable for households on variable fuel tariffs, where the per unit price of energy they pay varies at the discretion of their energy supplier. The cost of energy rises during the hours where energy demand is at its highest and falls during periods of lower total energy use.</p>
<p>If smart meters are able to convey instant and future unit energy prices then consumers can shift energy intensive activities, such as washing clothing, towards cheaper periods including overnight. The National Grid is trialling a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63483668">scheme</a> which will compensate energy suppliers for offering households discounts on their electricity bills for reducing their energy use during peak times. The scheme applies to homes with smart meters, who receive an alert 24 hours before the test session. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two Tesla Powerwalls, the company's household energy storage system, mounted on a wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495897/original/file-20221117-23-6q2h5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495897/original/file-20221117-23-6q2h5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495897/original/file-20221117-23-6q2h5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495897/original/file-20221117-23-6q2h5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495897/original/file-20221117-23-6q2h5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495897/original/file-20221117-23-6q2h5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495897/original/file-20221117-23-6q2h5m.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">Battery storage can save homeowners money on their energy bills.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/austin-texas-usa-july-19th-2021-2015851994">Roschetzky Photography/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Energy can also be stored in house batteries and in electric cars. Variable tariffs would allow them to be recharged when energy is cheap and used during periods of peak energy use. Initial trials conducted by renewable energy company Octopus Energy revealed that charging batteries using variably priced energy could save households up to <a href="https://octopus.energy/blog/agile-powervault-trial/">£580 per year</a>. </p>
<p>This would also accelerate the transition towards electrified household heating. If enough homes use variably priced energy to recharge storage batteries and use them to satisfy their peak energy demand, the requirement for backup energy sources to bolster electricity generation during periods of high demand is reduced. </p>
<p>Smart meters may be ineffective at encouraging greater energy consciousness. But in the future they may allow households to take advantage of a flexible energy grid built around variable pricing and energy storage. But given the current energy crisis, there is limited opportunity to switch energy tariffs. When the situation changes in the future, it is likely that smart meters will play a larger role in household energy consumption.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193997/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Glew 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 government is rolling out smart meters across the UK, but at present they are providing households with little benefit.David Glew, Head of Energy Efficiency and Policy, Leeds Beckett UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1937062022-11-10T02:28:00Z2022-11-10T02:28:00ZAustralia’s record on energy efficiency has been woeful for decades, but that could be about to change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494562/original/file-20221110-11077-fjlwnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=186%2C0%2C4113%2C2740&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>Over many years, Australia has barely increased the efficiency of its energy use. Energy consumption per dollar of GDP <a href="https://ccep.crawford.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/publication/ccep_crawford_anu_edu_au/2020-11/ccep_20-08_working_paper_hugh_saddler.pdf">decreased</a> by an average of only 1% per year from 2002-03 to 2018-19. Over the same period, energy consumption per person actually increased by an average of 0.2% per year.</p>
<p>Of 20 comparable developed countries, Portugal is the only other one to have recorded such an increase over the 15 years to 2020. (The two most recent years are excluded because the impacts of COVID distort these data.) </p>
<p>All the other countries, including European Union members, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Japan, <a href="https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/P1096-Back-of-the-Pack-110821.pdf">cut their energy consumption</a>, some by over 20%. The decrease for the United States was 12%.</p>
<p>The energy we use to support economic activity and supply essential services to consumers remains a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. That makes it timely that the Australian government today released a <a href="https://consult.dcceew.gov.au/neps-consultation-paper">consultation paper</a> on what it calls its National Energy Performance Strategy. The strategy is due to be delivered in mid-2023.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-failed-miserably-on-energy-efficiency-and-government-figures-hide-the-truth-123176">Australia has failed miserably on energy efficiency – and government figures hide the truth</a>
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<hr>
<h2>What is energy performance?</h2>
<p>The term energy performance usually refers to the technical performance of equipment that uses energy, such as a motor vehicle or a refrigerator. In this context, improved performance means reduced energy consumption to achieve a given output, such as distance travelled or cold temperature maintained. </p>
<p>The paper explains that its use of the term energy performance is intended “to encapsulate the broad management of energy demand. It includes energy efficiency, load shifting, fuel switching and behaviour change.” </p>
<p>This is a clever change in language, for several reasons. The first is that it uses a term that the public probably understands better than “energy productivity”. That was the term both the Gillard and Abbott governments used in white papers published in 2012 and 2015, respectively. </p>
<p>The second reason is that it moves thinking away from a near-exclusive focus on price signals and market efficiency, and towards technologies and engineering. The former approach dominated the policy discussion in both the white papers.</p>
<p>The third reason is that including load shifting and fuel switching will make it easier for the strategy to become a major component of overall emissions reduction policy. For example, load switching means people with rooftop solar shift some of their electricity use from night to day, thereby cutting consumption of coal-fired electricity. Fuel switching can mean replacing a gas heating appliance with a <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">far more efficient electric heat pump</a> alternative. </p>
<p>Both approaches, if used appropriately, can reduce emissions and energy costs, without necessarily reducing the quantity of energy used.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1508859028268584966"}"></div></p>
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<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>
<h2>What are the benefits of improving performance?</h2>
<p>All four of the activities included with energy performance – energy efficiency, load shifting, fuel switching and behaviour change – will be able to reduce the cost of buying the energy needed to deliver an enormous range of goods and services. Lower energy costs mean lower operating costs for businesses and not-for-profit organisations and lower living costs for Australians. </p>
<p>This should not be seen as in any way diminishing the importance of reducing energy use by increasing energy efficiency. As advocates for stronger energy-efficiency policies and programs have long pointed out, improving energy efficiency in housing increases comfort and health, as well as reducing costs. The consultation paper endorses this approach. </p>
<p>The paper also points out that, for these reasons, for some years now, the International Energy Agency has termed energy efficiency the “first fuel”.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-buildings-are-driving-us-closer-to-climate-hell-how-do-we-get-back-on-course-to-net-zero-194166">Our buildings are driving us closer to 'climate hell' – how do we get back on course to net zero?</a>
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<h2>Paper’s focus on governance is welcome</h2>
<p>The consultation paper is structured as sets of questions on particular topics. Significantly, the first topic is not about policies and programs directed at particular groups of energy users. Instead, it’s about what the paper terms governance. </p>
<p>Nationally, Australia has had policies and programs relating to energy efficiency for over 40 years. The Fraser government first introduced such measures, focused on oil consumption, in response to the so-called second oil crisis in 1979. Since then, federal and state governments from both sides of politics have introduced, pursued and abandoned a wide range of energy-efficiency policies and activities. </p>
<p>In recent years, many policies were abandoned or progressively defunded. There were few significant new initiatives, with some state-level exceptions. Energy policies have been almost entirely concerned with the “big league” issues of energy markets, energy supply and energy security. </p>
<p>It is therefore most significant that this paper prioritises, under the heading of governance, the “need to strengthen the role of demand-side considerations in energy system planning”. It also includes, under governance, consideration of formal efficiency targets. Such targets are an important part of the policies of most of the better-performing countries.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tracking-the-transition-the-forgotten-emissions-undoing-the-work-of-australias-renewable-energy-boom-162506">Tracking the transition: the ‘forgotten’ emissions undoing the work of Australia's renewable energy boom</a>
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</em>
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<hr>
<h2>All sectors are under review</h2>
<p>The paper then moves on to examine policy actions in each of the main energy-consuming sectors: residential, commercial and industrial. </p>
<p>The fifth and last topic is supply chains and workforce. These aspects have gained prominence in broader policy discourse over the past couple of years. Some observers see them as being among as the largest potential barriers to a successful transition of the energy system to a low-emissions future.</p>
<p>Comprehensive action is needed to make up for Australia’s woeful performance of recent decades. We will have to transform consumption and efficiency across the full range of activities that depend on energy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193706/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hugh Saddler does paid consultancy work relating to energy efficiency and fuel switching policy. </span></em></p>Australia is an exception among developed nations in having increased energy use per person since 2005. A new consultation paper offers hope of policies that can lift the nation’s energy performance.Hugh Saddler, Honorary Associate Professor, Centre for Climate Economics and Policy, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1941662022-11-09T19:00:22Z2022-11-09T19:00:22ZOur buildings are driving us closer to ‘climate hell’ – how do we get back on course to net zero?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494357/original/file-20221109-17-a4qjc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C351%2C4580%2C3097&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>More and more of the world’s people are feeling the impacts of climate change. As United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said when <a href="https://unfccc.int/cop27">COP27</a> opened this week: “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.” </p>
<p>Much of the weight on the accelerator is coming from the construction and building sector. Accounting for 37% of global carbon dioxide emissions, the built environment is a major part of the climate change problem. That also means it can and must be a key part of the solution.</p>
<p>The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has just released its <a href="https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/41133">2022 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction</a> at COP27. Its findings are alarming. </p>
<p>The sector’s energy consumption and emissions have rebounded from the COVID pandemic to an all-time high. Emissions are 2% higher than the previous peak in 2019. </p>
<p>The report says the reasons include revival of construction activity suppressed during lockdowns, and more intensive use of existing buildings. </p>
<p>In 2021, buildings accounted for more than 34% of the world’s total energy demand. This figure includes embodied energy that goes into construction materials and processes, and operational energy that goes into running buildings. The sector produced about 37% of CO₂ emissions. </p>
<p>The gap between the sector’s performance and what needs to be done to achieve decarbonisation by 2050 is widening – despite a 16% increase in investments in building energy efficiency from 2020 to 2021. </p>
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<h2>How do we measure progress?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement">Paris Agreement</a> seeks to avoid catastrophic climate change by limiting global warming to 1.5°C and no more than 2°C. The <a href="https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/HS_ActionTable_2.1.pdf">Human Settlements Pathway</a> of the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action identifies two objectives which are building momentum across the sector:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>by 2030, halve built environment emissions, with 100% of new buildings to be net-zero carbon in operation</p></li>
<li><p>by 2050, all new and existing built assets must be net zero across their whole life cycle, including both embodied and operational emissions.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>To <a href="https://www.bpie.eu/publication/a-methodology-for-tracking-decarbonisation-action-and-impact-of-the-buildings-and-construction-sector-globally-developing-the-globalabc-building-climate-tracker/">track the decarbonisation progress</a>, the <a href="https://www.bpie.eu/publication/eu-buildings-climate-tracker-urgency-to-close-the-buildings-decarbonisation-gap/">Global Buildings Climate Tracker</a> has mapped a direct reference path to a target of zero-carbon building stock in 2050. The tracker has seven components:</p>
<p><strong>3 impact elements:</strong> </p>
<ul>
<li><p>CO₂ emissions</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:Energy_intensity">energy intensity</a></p></li>
<li><p>share of renewables in buildings’ energy use.</p></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>4 action elements:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><p>investing in energy efficiency</p></li>
<li><p>green building certification</p></li>
<li><p>nationally determined contributions to include building sector action</p></li>
<li><p>building codes and regulations.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>So why is the sector going backwards?</h2>
<p>At first glance, the report offers some good news when comparing the 2021 trends to the 2015 baseline data. However, the overriding change is gross floor area, which has increased by 11% – 24 billion square metres – since 2015. This growth in construction, which is predicted to continue beyond 2050, is outweighing progress in other areas. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-green-trifecta-how-a-concrete-alternative-can-cut-emissions-resource-use-and-waste-192501">A green trifecta: how a concrete alternative can cut emissions, resource use and waste</a>
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<p>In addition, energy intensity has stagnated, falling by only 0.7%. Three-quarters of countries still do not have mandatory energy-efficiency standards for all building types. While an increasing number mention buildings in their nationally determined contributions, many still don’t have detailed plans for achieving net-zero emissions from the sector by 2050.</p>
<p><strong>Global buildings and construction trends, 2015 and 2021</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494343/original/file-20221109-24-26vl2o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Vertical bar chart showing trends in key construction and building energy use and emissions for 2015 and 2021" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494343/original/file-20221109-24-26vl2o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494343/original/file-20221109-24-26vl2o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494343/original/file-20221109-24-26vl2o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494343/original/file-20221109-24-26vl2o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494343/original/file-20221109-24-26vl2o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494343/original/file-20221109-24-26vl2o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494343/original/file-20221109-24-26vl2o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/41133">Source: 2022 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction/UNEP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What does this mean for efforts to limit climate change?</h2>
<p>Overall, the report shows we have made less than half the progress we should have made on decarbonising the sector at this stage. </p>
<p>The gap has increased this year, meaning the situation is getting worse, not better. Urgent action is needed to get the sector back on track to zero net emissions by 2050.</p>
<p><strong>Building sector performance compared to pathway to zero carbon by 2050</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494345/original/file-20221109-20-o5zngv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="line graphs showing building sector performance compared to required pathway to net zero" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494345/original/file-20221109-20-o5zngv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494345/original/file-20221109-20-o5zngv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494345/original/file-20221109-20-o5zngv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494345/original/file-20221109-20-o5zngv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494345/original/file-20221109-20-o5zngv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494345/original/file-20221109-20-o5zngv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494345/original/file-20221109-20-o5zngv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/41133">Source: 2022 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction/UNEP. Adapted by the Buildings Performance Institute Europe. </a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The report highlights the need to consider whole lifecycle approaches to emissions. That means taking into account emissions from the manufacture of materials and construction activity, through to the operation of buildings and then end-of-life demolition and waste. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2020.110287">research in 2020</a> found total lifecycle emissions from the new homes required for Australia’s growing population greatly exceeded our emissions targets. Federal government projections potentially underestimated emissions by 96%.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/7-star-housing-is-a-step-towards-zero-carbon-but-theres-much-more-to-do-starting-with-existing-homes-189542">7-star housing is a step towards zero carbon – but there's much more to do, starting with existing homes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What can be done to get emissions on track?</h2>
<p>The report’s recommendations focus on strengthening:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>policies, targets and regulations</p></li>
<li><p>investment and finance </p></li>
<li><p>materials, with a focus on the construction supply chain, life cycle and circular economy.</p></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Growth in energy demand and floor area under scenario of net zero by 2050</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494356/original/file-20221109-14-o5zngv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="vertical bar chart showing Global buildings energy demand and floor area growth under the IEA Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494356/original/file-20221109-14-o5zngv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494356/original/file-20221109-14-o5zngv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494356/original/file-20221109-14-o5zngv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494356/original/file-20221109-14-o5zngv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494356/original/file-20221109-14-o5zngv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494356/original/file-20221109-14-o5zngv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494356/original/file-20221109-14-o5zngv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=315&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"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/41133">Source: 2022 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction/UNEP. Adapted from Tracking Clean Energy Progress/IEA 2021</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-afford-to-just-build-greener-we-must-build-less-170570">We can't afford to just build greener. We must build less</a>
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<p>Priorities in Australia are to urgently update our building regulations; shift business models and investment to prioritise net-zero buildings and construction; and secure the electricity grid’s transition to renewable energy generation.</p>
<p>While the 2022 <a href="https://ncc.abcb.gov.au/news/2022/whats-new-about-ncc-2022">National Construction Code update</a> increased energy-efficiency standards, further changes are needed to meet 2050 goals. Revisions to the code are notoriously slow, but the need for more action is urgent. </p>
<p>Australia is also yet to consider embodied carbon emissions in the construction, refurbishment and retrofitting of buildings, or the ongoing embodied emissions due to tenancy changes or home improvements. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/better-building-standards-are-good-for-the-climate-your-health-and-your-wallet-heres-what-the-national-construction-code-could-do-better-166669">Better building standards are good for the climate, your health, and your wallet. Here's what the National Construction Code could do better</a>
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<p>We have seen improvements as a result of the <a href="https://www.cbd.gov.au/">Commercial Building Disclosure Program</a> requiring commercial buildings to display their environmental rating under the <a href="https://www.nabers.gov.au/about/what-nabers">NABERS</a> standards. While no minimum requirements have yet been set, this program has helped to cut operational emissions. </p>
<p>However, unlike Europe, the <a href="https://www.nabers.gov.au/">NABERS</a> rating generally only measures the base building operational emissions (as required under the Commercial Building Disclosure Program). It’s missing a big piece of the puzzle, tenancy emissions. </p>
<p>Despite the level of construction activity, most of the building stock has already been built and will not be replaced for decades. This means a retrofit program is needed. </p>
<p>It’s a huge challenge. For example, the City of Melbourne’s target of <a href="https://participate.melbourne.vic.gov.au/zero-carbon-buildings-melbourne">zero-carbon buildings</a> by 2040 requires about 77 buildings to be retrofitted every year. </p>
<h2>We have the know-how but need political will</h2>
<p>We need <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-cities-policies-are-seriously-inadequate-for-tackling-the-climate-crisis-182769">political will and broadscale investment</a> to bring about the scale of changes required to achieve net-zero buildings. Impetus is building, but it needs to translate into big <a href="https://theconversation.com/cop26-cities-create-over-70-of-energy-related-emissions-heres-what-must-change-171307">structural changes in policy</a>, finance, materials supply chains and energy systems.</p>
<p>The good news is we already have the capacity and know-how we need to steer our buildings sector onto a net-zero trajectory and off the highway to climate hell.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194166/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Hurlimann receives funding from the Australian Research Council's Discovery Grant Program for Project DP200101378 - 'Integrating Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in Built Environments'. Anna is a Member of the Planning Institute of Australia and Planners for Climate Action (UN-HABITAT). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Georgia Warren-Myers receives funding from Australian Research Council, the Australian Property Research and Education Fund and New South Wales government. She is a Certified Practising Valuer with the Australian Property Institute, and is affiliated with Australian Property Institute National Standards Steering Committee, the International Valuation Standards ESG Working Group, the Green Building Council of Australia Homes Advisory Panel, Investor Group on Climate Change, Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council, and Victorian government - Residential Efficiency Scorecard Program Advisory Group.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Judy Bush receives funding from the Australian Research Council for the Discovery project Integrating Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in Built Environments (DP200101378). She is a member of the Planning Institute of Australia</span></em></p>Constructing and running buildings accounts for roughly a third of global energy use and emissions. So it’s alarming that a report to COP27 shows the sector is veering off course for net zero by 2050.Anna Hurlimann, Associate Professor in Urban Planning, The University of MelbourneGeorgia Warren-Myers, Associate Professor in Property, The University of MelbourneJudy Bush, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1857112022-09-07T20:08:20Z2022-09-07T20:08:20ZHeat pumps can cut your energy costs by up to 90%. It’s not magic, just a smart use of the laws of physics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482251/original/file-20220901-19-myzx7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C11%2C7360%2C4891&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>Heat pumps are becoming all the rage around a world that has to slash carbon emissions rapidly while cutting energy costs. In buildings, they replace space heating and water heating – and provide cooling as a bonus. </p>
<p>A heat pump extracts heat from outside, concentrates it (using an electric compressor) to raise the temperature, and pumps the heat to where it is needed. Indeed, millions of Australian homes already have heat pumps in the form of refrigerators and reverse-cycle air conditioners bought for cooling. They can heat as well, and save a lot of money compared with other forms of heating! </p>
<p>Even before the restrictions on Russian gas supply, <a href="https://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/heat-pumps/top-countries">many European countries</a> were rolling out heat pumps – even in cold climates. Now, <a href="https://rmi.org/eu-looks-to-cut-reliance-on-russian-gas-with-new-investment-in-heat-pumps/">government policies are accelerating change</a>. The United States, which has had very cheap gas in recent years, has joined the rush: President Joe Biden has <a href="https://theconversation.com/biden-just-declared-heat-pumps-and-solar-panels-essential-to-national-defense-heres-why-and-the-challenges-ahead-184632">declared</a> heat pumps are “essential to the national defence” and ordered production be ramped up. </p>
<p>The ACT government is encouraging electrification of buildings using heat pumps, and is <a href="https://www.parliament.act.gov.au/parliamentary-business/in-committees/committees/eccb/inquiry-into-climate-change-and-greenhouse-gas-reduction-natural-gas-transition-amendment-bill-2022">considering legislation</a> to mandate this in new housing developments. The Victorian government recently launched a <a href="https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/gas/victorias-gas-substitution-roadmap">Gas Substitution Roadmap</a> and is reframing its incentives programs towards heat pumps. Other states and territories are also reviewing policies.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1533844491819487232"}"></div></p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/biden-just-declared-heat-pumps-and-solar-panels-essential-to-national-defense-heres-why-and-the-challenges-ahead-184632">Biden just declared heat pumps and solar panels essential to national defense – here's why and the challenges ahead</a>
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<h2>Just how big are the energy cost savings?</h2>
<p>Relative to an electric fan heater or traditional electric hot water service, I calculate a heat pump can save 60-85% on energy costs, which is a similar range to <a href="https://www.climatechoices.act.gov.au/energy/energy-efficiency/heating-for-your-home">ACT government estimates</a>.</p>
<p>Comparisons with gas are tricky, as efficiencies and energy prices vary a lot. Typically, though, a heat pump costs around half as much for heating as gas. If, instead of exporting your excess rooftop solar output, you use it to run a heat pump, I calculate it will be up to 90% cheaper than gas. </p>
<p>Heat pumps are also good for the climate. My calculations show a typical heat pump using average Australian electricity from the grid will cut emissions by about a quarter relative to gas, and three-quarters relative to an electric fan or panel heater. </p>
<p>If a high-efficiency heat pump replaces inefficient gas heating or runs mainly on solar, reductions can be much bigger. The gap is widening as zero-emission renewable electricity replaces coal and gas generation, and heat pumps become even more efficient.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482431/original/file-20220902-23-rtcxln.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Horizontal bar chart showing cost savings for a typical home using electric and split systems for heating compared to gas heating" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482431/original/file-20220902-23-rtcxln.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482431/original/file-20220902-23-rtcxln.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482431/original/file-20220902-23-rtcxln.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482431/original/file-20220902-23-rtcxln.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482431/original/file-20220902-23-rtcxln.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=772&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482431/original/file-20220902-23-rtcxln.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=772&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482431/original/file-20220902-23-rtcxln.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=772&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"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0037/579907/Victorias-Gas-Substitution-Roadmap.pdf">Data: State of Victoria Gas Substitution Roadmap 2022</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/good-news-theres-a-clean-energy-gold-rush-under-way-well-need-it-to-tackle-energy-price-turbulence-and-coals-exodus-188804">Good news – there's a clean energy gold rush under way. We'll need it to tackle energy price turbulence and coal's exodus</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How do heat pumps work?</h2>
<p>Heat pumps available today achieve 300-600% efficiency - that is, for each unit of electricity consumed, they produce three to six units of heat. Heat pumps can operate in freezing conditions too. </p>
<p>How is this possible, when the maximum efficiency of traditional electric and gas heaters is 100%, and cold air is cold?</p>
<p>It’s not magic. Think about your fridge, which is a small heat pump. Inside the fridge is a cold panel called an evaporator. It absorbs heat from the warm food and other sources, because heat flows naturally from a warmer object to a cooler object. The electric motor under the fridge drives a compressor that concentrates the heat to a higher temperature, which it dumps into your kitchen. The sides and back of a typical fridge get warm as this happens. So your fridge cools the food while heating the kitchen a bit.</p>
<p>A heat pump obeys the laws of thermodynamics, which allow it to operate at efficiencies from 200% to over 1,000% in theory. But the bigger the temperature difference, the less efficient the heat pump is. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1419295134496210949"}"></div></p>
<p>If a heat pump needs to draw heat from the environment, how can it work in cold weather? Remember your fridge keeps the freezer compartment cold while pumping heat into your kitchen. The laws of physics are at play. What we experience as a cold temperature is actually quite hot: it’s all relative.</p>
<p>Outer space is close to a temperature known as absolute zero, zero degrees Kelvin, or –273°C. So a temperature of 0°C (at which water freezes), or even the recommended freezer temperature of -18°C, is actually quite hot relative to outer space. </p>
<p>The main problem for a heat pump in “cold” weather is that ice can form on its heat exchanger, as water vapour in the air cools and condenses, then freezes. This ice blocks the air flow that normally provides the “hot” air to the heat pump. Heat pumps can be designed to minimise this problem.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heat-pumps-uk-to-install-600-000-a-year-by-2028-but-electrical-grid-will-need-massive-investment-to-cope-168221">Heat pumps: UK to install 600,000 a year by 2028 but electrical grid will need massive investment to cope</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How do you choose the right heat pump for your home?</h2>
<p>Selecting a suitable heat pump (more commonly known as a reverse-cycle air conditioner) can be tricky, as most advisers are used to discussing gas options. Resources such as <a href="https://www.yourhome.gov.au/">yourhome.gov.au</a>, <a href="https://www.choice.com.au/home-and-living/heating/home-heating/buying-guide/your-guide-to-home-heating">choice.com.au</a> and the popular Facebook page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/MyEfficientElectricHome/">My Efficient Electric Home</a> can help. </p>
<p>All household units must carry energy labels (see <a href="https://www.energyrating.gov.au/">energyrating.gov.au</a>): the more stars the better. The independent <a href="https://fairair.com.au/">FairAir</a> web calculator allows you to estimate heating and cooling requirements of a home and the size needed to maintain comfort.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482250/original/file-20220901-13-pgqjye.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Energy rating label for reverse-cycle air conditioner showing performance for different climate zones" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482250/original/file-20220901-13-pgqjye.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482250/original/file-20220901-13-pgqjye.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482250/original/file-20220901-13-pgqjye.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482250/original/file-20220901-13-pgqjye.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482250/original/file-20220901-13-pgqjye.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482250/original/file-20220901-13-pgqjye.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482250/original/file-20220901-13-pgqjye.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&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 government is phasing in this climate zone label to replace the old star rating label on reverse-cycle air conditioners. Unfortunately, the phase-in is slow, so many products still do not show climate-related performance differences.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bigger heat pumps are more expensive, so unnecessary oversizing can cost a lot more. Also, insulating, sealing drafts and other building efficiency measures allow you to buy a smaller, cheaper heat pump that will use even less energy and provide better comfort.</p>
<p>When using a heat pump, it is very important to clean its filter every few months. A blocked filter reduces efficiency and the heating and cooling output. If you have an older heat pump that no longer delivers as much heat (or cooling), it may have lost some refrigerant and need a top-up.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185711/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Pears provides advice and consults to the Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity and Energy Efficiency Council as well as governments and community groups such as Renew on issues related to heat pumps. </span></em></p>Heat pumps use a fraction of the energy of traditional electric or gas heaters, which means they slash both energy costs and emissions.Alan Pears, Senior Industry Fellow, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1899482022-09-05T20:03:48Z2022-09-05T20:03:48ZMigration boost is bad news for Australia’s environment – we mustn’t ignore that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482656/original/file-20220905-26-le5ee7.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><p>An increase in the permanent migrant intake to 195,000 this year is one of the jobs summit outcomes <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/albanese-to-act-on-queue-of-1-million-migrants-20220902-p5bet8.html">announced</a> by the federal government on Friday. The business community pushed for this change, saying shortages of skilled employees are holding back the economy. </p>
<p>The downsides of increasing migration, which will almost certainly worsen our environmental problems, weren’t mentioned. We can expect public debate about lifting migration to pre-pandemic levels. It’s essential for this debate to consider the whole picture: the economic, social and environmental issues. </p>
<p>Migration has environmental impacts because it increases our population, with proportional increases in resource use and waste products. Our population has grown by 50% since 1990, from <a href="https://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/free.nsf/0/75BCBABB48FFB690CA2576DC001602B4/$File/31010_06_1990.pdf">17 million</a> to almost <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/1647509ef7e25faaca2568a900154b63?OpenDocument">26 million</a> today. Our energy use has risen from <a href="https://stats.o4ecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode+AIR%20GHG">4,000 petajoules a year to 6,200</a>, increasing our greenhouse gas emissions by around 50%. </p>
<p>The demands of the human population are causing, directly or indirectly, all of Australia’s serious environmental problems. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-summit-triggers-immediate-action-and-elevates-gender-equality-189883">View from The Hill: Summit triggers immediate action and elevates gender equality</a>
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<h2>Pressures on the environment are growing</h2>
<p>Since 1996, there have seen six independent <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/science-research/soe">State of the Environment</a> reports to the Australian government. I chaired the advisory council that produced the first. </p>
<p>This <a>1996 report</a> found much of Australia’s environment was in good condition by international standards. But we also had serious problems: loss of biodiversity, the state of inland rivers, degradation of productive land, pressures on the coastal zone, and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. </p>
<p>The five reports since then have documented the worsening of those problems. The most <a href="https://soe.dcceew.gov.au/overview/key-findings">recent report</a> said our environment is in poor condition and deteriorating. It found “many species and ecosystems are increasingly threatened” and noted “abrupt changes in ecological systems” in recent years.</p>
<p>As the 1996 report said, no single government or commercial sector is to blame for our environmental problems. In a sense, we are all indirectly responsible. The issues are the cumulative consequences of the growth and distribution of our population, our lifestyle choices, the technologies we use and the demands we make on our natural resources. </p>
<p>The latest report <a href="https://soe.dcceew.gov.au/overview/pressures/people">observes</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Humans drive many of the pressures on our environment. Our activities, settlements and use of resources all affect the environment and its assets in different ways.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The report notes the particular pressures of population growth on the coastal zone, where most Australians live. Australian cities are growing faster than those in most other affluent countries, it says. </p>
<p>That growth has increased demand for resources such as water and energy as well as increasing impacts such as “urban heat, congestion, pollution and waste”. The <a href="https://www.planning.org.au/documents/item/9431#:%7E:text=The%20Tipping%20Point%20is%20an,are%20maintained%20for%20future%20generations">demands of a growing population</a> have led to land clearing, reduced green space, more pollution and the loss of biodiversity.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/state-of-the-environment-report-shows-our-growing-cities-are-under-pressure-but-were-seeing-positive-signs-too-187265">State of the Environment report shows our growing cities are under pressure – but we’re seeing positive signs too</a>
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<h2>Today’s decisions shape tomorrow’s Australia</h2>
<p>The decisions being made now have a substantial effect on what Australia will look like in the future. As a <a href="https://population.org.au/discussion-papers/climate/">report</a> I wrote with Jane O'Sullivan and Peter Cook in February this year said, with net migration below 60,000 a year the population would stabilise around 30-35 million by 2050. The newly announced 195,000 a year could lift it to about 40 million.</p>
<p>It is sometimes claimed migration simply shifts environmental impacts from one country to another and so does no extra damage to the planet. This would be true if migrants all came from countries with the same resource demands as us. But most economic migrants come to Australia precisely because our material standard of living is higher and they want to enjoy those benefits. </p>
<p>Pre-pandemic <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-20/where-do-migrants-to-australia-come-from-chart/10133560?nw=0&r=HtmlFragment">figures from 2016-17</a>, for example, showed about 170,000 migrants coming from countries with much lower resource use. About 50,000 came from affluent countries in which resource use is typically about half that in Australia. Only about 5,000 were from places where material demand is similar to ours. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chinese-migrants-follow-and-add-to-australian-city-dwellers-giant-ecological-footprints-103921">Chinese migrants follow and add to Australian city dwellers' giant ecological footprints</a>
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<p>No doubt we could do many things to reduce the impacts of our growing population. We could, for instance, improve urban planning. We could also shift more rapidly to cleaner energy systems that embrace efficiency improvements <a href="https://www.ceem.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/UNSW%20NFEEExecSum.pdf">recommended</a> nearly 20 years ago to the Howard government. And we could adopt legally enforceable national environmental standards, as recommended by the <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au/resources/final-report">2020 Samuel review</a>, which found our environmental laws are ineffective.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1285044903655821312"}"></div></p>
<p>The fundamental need, though, is to upgrade our decision-making so environmental issues are always part of the calculus. Current thinking seems to presume the economy has over-riding importance and the environment just has to cope with the impacts. </p>
<h2>Even the economic benefits are debated</h2>
<p>Even the view that increasing migration produces economic benefits is not universal among economists. A 2016 <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/economic-migration-and-australia-21st-century">Lowy Institute report</a>, citing published research and a <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/migrant-intake#report">Productivity Commission report</a>, claimed “a sustained high rate of net immigration […] appears to be necessary to stave off long-term population decline and is likely to result in higher GDP per capita and labour productivity”. </p>
<p>On the other hand, a 2014 <a href="https://www.oecd.org/migration/OECD%20Migration%20Policy%20Debates%20Numero%202.pdf">OECD review</a> referred to a <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/international-migration-outlook-2013/the-fiscal-impact-of-immigration-in-oecd-countries_migr_outlook-2013-6-en">study of impacts of migration</a> to OECD countries. It concluded “the impact of the cumulative waves of migration that arrived over the past 50 years […] is on average close to zero”. It was positive in some cases, negative in others, “rarely exceeding 0.5 per cent of GDP”.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-education-or-immigration-the-answer-to-our-skills-shortage-we-asked-50-economists-189388">Is education or immigration the answer to our skills shortage? We asked 50 economists</a>
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<p>Even those who believe increasing migration has economic benefits, such as the Lowy Institute report authors, concede that “accompanying policies are necessary to ensure that these net benefits are distributed fairly and that the social and environmental effects of increased population are managed properly”. </p>
<p>Increasing public hostility to high levels of migration is a direct consequence of failure to manage the social impacts. Urban infrastructure has not kept pace with increasing demands. As a result, the <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/profile-of-australias-population">three in four</a> Australians who live in our major cities see their quality of life getting worse. </p>
<h2>We can’t ignore the big picture</h2>
<p>Unless we reduce our demands per person, our growing population inevitably increases pressures on our environment. We need to look beyond simplistic economic assumptions and consider the whole picture. </p>
<p>As the latest State of the Environment report <a href="https://soe.dcceew.gov.au/overview/key-findings">concludes</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Our health, living standards, cultural and spiritual fulfilment and connection to country are all interconnected and are negatively impacted by our deteriorating environment.” </p>
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<p><em>Note: A quote by John Quiggin has been removed from the original version of this article because it didn’t accurately represent his views.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189948/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Lowe was president of the Australian Conservation Foundation from 2004 to 2014. </span></em></p>A fast-growing population – 50% bigger than it was in 1990 – is causing, directly or indirectly, all of Australia’s serious environmental problems. These impacts must be central to decision-making.Ian Lowe, Emeritus Professor, School of Environment and Science, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1873332022-07-20T12:22:30Z2022-07-20T12:22:30ZHow record-setting heat waves in cities across UK, US and mainland Europe could punish economies already reeling from inflation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474973/original/file-20220719-12-ooexrc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=161%2C161%2C5829%2C3952&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A runner tries to beat the heat by working out in the morning. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/EuropeHeatPhotoGallery/6650aed45af1472392f1f79f19ce3c34/photo?Query=heat&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=112379&currentItemNo=45">AP Photo/Michael Probst</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hundreds of millions of people struggled to keep cool amid a sweltering summer heat wave as cities across the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/22/weather/heat-wave-southeast-wednesday/index.html">U.S.</a> and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/14/weather/western-europe-heat-wave-wildfires-intl/index.html">mainland Europe</a> experienced <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/07/19/heat-wave-europe-climate-change/">record-high temperatures</a>. In the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/07/19/europe-heatwave-uk-temperature-record-broken/10094289002">U.K.</a>, thermometers topped 104 Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) on July 19, 2022, the highest ever recorded.</p>
<p>While all this broiling heat is surely punishing on a personal level, it also has significant impacts on the broader economy.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://www.dereklemoine.com">economist who has studied</a> the <a href="http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=614D6AEAAAAJ">effects of weather and climate change</a>, I have examined a large body of work that links heat to economic outcomes. Here are four ways extreme heat hurts the economy. </p>
<h2>1. Growth takes a hit</h2>
<p>Research has found that extreme heat can directly hurt economic growth. </p>
<p>For example, a 2018 study found that the economies of U.S. states <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jmcb.12574">tend to grow at a slower pace</a> during relatively hot summers. The data shows that annual economic growth falls 0.15 to 0.25 percentage points for every 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.56 C) that a state’s average summer temperature is above normal. </p>
<p>Laborers in weather-exposed industries such as construction <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/671766">work fewer hours</a> when it’s hotter. But higher summer temperatures also reduce growth in many industries that tend to involve indoor work, including retail, services and finance. Workers are less productive when it’s hotter out.</p>
<h2>2. Crop yields drop</h2>
<p>Agriculture is obviously exposed to weather: After all, crops grow outdoors. </p>
<p>While temperatures up to around 85 F to 90 F (29-32 C) can benefit crop growth, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0906865106">yields fall sharply</a> when thermostats rise further. Some of the crops that can be hit hard by extreme heat include corn, soybeans and cotton. These reductions in yields could be costly for U.S. agriculture.</p>
<p>For example, a recent study I conducted found that an additional 2 degrees C (3.6 F) of global warming <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w25008">would eliminate profits</a> from an average acre of farmland in the eastern U.S. </p>
<p>A prominent example of this was the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-heat-fires/russia-swelters-in-heatwave-many-crops-destroyed-idUSTRE66F2LX20100716">collapse of the Russian wheat harvest</a> in response to the country’s 2010 heat wave, which raised wheat prices throughout the world.</p>
<h2>3. Energy use soars</h2>
<p>Of course, when it’s hot, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/07/22/your-air-conditioner-is-making-the-heat-wave-worse/">energy use goes up</a> as <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=48796">people and businesses run their air conditioners</a> and other cooling equipment at full blast. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/app.3.4.152">2011 study found</a> that just one extra day with temperatures above 90 F (32 C) increases annual household energy use by 0.4%. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3386/w24397">More recent research</a> shows that energy use increases the most in places that tend to be hotter, probably because more households have air conditioning. </p>
<p>This increase in electricity use on hot days stresses electric grids right when people depend on them most, as seen in <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/8/15/21370128/california-blackouts-rolling-power-outage">California</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/15/climate/texas-heat-wave-electricity.html">Texas</a> during past heat waves. Blackouts can be quite costly for the economy, as inventories of food and other goods can spoil and many businesses either have to run generators or shut down. For instance, the 2019 California blackouts <a href="https://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=93BBC3A5-E6FA-4053-A1A0-532A9714BFC4">cost an estimated US$10 billion</a>. </p>
<h2>4. Education and earnings suffer</h2>
<p>A long-term impact of increasingly hotter weather involves how it affects children’s ability to learn – and thus their future earnings. </p>
<p>Research has shown that hot weather during the school year reduces test scores. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/694177">Math scores decrease more and more</a> as the temperature rises beyond 70 F (21 C). Reading scores are more resistant to high temperatures, which this research claims is consistent with how different regions of the brain respond to heat.</p>
<p>One study suggested that students in schools that lack air conditioning <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20180612">learn 1% less</a> for every 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.56 C) increase in the school year’s average temperature. It also found that minority students are especially affected by hotter school years, as their schools are more likely to lack air conditioning. </p>
<p>Lost learning results in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S1573-4463(99)03011-4">lower lifetime earnings</a> and <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1257/jel.39.4.1101">hurts future economic growth</a>.</p>
<p>The impact of extreme heat on development, in fact, begins before we’re even born. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702436114">Research has found</a> that adults who were exposed to extreme heat as fetuses <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2018.10.001">earn less during their lifetimes</a>. Each extra day with average temperature above 90 F (32 C) reduces earnings 30 years later <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702436114">by 0.1%</a>. </p>
<h2>Air conditioning can help – to a point</h2>
<p>Air conditioning can offset some of these effects. </p>
<p>For example, studies have found that having a working air conditioner means <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/684582">fewer people die</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20180612">student learning isn’t compromised</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702436114">extreme heat outside during pregnancy doesn’t hurt fetuses</a>. </p>
<p>Not everyone has air conditioners, however, especially in states such as <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2021/07/oregon-washington-heat-conditioner.html">Oregon</a> and countries such as the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/18/world/europe/britain-uk-air-conditioning-heat.html">U.K.</a> that have more temperate climates but have nonetheless recently experienced unusually extreme temperatures. And many people <a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/life-new-york-public-housing-no-air-conditioning/">can’t afford</a> to own or operate them. Survey data from 2017 found that <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=31312">around half of homes in the U.S. Pacific Northwest</a>
lacked air conditioning. And <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20180612">about 42% of U.S. classrooms</a> lack an air conditioner. </p>
<p>While heat waves are shown to <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3892429">induce more households</a> to install air conditioning, it’s hardly a panacea. By 2100, higher use of air conditioning could <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/112/19/5962.short">increase residential energy consumption by 83% globally</a>. If that energy comes from fossil fuels, it could end up amplifying the heat waves that are causing the higher demand in the first place.</p>
<p>And in the U.S. South, where air conditioning is omnipresent, hotter-than-usual summers still <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jmcb.12574">take the greatest toll</a> on states’ economic growth.</p>
<p>In other words, as temperatures rise, economies will continue to suffer.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-ways-extreme-heat-hurts-the-economy-164382">article originally published</a> on Aug. 2, 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187333/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek Lemoine 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>The UK recorded blistering hot temperatures as the US and Europe also experienced sweltering heat waves.Derek Lemoine, Associate Professor of Economics, University of ArizonaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1852472022-06-20T19:55:25Z2022-06-20T19:55:25ZIn an energy crisis, every watt counts. So yes, turning off your dishwasher can make a difference<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469699/original/file-20220620-18-ej7oqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C0%2C6000%2C3943&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>Australia’s east coast energy market has been on a rocky road for the past few weeks. It begs the question: how could the market change to avoid the next crisis? </p>
<p>To date, discussion has largely focused on the need to generate <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-a-grid-anyway-making-sense-of-the-complex-beast-that-is-australias-electricity-network-185127">more energy</a>. But there’s another way to ease strain on the system – by using less energy.</p>
<p>Last week, New South Wales residents were asked to find safe ways to consume less power during the evening peak, such as not running dishwashers until after they went to bed. Such actions, when deployed at scale, can make a big difference to shoring up short-term supplies.</p>
<p>But Australia has only scratched the surface of what’s possible when it comes to managing energy demand. As the transition away from fossil fuels continues, we should scrutinise every bit of electricity consumption to make sure it’s needed. It’s not about going without, but making the best use of what’s available.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="city skyline lit up at night" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469696/original/file-20220620-22-vwbjkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C8%2C2986%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469696/original/file-20220620-22-vwbjkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469696/original/file-20220620-22-vwbjkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469696/original/file-20220620-22-vwbjkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469696/original/file-20220620-22-vwbjkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469696/original/file-20220620-22-vwbjkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469696/original/file-20220620-22-vwbjkb.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">Demand management is not about going without energy, but doing more with what we have.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jono Searle/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Getting smart about energy use</h2>
<p>Asking people to reduce electricity use is known in energy circles as “demand management”.</p>
<p>Sometimes it involves paying consumers to use less electricity. That’s because offering financial rewards is far cheaper than blackouts or bringing more emergency reserve supply onto the market. </p>
<p>The current system of demand management is currently geared towards major energy consumers, such as industrial plants. AEMO has <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/one-small-blip-of-demand-response-one-big-leap-to-smart-green-grid/">several</a> <a href="https://aemo.com.au/-/media/files/learn/fact-sheets/rert-fact-sheet-2020.pdf">mechanisms</a> through which it pays big energy users to power down when the system is struggling.</p>
<p>But more can be done to encourage households to reduce their electricity demand. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.agl.com.au/campaigns/peak-energy-rewards">Some</a> energy <a href="https://www.energyaustralia.com.au/home/help-and-support/faqs/power-response">retailers</a> offer incentives to encourage households to reduce their use at given times. It <a href="https://www.agl.com.au/campaigns/peak-energy-rewards">might mean</a> people turning down the heater, using appliances outside peak times or tapping into rooftop solar power stored in home batteries instead of taking power from the grid. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-national-electricity-market-was-just-suspended-heres-why-and-what-happens-next-185136">Australia's National Electricity Market was just suspended. Here's why and what happens next</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Householders signed up to the scheme are sent a text message asking them to propose a reduction in energy use ahead of an expected supply shortage. Credits are paid if the household achieves the reduction. </p>
<p>Reducing household electricity demand will become easier as home appliances become increasingly internet-enabled and remotely controlled. This allows people to, for example, turn off a home appliance while they’re at work. </p>
<p>In future, it could even allow people to opt into a scheme where a retailer temporarily turns off appliances in thousands of homes when they’re unoccupied.</p>
<p>Currently, only a small number of households take part in such schemes – but retailers see much greater potential. For instance, over the next four years Origin Energy proposes to <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/eraring-battery-to-be-built-in-two-stages-as-origin-targets-2gw-virtual-power-plant/">scale up their scheme</a> to 2,000 megawatts – capacity similar to a large power station such as Loy Yang A in Victoria.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="person turns off light switch" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469695/original/file-20220620-22-ey7rre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C25%2C5590%2C3707&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469695/original/file-20220620-22-ey7rre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469695/original/file-20220620-22-ey7rre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469695/original/file-20220620-22-ey7rre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469695/original/file-20220620-22-ey7rre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469695/original/file-20220620-22-ey7rre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469695/original/file-20220620-22-ey7rre.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">There’s huge potential to better manage household energy demand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Net-zero and beyond</h2>
<p>There are many ways to improve the way we currently manage demand – and many of them can lead to lower bills for consumers.</p>
<p>Time-of-use tariffs, which offer cheaper electricity outside peak times, are a key potential measure. Some homes already use the lower overnight electricity rates to heat their hot water. But big energy users have traditionally made most use of these incentives. </p>
<p>As householders increasingly use smart meters – devices that digitally measure energy use – opting into these tariffs will become easier.</p>
<p>Appliances, lighting and heating connected to the internet can dramatically increase the broader power of demand management. Businesses could offer services to, for instance, monitor the wholesale electricity market and remotely turn on electric hot water heaters when prices are cheapest.</p>
<p>Managing energy demand is crucial for the longer-term transition to net-zero emissions. As sectors such as transport and industry become electrified or move to green hydrogen (produced by renewable energy), new supply challenges will emerge.</p>
<p>For heavy industry, reduced energy use – as part of a broader shift away from fossil fuels – will reduce business costs and increase competitiveness. A new <a href="https://energytransitionsinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Setting-up-industrial-regions-for-net-zero-Australian-Industry-ETI-report-JUNE-2022.pdf">report</a>, which we contributed to, shows a coordinated transition could also lead to wider benefits such as thousands of new jobs and cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
<p>The challenge for AEMO is to integrate renewable energy generation and storage, and a far greater use of demand management, into its <a href="https://aemo.com.au/en/energy-systems/major-publications/integrated-system-plan-isp">next plan</a> for the national electricity market.</p>
<p>And much can be done at a household level. Millions of Australian homes are costly to heat or cool because they’re poorly insulated and designed. All levels of government could support the proposed revision of the National Construction Code to increase energy performance standards.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/keen-to-retrofit-your-home-to-lower-its-carbon-footprint-and-save-energy-consider-these-3-things-175921">Keen to retrofit your home to lower its carbon footprint and save energy? Consider these 3 things</a>
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</p>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="homes under construction" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469700/original/file-20220620-16-83rfjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469700/original/file-20220620-16-83rfjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469700/original/file-20220620-16-83rfjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469700/original/file-20220620-16-83rfjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469700/original/file-20220620-16-83rfjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469700/original/file-20220620-16-83rfjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469700/original/file-20220620-16-83rfjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Proposed standards for new homes could improve household energy efficiency.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Russell Freeman/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
<p>Managing demand makes sense well beyond a crisis. Doing it well will go a long way to creating the clean, affordable and reliable energy system Australians need.</p>
<p>The potential for demand management only grows as renewable energy makes the electricity system more decentralised, and technology enables consumers to participate more actively.</p>
<p>The Energy Security Board is taking the right steps by <a href="https://www.energy.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-10/Effective%20integration%20of%20distributed%20energy%20resources.pdf">working on</a> issues such as flexible demand and consumer technology choices. The next test is how well the nation’s energy ministers embrace the power of managing energy demand.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-youre-renting-chances-are-your-home-is-cold-with-power-prices-soaring-heres-what-you-can-do-to-keep-warm-184472">If you're renting, chances are your home is cold. With power prices soaring, here's what you can do to keep warm</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185247/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Malos is part of Climateworks Centre which receives funding from philanthropy and project-specific financial support from a range of private and public entities including federal, state and local government and private sector organisations and international and local non-profit organisations. Climateworks Centre works within Monash University's Sustainable Development Institute.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emi Minghui Gui is part of Climateworks Centre which receives funding from philanthropy and project-specific financial support from a range of private and public entities including federal, state and local government and private sector organisations and international and local non-profit organisations. Climateworks Centre works within Monash University's Sustainable Development Institute. Emi previously worked for AEMO from 2010-2012.</span></em></p>Australia has only scratched the surface of what’s possible when it comes to better managing energy demand.Anna Malos, Climateworks Centre - Country Lead, Australia, Monash UniversityEmi Minghui Gui, Climateworks Centre Energy System Lead, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1819512022-04-27T19:59:54Z2022-04-27T19:59:54ZNet zero by 2050 will hit a major timing problem technology can’t solve. We need to talk about cutting consumption<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459971/original/file-20220427-11-ncf90b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5750%2C3804&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>Many climate activists, scientists, engineers and politicians are trying to reassure us the climate crisis can be solved rapidly without any <a href="https://theconversation.com/study-australians-can-be-sustainable-without-sacrificing-lifestyle-or-economy-50179">changes to lifestyle</a>, society or the economy. </p>
<p>To make the vast scale of change palatable, advocates suggest all we have to do is switch fossil fuels for renewable power, electric vehicles and energy efficiency technologies, add seaweed to livestock feed to cut methane and embrace green hydrogen for heavy industries such as steel-making.</p>
<p>There’s just one problem: time. We’re on a very tight timeline to halve emissions within eight years and hit net zero by 2050. While renewables are making major inroads, the world’s overall primary energy use keeps rising. That means renewables are chasing a retreating target. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/PD8ZAEUFKUDFTKI94QQJ/full?target=10.1080/14693062.2022.2061407">new research</a> shows if the world’s energy consumption grows at the pre-COVID rate, technological change alone will not be enough to halve global CO₂ emissions by 2030. We will have to cut energy consumption 50-75% by 2050 while accelerating the renewable build. And that means lifestyle change driven by social policies. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459973/original/file-20220427-1097-ncf90b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Man installing solar" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459973/original/file-20220427-1097-ncf90b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459973/original/file-20220427-1097-ncf90b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459973/original/file-20220427-1097-ncf90b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459973/original/file-20220427-1097-ncf90b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459973/original/file-20220427-1097-ncf90b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459973/original/file-20220427-1097-ncf90b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459973/original/file-20220427-1097-ncf90b.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">Renewables must be built at a much faster rate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The limitations of technological change</h2>
<p>We must confront a hard fact: In the year 2000, fossil fuels supplied 80% of the world’s <a href="https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-product/world-energy-statistics-and-balances">total primary energy consumption</a>. In 2019, they provided 81%. </p>
<p>How is that possible, you ask, given the soaring growth rate of renewable electricity over that time period? Because world energy consumption has been growing rapidly, apart from a temporary pause in 2020. So far, most of the growth has been supplied by fossil fuels, especially for transportation and non-electrical heating. The 135% growth in renewable electricity over that time frame seems huge, but it started from a small base. That’s why it couldn’t catch fossil fuelled electricity’s smaller percentage increase from a large base.</p>
<p>As a renewable energy researcher, I have no doubt technological change is at the point where we can now affordably deploy it to get to net zero. But the transition is not going to be fast enough on its own. If we don’t hit our climate goals, it’s likely our planet will cross a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03595-0">climate tipping point</a> and begin an irreversible descent into more heatwaves, droughts, floods and sea-level rise. </p>
<p>Our to-do list for a liveable climate is simple: convert essentially all transportation and heating to electricity while switching all electricity production to renewables. But to complete this within three decades is not simple. </p>
<p>Even at much higher rates of renewable growth, we will not be able to replace all fossil fuels by 2050. This is not the fault of renewable energy. Other low-carbon energy sources like nuclear would take much longer to build, and leave us even further behind. </p>
<p>Do we have other tools we can use to buy time? CO₂ capture is getting a great deal of attention, but it seems unlikely to make a significant contribution. The scenarios I explored in my research assume removing CO₂ from the atmosphere by carbon capture and storage or direct air capture does not occur on a large scale, because these technologies are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2020.1728209">speculative, risky and very expensive</a>.</p>
<p>The only scenarios in which we succeed in replacing fossil fuels in time require something quite different. We can keep global warming under 2°C if we slash global energy consumption by 50% to 75% by 2050 as well as greatly accelerating the transition to 100% renewables.</p>
<h2>Individual behaviour change is useful, but insufficient</h2>
<p>Let’s be clear: individual behaviour change has some potential for mitigation, but it’s limited. The International Energy Agency <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050">recognises</a> net zero by 2050 will require behavioural changes as well as technological changes. But the examples it gives are modest, such as washing clothes in cold water, drying them on clotheslines, and reducing speed limits on roads. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/affluence-is-killing-the-planet-warn-scientists-141017">Affluence is killing the planet, warn scientists</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The 2022 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on climate mitigation has taken a step further, acknowledging the importance of collectively reducing energy consumption with a chapter on “Demand, services and social aspects of mitigation”. To do this effectively, government policies are needed.</p>
<p>Rich people and rich countries are responsible for far and away the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16941-y">most greenhouse gas emissions</a>. It follows that we have to reduce consumption in high-income countries while improving human well-being.</p>
<h2>We’ll need policies leading to large scale consumption changes</h2>
<p>We all know <a href="https://www.irena.org/policy">the technologies</a> in our climate change toolbox to tackle climate change: renewables, electrification, green hydrogen. But while these will help drive a rapid transition to clean energy, they are not designed to cut consumption. </p>
<p>These policies would actually cut consumption, while also smoothing the social transition: </p>
<ul>
<li>a carbon tax and additional environmental taxes</li>
<li>wealth and inheritance taxes</li>
<li>a shorter working week to share the work around</li>
<li>a <a href="http://www.fullemployment.net/publications/reports/2020/CofFEE_Research_Report_2000-02.pdf">job guarantee</a> at the basic wage for all adults who want to work and who can’t find a job in the formal economy</li>
<li>non-coercive policies to end population growth, especially in high income countries</li>
<li>boosting government spending on poverty reduction, green infrastructure and public services as part of a shift to <a href="https://ubshub.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/social-prosperity-network-ubs.pdf">Universal Basic Services</a>. </li>
</ul>
<p>You might look at this list and think it’s impossible. But just remember the federal government funded the economic response to the pandemic by creating money. We could fund these policies the same way. As long as spending is within the productive capacity of the nation, there is <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/stephanie_kelton_the_big_myth_of_government_deficits">no risk of driving inflation</a>. </p>
<p>Yes, these policies mean major change. But major disruptive change in the form of climate change is happening regardless. Let’s try to shape our civilisation to be resilient in the face of change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181951/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Diesendorf has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>In 2000, fossil fuels were 80% of total energy consumption. In 2019, they were 81%. Renewables are simply not growing fast enough. It’s time to talk about cutting energy consumption.Mark Diesendorf, Honorary Associate Professor, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1659982021-09-08T02:45:32Z2021-09-08T02:45:32ZWant to act on climate change but not sure how? Tweaking these 3 parts of your life will make the biggest difference<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419717/original/file-20210907-13-bxqsnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2986%2C112%2C4300%2C2357&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 month’s <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/factsheets/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Regional_Fact_Sheet_Australasia.pdf">dire report</a> by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may have left you feeling overwhelmed, or unsure what to do next. We often hear about ways everyday people can tackle climate change, but which acts will make the biggest difference?</p>
<p>The academic literature <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629618310314#bib0005">tells us</a> three spheres of our lives contribute most to climate change: home energy use, transport, and food consumption. Together, these activities comprise about 85% of a household’s carbon footprint. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14693062.2018.1551186">one study</a> showed, by adopting readily available practices, households in developed countries can cut their carbon footprint by 25% with little or no reduction in well-being. </p>
<p>Clearly, national governments must set, and meet, ambitious emissions-reduction targets. But <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629618310314#bib0005">72% of global greenhouse gas emissions</a> are related to household consumption. So small changes at the household level really can make a world of difference. Here’s a guide to get you on the right path. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="climate protest signs" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419720/original/file-20210907-21-1j4497s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419720/original/file-20210907-21-1j4497s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419720/original/file-20210907-21-1j4497s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419720/original/file-20210907-21-1j4497s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419720/original/file-20210907-21-1j4497s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419720/original/file-20210907-21-1j4497s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419720/original/file-20210907-21-1j4497s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many people want to act on climate change at a household level, but where’s the best place to start?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>1. Home</h2>
<p>Using energy in the home more efficiently is a good way to reduce your impact on the climate. Signing up to so-called “demand response” programs is a relatively new way to do this.</p>
<p>Demand response involves making changes to energy use to reduce stress on the electricity grid during times of high demand. In Australia, this often entails electricity companies offering financial incentives to households so they use less energy at peak times.</p>
<p>For example in Queensland, the state-owned company Energex <a href="https://www.energy.gov.au/rebates/energy-efficient-air-conditioning-incentive-energex">offers up to A$400</a> to those who install a “PeakSmart” air conditioner. When the electricity system is under stress, the electricity network will remotely switch the air-conditioner into a lower performance mode.</p>
<p>Energy retailers have also been <a href="https://arena.gov.au/assets/2020/09/demand-response-rert-trial-year-2-report.pdf">trialling</a> demand response programs in other states. For example under AGL’s Peak Energy Rewards program, customers can choose to receive an SMS message prompting them to reduce their energy use at peak times. By turning up the temperature on the air conditioning or waiting to do the laundry, people can earn discounts on their energy bills.</p>
<p>Demand response leads to less electricity use and reduces the need for fossil-fuel electricity generation at times of high demand – and so, can cut greenhouse gas emissions in the electricity sector.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="hand holds remote control at air conditioner" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419722/original/file-20210907-27-gv4lcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419722/original/file-20210907-27-gv4lcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419722/original/file-20210907-27-gv4lcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419722/original/file-20210907-27-gv4lcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419722/original/file-20210907-27-gv4lcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419722/original/file-20210907-27-gv4lcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419722/original/file-20210907-27-gv4lcw.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">Demand response programs encourage people to reduce energy use during peak times.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Transport</h2>
<p>If you drive a traditional petrol or diesel vehicle, try to reduce the amount of time your engine <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-cut-your-fuel-bill-clear-the-air-and-reduce-emissions-stop-engine-idling-135316">idles</a>. Research last year found Australian motorists are likely to idle more than 20% of the time they’re driving. If idling was eliminated from all journeys, the emissions saved would equal that of removing up to 1.6 million cars from the road. </p>
<p>While some idling is unavoidable such as when stopped at traffic lights, drivers can turn their engines off while parked and waiting in their vehicle. </p>
<p>And drive smoothly, not aggressively. Driving with limited acceleration and braking has been <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2046043020300344">found to</a> significantly reduce emissions. </p>
<p>You might be thinking of making your next car an electric vehicle. While the cost of electric vehicles has traditionally been prohibitive for many people, the technology is <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-on-verge-of-electric-cars-boom-amid-sharp-jump-in-sales-figures-20210820-p58kn5.html">expected to reach</a> price parity with conventional cars in Australia in the next few years. And these days, you can even get a good <a href="https://theconversation.com/want-an-electric-car-heres-how-to-buy-second-hand-147173">second-hand deal</a>. </p>
<p>There’s a lot of misinformation out there about whether electric cars are a good choice for the planet. So where does the truth lie?</p>
<p>It’s true that electricity used to charge an electric vehicle’s battery is often sourced from fossil fuels. And energy is still required to make an electric vehicle - in particular, the battery.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/want-an-electric-car-heres-how-to-buy-second-hand-147173">Want an electric car? Here's how to buy second-hand</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>However, last year, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-0488-7.epdf?sharing_token=B3cNWIkOU7DGhXpId1HR3tRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OMBHrNGD6k2npei17x4aWWLctOfIoyfalbH9WNy5EPZJy9w30IYeodKn1h_MDWDHWbybIChxCHaCC36tfAgKjNUx4fFfgEmw6et2c5WNHBxg2qC_kNDvarcvL2Q7l3cXo1piQGELjzu3Sy_DKIdy1JLDISG1fi_oXVbLR9bqPUUg%3D%3D&tracking_referrer=www.cnbc.com">research found</a> in 95% of the world, electric vehicles were less emissions-intensive than traditional cars over their full life cycle – even accounting for the current emissions intensity of electricity generation.</p>
<p>If you buy an electric vehicle, it’s important to ensure potential emissions savings are realised. One way of doing this is by recharging during the middle of the day when renewable electricty <a href="http://www.uq.edu.au/economics/abstract/640.pdf">is most abundant</a>. And don’t forget, as renewable energy forms an ever-increasing share of the electricity mix, the climate benefits of electric vehicles become even greater. </p>
<p>And of course, don’t forget about the obvious low- or zero-emission ways to get around: walking, cycling, catching public transport and car pooling. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="family unloads boot of electric car" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419724/original/file-20210907-27-f12eqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419724/original/file-20210907-27-f12eqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419724/original/file-20210907-27-f12eqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419724/original/file-20210907-27-f12eqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419724/original/file-20210907-27-f12eqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419724/original/file-20210907-27-f12eqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419724/original/file-20210907-27-f12eqs.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">Second-hand electric cars are a lower-cost option.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Good Car Co</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Food</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00225-9">Research</a> earlier this year showed food systems are responsible for a third of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. And <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.aba7357">recent studies show</a> even if the world stopped burning fossil fuels immediately, emissions from the global food system could still push global temperatures over the 1.5°C warming threshold. </p>
<p>Reducing meat consumption is a well-known way <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab8589/pdf">to cut your</a> carbon footprint. In fact, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jiec.13176">recent research</a> from Sweden showed just how high emissions from meat and dairy products are, compared with substitute products. It found:</p>
<ul>
<li>lamb is 25 times more polluting than tofu</li>
<li>milk is five times as polluting as oat drink</li>
<li>dairy-based cheese is four times as polluting as vegan cheese.</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ordinary-people-extraordinary-change-addressing-the-climate-emergency-through-quiet-activism-160548">Ordinary people, extraordinary change: addressing the climate emergency through 'quiet activism'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In Australia, the range of meat alternatives is growing quickly. In just one example, Sydney-based All G Foods is developing plant-based mince, sausages, chicken and bacon, as well as “cow-free” dairy products. Helped along <a href="https://www.cefc.com.au/media/media-release/australian-made-low-carbon-and-delicious-the-all-g-foods-recipe-for-alternative-proteins/?utm_source=miragenews&utm_medium=miragenews&utm_campaign=news">by $5 million</a> in federal government funding, the company’s first product launches this month.</p>
<p>Another food that promises to help cut your carbon footprint is seaweed. Australia is only just <a href="https://www.agrifutures.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/20-072.pdf">catching on</a> to the benefits of commercial seaweed production, which can be grown with few environmental costs.</p>
<p>Australia’s first factory manufacturing food-grade seaweed products <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-29/seaweed-factory-opens-on-nsw-south-coast/12295094">opened</a> in New South Wales last year. It has the capacity to put seaweed into pastas, and even muesli!</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="seaweed in ocean" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419726/original/file-20210907-27-1cgaro3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419726/original/file-20210907-27-1cgaro3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419726/original/file-20210907-27-1cgaro3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419726/original/file-20210907-27-1cgaro3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419726/original/file-20210907-27-1cgaro3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419726/original/file-20210907-27-1cgaro3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419726/original/file-20210907-27-1cgaro3.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">Commercial production of seaweed, a sustainable food source, is ramping up.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reduce, reuse, inspire</h2>
<p>Reducing your climate footprint is not just about buying “green” stuff: it’s also about avoiding consumption in the first place. So try to buy less – and if you can’t avoid it, try and buy second-hand.</p>
<p>You never know, you might start a revolution. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800917301544?casa_token=xNbqAh4-xTwAAAAA:Cn7PqJl2IyA7HeGmORZPDV5GrjCvjGlt73JB-aoBVSjOUq8C-VGE4GUXwnZg-_JopU3TfaNLcg">Evidence suggests</a> people who observe their peers undertaking environmentally friendly behaviour often adopt similar actions.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/do-gooders-conservatives-and-reluctant-recyclers-how-personal-morals-can-be-harnessed-for-climate-action-164599">'Do-gooders', conservatives and reluctant recyclers: how personal morals can be harnessed for climate action</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165998/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreas Chai works for Griffith University. His research has been previously funded by NCCARF, UNIDO, Queensland Government, APEC and the French Ministry of Education. Andreas Chai is a member of the Economics Society of Australia.</span></em></p>Last month’s dire report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may have left you feeling overwhelmed. But small changes at the household level really can make a world of difference.Andreas Chai, Associate Professor, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1643822021-08-02T12:39:12Z2021-08-02T12:39:12Z4 ways extreme heat hurts the economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414001/original/file-20210730-19-1v35wkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=307%2C0%2C4574%2C3249&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Corn yields can suffer in high heat. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/WholesalePrices/8c2c2c03df9f41298d1e7624bb1de30b/photo?Query=heat%20wave%20farm&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=101&currentItemNo=34">AP Photo/Seth Perlman</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Summer 2021 <a href="https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2021-07-22-americas-hottest-summer-2021">will likely be one of the hottest on record</a> as dozens of cities in the West <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/astounding-heat-obliterates-all-time-records-across-pacific-northwest">experience all-time high temperatures</a>. The extreme heat being felt throughout many parts of the U.S. is <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/07/17/1016415960/as-extreme-heat-kills-hundreds-oregon-steps-up-push-to-protect-people">causing hundreds of deaths</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/27/us/climate-change">sparking wildfires</a> and <a href="https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu">worsening drought conditions</a> in over a dozen states. </p>
<p>How does all this broiling heat affect the broader economy?</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://www.dereklemoine.com">economist who has studied</a> the <a href="http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=614D6AEAAAAJ">effects of weather and climate change</a>, I have examined a large body of work that links heat to economic outcomes. Here are four ways extreme heat hurts the economy – and a little good news. </p>
<h2>1. Growth takes a hit</h2>
<p>Research has found that extreme heat can directly hurt economic growth. </p>
<p>For example, a 2018 study found that the economies of U.S. states <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jmcb.12574">tend to grow at a slower pace</a> during relatively hot summers. The data shows that annual growth falls 0.15 to 0.25 percentage points for every 1 degree Fahrenheit that a state’s average summer temperature was above normal. </p>
<p>Laborers in weather-exposed industries such as construction <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/671766">work fewer hours</a> when it’s hotter. But higher summer temperatures reduce growth in many industries that tend to involve indoor work, including retail, services and finance. Workers are less productive when it’s hotter out.</p>
<h2>2. Crop yields drop</h2>
<p>Agriculture is obviously exposed to weather: After all, crops grow outdoors. </p>
<p>While temperatures up to around 85 F to 90 F (29-32 C) can benefit crop growth, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0906865106">yields fall sharply</a> when thermostats rise further. Some of the crops hit hard by extreme heat include corn, soybeans and cotton. These reductions in yields could be costly for U.S. agriculture.</p>
<p>For example, a recent study I conducted found that an additional 2 degrees Celsius of global warming <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w25008">would eliminate profits</a> from an average acre of farmland in the Eastern U.S. </p>
<p>A prominent example of this was the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-heat-fires/russia-swelters-in-heatwave-many-crops-destroyed-idUSTRE66F2LX20100716">collapse of the Russian wheat harvest</a> in response to the country’s 2010 heat wave, which raised wheat prices throughout the world.</p>
<h2>3. Energy use soars</h2>
<p>Of course, when it’s hot, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/07/22/your-air-conditioner-is-making-the-heat-wave-worse/">energy use goes up</a> as <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=48796">people and businesses run their air conditioners</a> and other cooling equipment at full blast. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/app.3.4.152">2011 study found</a> that just one extra day with temperatures above 90 F increases annual household energy use by 0.4%. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3386/w24397">More recent research</a> shows that energy use increases the most in places that tend to be hotter, probably because more households have air conditioning. </p>
<p>This increase in electricity use on hot days stresses electric grids right when people depend on them most, as seen in <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/8/15/21370128/california-blackouts-rolling-power-outage">California</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/15/climate/texas-heat-wave-electricity.html">Texas</a> during recent heat waves. Blackouts can be quite costly for the economy, as inventories of food and other goods can spoil and many businesses either have to run generators or shut down. For instance, the 2019 California blackouts <a href="https://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=93BBC3A5-E6FA-4053-A1A0-532A9714BFC4">cost an estimated $10 billion</a>. </p>
<h2>4. Education and earnings suffer</h2>
<p>A long-term impact of increasingly hotter weather involves how it affects children’s ability to learn – and thus their future earnings. </p>
<p>Research has shown that hot weather during the school year reduces test scores. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/694177">Math scores decrease more and more</a> as the temperature rises beyond 70 F (21 C). Reading scores are more resistant high temperatures, which this research claims is consistent with how different regions of the brain respond to heat.</p>
<p>One study suggested that students in schools that lack air conditioning <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20180612">learn 1% less</a> for every 1 degree Fahrenheit increase in the school year’s average temperature. It also found that minority students are especially affected by hotter school years, as their schools are especially likely to lack air conditioning. </p>
<p>Lost learning results in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S1573-4463(99)03011-4">lower lifetime earnings</a> and <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jel.39.4.1101">hurts future economic growth</a>.</p>
<p>The impact of extreme heat on development, in fact, begins before we’re even born. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702436114">Research has found</a> that adults who were exposed to extreme heat as fetuses <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2018.10.001">earn less during their lifetimes</a>. Each extra day with average temperature above 90 F (32 C) reduces earnings 30 years later <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702436114">by 0.1%</a>. </p>
<h2>Air conditioning can help – to a point</h2>
<p>Air conditioning can offset some of these effects. </p>
<p>For example, studies have found that having a working air conditioner means <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/684582">fewer people die</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20180612">student learning isn’t compromised</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702436114">extreme heat outside during pregnancy doesn’t hurt fetuses</a>. </p>
<p>Not everyone has air conditioning, however, especially in normally cooler areas like Oregon, Washington and Canada that have experienced unusually extreme temperatures this year. And many people <a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/life-new-york-public-housing-no-air-conditioning/">can’t afford</a> to own or operate them. Survey data from 2017 found that <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=31312">around half of homes in the Pacific Northwest</a>
lacked air conditioning. And <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20180612">about 42% of U.S. classrooms</a> lack an air conditioner. </p>
<p>While heat waves are shown to <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3892429">induce more households</a> to install air conditioning, it’s hardly a panacea. By 2100, higher use of air conditioning could <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/112/19/5962.short">increase residential energy consumption by 83% globally</a>. If that energy comes from fossil fuels, it could end up amplifying the heat waves that caused the higher demand in the first place.</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>And in the U.S. South, where air conditioning is omnipresent, hotter-than-usual summers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jmcb.12574">take the greatest toll</a> on states’ economic growth.</p>
<p>In other words, as temperatures rise, economies will continue to suffer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164382/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek Lemoine 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>Much of the US has been experiencing heat waves in recent weeks. An economist explains how the often record-high temperatures can affect the economy.Derek Lemoine, Associate Professor of Economics, University of ArizonaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1596002021-06-03T14:28:03Z2021-06-03T14:28:03ZReducing poverty can actually lower energy demand, finds research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400827/original/file-20210514-15-1odxi54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nepal: switching from firewood to electricity will lower the environmental impact of cooking.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">paul prescott / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As people around the world escape poverty, you might expect their energy use to increase. But my research in Nepal, Vietnam, and Zambia <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abd588/meta">found the opposite</a>: lower levels of deprivation were linked to lower levels of energy demand. What is behind this counter-intuitive finding?</p>
<p>After all, the prevailing strategy to end extreme poverty relies on the belief that we need to grow the economic “pie”, so we can produce more goods and services, at the same time as households and government spending capacity increases to consume those goods and services. And so, when poverty is “diagnosed” by income, the “remedy” is said to be economic growth.</p>
<p>However with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jan/22/wealth-gap-widening-for-more-than-70-per-cent-of-global-population-researchers-find">widening inequalities</a> and an acute <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/10/eight-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-sanitation-crisis/">sanitation crisis</a> in much of the world, many still evade the promised benefits of economic growth. It turns out that poverty is not only about income: it consists of <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=P8r9CAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=alkire+multidimensional+poverty&ots=XSa11cRwGd&sig=2movfNtvVio2gEWaLbNYazxR6uc&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=alkire%20multidimensional%20poverty&f=false">multiple deprivations</a>. </p>
<p>In general, people are poor not because they have fewer dollars per day to spend than a certain poverty threshold, but because they cannot access goods and services that provide sanitation, education, or health. Often, these cannot be accessed even with increased incomes. To put this in context, 1.2 billion people currently lack sanitation and clean water, and <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/energy-access">3 billion</a> lack access to clean cooking. Although an important predictor for the multiple deprivations that people in poverty face, income is not the only (or best) predictor.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I set out to find what other predictors lie behind multidimensional poverty, and how can we deliver those at low resource use. Our case study in Nepal, Vietnam, and Zambia aimed to answer two questions: what is needed for people in the global south to live well, and how much energy does it take? We explored how resources are used, by whom, with what purpose, and with what effects on poverty. We focused on deprivations linked to access to clean water, food, basic education and access to modern fuels.</p>
<p>We used nationally representative household surveys, each containing thousands of responses covering expenditures and living conditions. We linked household expenditures with energy data from the <a href="https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics">International Energy Agency</a> and data on international trade from a multi-regional input-output database. </p>
<p>This meant we could calculate the energy footprint for each household (measured in gigajoules), which includes energy used directly by the households at home (such as electricity, or firewood for cooking) or outside it (petrol for driving), as well as indirect energy embedded in the goods and services consumed by the household. </p>
<h2>Extreme poverty drives energy demand up</h2>
<p>We found that households that do have access to clean fuels, safe water, basic education and adequate food – that is, those not in extreme poverty – can use as little as half the energy of the national average in their country. </p>
<p>This is important, as it goes directly against the argument that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-018-0172-6">more resources and energy will be needed</a> for people in the global south to escape extreme poverty. The biggest factor is the switch from traditional cooking fuels, like firewood or charcoal, to more efficient (and less polluting) electricity and gas. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400831/original/file-20210514-19-1d5u5k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Large dam seen from above" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400831/original/file-20210514-19-1d5u5k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400831/original/file-20210514-19-1d5u5k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400831/original/file-20210514-19-1d5u5k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400831/original/file-20210514-19-1d5u5k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400831/original/file-20210514-19-1d5u5k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400831/original/file-20210514-19-1d5u5k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400831/original/file-20210514-19-1d5u5k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hydropower dams generate most of Zambia’s electricity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dmitriy Kandinskiy / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Zambia, Nepal and Vietnam, modern energy resources are extremely unfairly distributed – more so than income, general spending, or even spending on leisure. As a consequence, poorer households use more dirty energy than richer households, with ensuing health and gender impacts. Cooking with inefficient fuels consumes a lot of energy, and even more when water needs to be boiled before drinking.</p>
<p>But do households with higher incomes and more devices have a better chance of escaping poverty? Some do, but having higher incomes and mobile phones are not either prerequisites or guarantees of having basic needs satisfied. Richer households without access to electricity or sanitation are not spared from having malnourished children or health problems from using charcoal. Ironically, for most households, it is easier to obtain a mobile phone than a clean, non-polluting fuel for cooking. Therefore, measuring progress via household income leads to an incomplete understanding of poverty and its deprivations.</p>
<p>So what? Are we arguing against the global south using more energy for development? No: instead of focusing on how much energy is used, we are pointing to the importance of collective services (like electricity, indoor sanitation and public transport) for alleviating the multiple deprivations of poverty. </p>
<p>In addressing these issues we cannot shy away from asking why so many countries in the global south have such a low capacity to invest in those services. It has to do with the fact that poverty does not just happen: it is created via interlinked systems of wealth extraction such as structural adjustment, or high costs of <a href="https://www.jasonhickel.org/the-divide">servicing national debts</a>. </p>
<p>Given that climate change is caused by the energy use of a rich minority in the global north but the consequences are borne by the majority in the poorer global south, human development is not only a matter of economic justice but also climate justice. Investing in vital collective services underpins both.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159600/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marta Baltruszewicz receives funding from Leverhulme Trust.</span></em></p>Firewood and charcoal are replaced with more energy-efficient electricity.Marta Baltruszewicz, Postgraduate Researcher, School of Earth and Environment, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1609282021-05-17T05:53:32Z2021-05-17T05:53:32ZTesla’s Bitcoin about-face is a warning for cryptocurrencies that ignore climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400935/original/file-20210517-23-1omi4iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5520%2C3668&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>Over the weekend, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/05/16/elon-musk-sends-bitcoin-tumbling-with-a-one-word-tweet/?sh=68584278ea9a">suggested</a> his company could sell off its Bitcoin holdings, sending the cryptocurrency plummeting. </p>
<p>It followed Musk’s <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1392602041025843203/photo/1">announcement</a> earlier this month that his company would no longer accept Bitcoin in payment for its electric cars, due to the fossil fuels needed to create the digital currency.</p>
<p>Bitcoin is created via high-powered computers solving complex mathematical equations. These computers use <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-utopian-currency-bitcoin-is-a-potentially-catastrophic-energy-guzzler-88871">a lot of electricity</a>, which is often generated by fossil fuels. Tesla’s about-face is a blow to Bitcoin, the value of which <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-13/tesla-suspends-bitcoin-purchases-over-fossil-fuel-concerns/100136126">jumped</a> when Tesla got on board.</p>
<p>Tesla’s stance is a big winner for both the climate, and the company’s “green” reputation. The development has also shone the spotlight further onto the carbon footprint of cryptocurrency – an issue that will not go away soon.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Elon Must giving thumbs up" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400939/original/file-20210517-15-iyzpsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400939/original/file-20210517-15-iyzpsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400939/original/file-20210517-15-iyzpsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400939/original/file-20210517-15-iyzpsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400939/original/file-20210517-15-iyzpsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400939/original/file-20210517-15-iyzpsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400939/original/file-20210517-15-iyzpsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tesla CEO Elon Musk has turned his back on Bitcoin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Britta Pedersen/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Great cost to the environment’</h2>
<p>In announcing Tesla’s U-turn on Bitcoin, Musk said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost to the environment.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Musk should be congratulated for the principled stance – particularly as the decision caused the Bitcoin price to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-13/tesla-suspends-bitcoin-purchases-over-fossil-fuel-concerns/100136126">fall</a>, reducing its value on the Tesla balance sheet.</p>
<p>So how, exactly, is Bitcoin – and many other <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/education/resources/explainers/cryptocurrencies.html">cryptocurrencies</a> – bad for the environment?</p>
<p>It all comes down to the energy used to create it. Before a Bitcoin transaction takes place, the person spending the coin must be verified as the valid owner. And once the transaction is complete it must be digitally recorded in a database known as a “blockchain” ledger.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-bitcoins-price-at-an-all-time-high-and-how-is-its-value-determined-152616">Why is Bitcoin's price at an all-time high? And how is its value determined?</a>
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<p>Unlike a traditional bank where transactions are centrally verified and recorded, Bitcoin’s ledger comprises a distributed database of users. They verify transactions by running complex mathematical problems through high-powered computers. The first user to solve the calculation and add it to the blockchain is rewarded with Bitcoin. The process is termed “mining”.</p>
<p>Over time, the Bitcoin system <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/education/resources/explainers/cryptocurrencies.html">increases the complexity</a> of the problems as more computing power is applied to them. In the early days mining could be done by geeks in their bedrooms using home computers. Now it mostly done using vast rooms full of very expensive specialised equipment, which only companies can afford.</p>
<p>The process uses a lot of energy. The University of Cambridge recently <a href="https://cbeci.org/">estimated</a> Bitcoin used more electricity each year than the entire economies of Argentina or Sweden. </p>
<p>Some of this electricity comes from renewables. But analyses suggest most Bitcoin mining occurs in China, and the main power source is coal. A recent study in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22256-3">Nature</a> concluded Bitcoin operations in China are on track to produce 130 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2024 – more than the entire economy of the Czech Republic. </p>
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<img alt="fingers hold bitcoin in front of smokestacks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400940/original/file-20210517-21-1dsye0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400940/original/file-20210517-21-1dsye0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400940/original/file-20210517-21-1dsye0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400940/original/file-20210517-21-1dsye0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400940/original/file-20210517-21-1dsye0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400940/original/file-20210517-21-1dsye0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400940/original/file-20210517-21-1dsye0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&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">Bitcoin’s annual emissions exceed that of some entire nations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP</span></span>
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<h2>Bumps in the Bitcoin road</h2>
<p>If Bitcoin became more popular, its carbon footprint would only increase. But even before Musk’s announcement, Bitcoin was <a href="https://www.e-ir.info/2020/05/21/opinion-cryptocurrencies-still-dont-challenge-national-ones/">struggling</a> to become a widely used <a href="https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf">online payment system</a>.</p>
<p>This is partly <a href="https://www.bis.org/publ/arpdf/ar2018e5.pdf">because</a> the scale of cryptocurrencies cannot keep up with global transaction demand and their value fluctuates widely. The new focus on Bitcoin’s environmental costs make it even more likely the currency will remain an outlier.</p>
<p>Tesla’s move puts pressure on other companies to stop (or not start) accepting Bitcoin or risk damage to their brand. <a href="https://apnews.com/press-release/pr-businesswire/687fb3c44dd04929a876b3153c3ff2ec">Research shows</a> most consumers are less willing to buy from a company that doesn’t take its environmental responsibilities seriously. </p>
<p>A company accepting Bitcoin may also risk being shunned by investors. <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2021/02/05/can-investors-embrace-both-cryptocurrencies-and-esg/">Questions</a> have been raised about whether Bitcoin exposure is compatible with ethical investment. </p>
<p>Already
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-why-swedens-central-bank-dumped-australian-bonds-126766">some central banks</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jan/26/asset-manager-blackrock-threatens-to-sell-shares-in-worst-climate-polluters">private funds managers</a> are including climate change risks when making investment decisions. And banks are increasingly reluctant to lend to companies not acting on climate change.</p>
<p>The attention on Bitcoin’s carbon footprint will benefit “greener” cryptocurrencies. For example, Chia uses less processing power than Bitcoin and so produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions. </p>
<p>In the longer term, there’s a bigger challenge to Bitcoin’s aspirations. Some central banks such as the People’s Bank of China are developing their own <a href="https://www.bis.org/speeches/sp210331.pdf">digital currencies</a>. These will offer a cheap and efficient payment system without the volatile price and large carbon footprint of Bitcoin. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-chia-cryptocurrency-promises-to-be-greener-than-bitcoin-but-may-drive-up-hard-drive-prices-160114">New Chia cryptocurrency promises to be greener than Bitcoin, but may drive up hard drive prices</a>
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<img alt="Man holds smartphone in front of computer screen" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400941/original/file-20210517-15-zitdg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400941/original/file-20210517-15-zitdg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400941/original/file-20210517-15-zitdg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400941/original/file-20210517-15-zitdg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400941/original/file-20210517-15-zitdg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400941/original/file-20210517-15-zitdg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400941/original/file-20210517-15-zitdg0.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">Cryptocurrency investors may start to demand a lower carbon footprint.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Cleaning up cryptocurrency</h2>
<p>So where to now for energy-intensive digital currencies such as Bitcoin? </p>
<p>Some environmental concerns could potentially be addressed by moving to greener electricity sources for computer processing. According to <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/b917ec4f-8b57-45dc-82ba-960d82ad7974">one suggestion</a>, this could involve creating a registry to track provenance, so climate-aware investors could choose to buy Bitcoin made from, say, Icelandic hydroelectric power rather than coal. </p>
<p>But such a measure would probably have to be voluntary. Regulating Bitcoin would be difficult due to its decentralised nature; there’s no company to “fine” for breaking the rules. </p>
<p>Any attempt to clean up Bitcoin by changing its coding would be problematic. Past attempts to change the code to improve efficiency just resulted in “<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/20b702d0-e9ae-11e8-a34c-663b3f553b35">forks</a>” – the emergence of new cryptocurrenices such as Bitcoin Gold and Bitcoin Cash. </p>
<p>As with <a href="https://theconversation.com/carbon-pricing-works-the-largest-ever-study-puts-it-beyond-doubt-142034">climate policy in general</a>, the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is for governments to apply a carbon price to companies that mine cryptocurrency. This would financially penalise those that don’t switch to renewable energy.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bitcoin-isnt-getting-greener-four-environmental-myths-about-cryptocurrency-debunked-155329">Bitcoin isn't getting greener: four environmental myths about cryptocurrency debunked</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160928/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Hawkins was formerly the secretary to the Senate Select Committee on Climate Policy. He has worked at the BIS and for two central banks.</span></em></p>Tesla’s stance has also shone the spotlight further onto the carbon footprint of cryptocurrency – an issue that will not go away soon.John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society and NATSEM, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1583562021-04-14T14:20:20Z2021-04-14T14:20:20ZCOVID-19 lockdowns improved air quality in some cities, shedding light on how to curb pollution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394641/original/file-20210412-23-9oaf0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=77%2C96%2C6302%2C4030&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reduced traffic during lockdowns led to decreases in air pollution in many major cities in Europe. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>To fight the spread of COVID-19, many countries imposed drastic measures that curtailed economic activity. Schools and shops closed, air travel was banned and some cities saw full lockdowns. </p>
<p>While these measures have caused economic hardship, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abee4d">our study shows that they have also dramatically improved air quality</a>. Air pollution in urban areas declined by up to 45 per cent during lockdown, with air quality improvements persisting even after lockdown measures were lifted.</p>
<p>Drawing on our expertise in environmental economics and economic policy, the novel findings in this study highlight the potential for smart environmental policies to build back better by focusing on a sustainable economy.</p>
<h2>Unequal environmental effects of lockdowns</h2>
<p>Air pollution is a major threat to human health. It is directly related to economic activities such as transportation, power generation, industry, agriculture and domestic energy use for heating and cooking. </p>
<p>While most lockdowns have directly and substantially reduced transportation and industrial activity, the impact of lockdowns on agriculture, domestic energy use and power generation are often indirect and more complex. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15371">main source of air pollution varies across regions and is key to understanding the different environmental impacts of lockdowns across the world</a>. While transportation and industrial activities are the main sources of pollution in urban areas of developed countries, including North America and Europe, residential energy use, agriculture and power generation are among the dominant sources of air pollution in many urban areas of Asia, South America and Africa. </p>
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<img alt="A woman enjoys the sun on her balcony as the Eiffel Tower is clearly seen in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394637/original/file-20210412-17-8ph07v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=131%2C71%2C3861%2C2302&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394637/original/file-20210412-17-8ph07v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394637/original/file-20210412-17-8ph07v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394637/original/file-20210412-17-8ph07v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394637/original/file-20210412-17-8ph07v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394637/original/file-20210412-17-8ph07v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394637/original/file-20210412-17-8ph07v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=448&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 pollution fell in Paris in response to lockdown measures in April 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Michel Euler))</span></span>
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<p>Our study showed that, while most areas experienced a reduction in air pollution in response to lockdown measures, other areas saw only small improvements or even a deterioration in air quality. Those areas experiencing air quality improvements had industry or transportation as the main pollution source. Areas with no changes or air quality deterioration were often the same regions where the dominant pollution sources include agriculture, residential biomass burning or power generation, including Greece, Japan and Colombia.</p>
<p>These findings highlight the complexity of the relationship between the economy and the environment. The conventional wisdom is that economic activity is bad for the environment. While we do uncover and confirm this negative relationship, we also find areas where the environment is resilient to economic activity. </p>
<h2>Building back better: A sustainable economy</h2>
<p>Previous research on economic development shows that the composition of economies changes during the process of economic growth, <a href="http://www.public.asu.edu/%7Ebherrend/Published%20Papers/Handbook%202013.pdf">often from agricultural to industrial and then to service dominated economies</a>. The environmental impact of economic development can therefore be positive when the shift to cleaner production overcompensates the environmental damage from increased production.</p>
<p>Our results on the global impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on air quality suggest that such relationships may also exist in the short-term, when people respond to COVID restrictions by switching to other more highly polluting activities, such as increased pollution from heating, that are less affected by lockdowns.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-build-a-better-canada-after-covid-19-launch-a-fossil-free-future-140691">How to build a better Canada after COVID-19: Launch a fossil-free future</a>
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<p>Looking forward, our results suggest that policies to improve air quality have to take these diverse responses to regulation into account. Regulating only some activities can lead to worse environmental outcomes if economic activity shifts to more polluting actions. </p>
<p>A better policy response, confirmed by our results, should involve incentives that shift economies towards cleaner production and consumption of goods and services. Market-based policies such as cap-and-trade systems or taxes on polluting activities do exactly this. </p>
<p>By creating a cost to pollution through taxes or quota prices, these policies incentivize innovation and investment in green technologies. Our findings, in tandem with the <a href="https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/pandp.20201081">broad lessons</a> from <a href="https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/pol.20170144">the experience of carbon taxes</a> and cap-and-trade systems to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, can be used to inform smart environmental policy design.</p>
<p>Although COVID-19 itself, and the associated containment measures, have had tragic consequences for societies, it also serves as an unprecedented natural experiment that helps us to better understand the relationship between economic activity and the environment. Our study provides crucial lessons for building back better, especially when considering a sustainable economy in a post-COVID world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158356/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>While most areas experienced a reduction in air pollution in response to lockdown measures, other areas saw only small improvements or even an air quality deterioration.Frederik Noack, Assistant Professor, environmental economics, University of British ColumbiaDominic Rohner, Professor of Economics, Université de LausanneRaahil Madhok, PhD Candidate, Food & Resource Economics Group, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.