Sustainable property advocates have hit back at alarmist claims from fossil fuel proponents trying to keep gas in the home and commercial kitchens with claims of extreme costs to disconnect from the grid and fears of blackouts.
The Green Building Council of Australia, the Global Cooksafe Coalition, architectural sources and developers say consumers are misled, and solutions are increasingly pointing the way to all-electric homes and buildings.
GBCA chief executive Davina Rooney said: “Connecting gas to a new home today is like installing a fax machine in the age of email — it’s outdated, inefficient, and holds us back from a cleaner, smarter future.”
Virginia Jones, who runs the Global Cooksafe Coalition, said the movement was growing stronger and starting to grapple with the practicalities of transition, which were different for all buildings and occupants.
While architect and developer Liam Wallis of Hip V Hype said, his company had not installed gas in any development in the past 10 years.
But the move to cause fear and uncertainty for consumers and businesses wanting to electrify is growing.
In Victoria, Murdoch media owned Herald Sun on Monday published alarmist figures on the potential costs of removing gas from homes.
“Shocking data reveals the cost of homeowners going electric would be between $18,000 and $36,000,” the article said.
In New South Wales, Nathaniel Smith, former Liberal member for Wollondilly in Sydney’s south west and now chief executive officer of the Master Plumbers Association of NSW said the move to electrification could strain the grid during heat waves expected this summer.
“If we convert 100 per cent of our domestic homes to electricity, we are inviting challenges that could exacerbate the already strained power infrastructure,” he said in a media statement on Tuesdays.
“Natural (sic) gas” and LPG were “indispensable in ensuring a steady flow of energy that complements the grid, delivering reliable heating and cooking solutions irrespective of electrical outages,” he said.
The Herald Sun numbers may not be entirely accurate or reliable.
Global Cooksafe Coalition’s Virginia Jones told The Fifth Estate on Tuesday afternoon that it was extremely difficult to accurately estimate costs of conversion to all-electric. These vary by location and the age of the building, along with the electrical infrastructure already available, she said.
“By shifting to all-electric homes, we can reduce strain on the grid through energy efficient appliances, on site solar, and battery storage—solutions that lower bills and keep the lights on, even during outages.
Davina rooney
“It’s better to get those numbers from independent sources such as Grattan Institute, which can talk about how you can pay back the cost of electrification over a number of years.”
“People are better finding out for themselves,” she said. “How much does it cost?”
Companies such as Goodbye Gas were “fantastic”, at doing providing accurate assessments, she said.
“They go into the home, and because they’re doing a lot of homes, they cover the cost of their labour by getting discounts on the bulk buying of appliances they put in.”
In addition, electricians who were not experienced with the technology were inclined to overspecify electrical requirements – assuming, for instance, that all four induction hot plates in an induction cooktop would be used all at once, whereas this was unlikely. A trip switch would be activated if it were.
Solar Victoria had embarked on a program to educate electricians, she said.
Educating chefs was another challenge, but the movement was gaining momentum.
Jones pointed to executive Indian chef and restaurateur Manpreet Sekhon, who solved the problem of clay pot cooking needed in traditional Indian food by placing sand in an induction pot and a clay pot on top – a traditional way of cooking in any case.
Jones said the coalition had now been joined by nine commercial property owners – the latest was ISPT – 34 chefs and the Property Council of Australia.
Members committed to making all new kitchens fossil fuel free by 2030 and in retrofits by 2040.
The GBCA said we need to move with the times
Green Building Council’s Davina Rooney said that while energy reliability was critical, the path to true resilience was transitioning to all-electric homes powered by renewable energy.
Rooney said that gas was a finite and polluting resource that locked households into higher emissions and rising energy costs.
“Connecting gas to a new home today is like installing a fax machine in the age of email—it’s outdated, inefficient, and holds us back from a cleaner, smarter future.
“By shifting to all-electric homes, we can reduce strain on the grid through energy efficient appliances, on site solar, and battery storage—solutions that lower bills and keep the lights on, even during outages.
“Meeting climate goals demands bold action, and electrification is a win-win for households and the planet. It’s time to leave gas in the past and invest in energy solutions that truly support a sustainable future.”
Architects point out electrification is part of a package
Architectural sources said that the gas supporters were missing the point about the move to electrification with fears that this would lead to an unacceptable burden on the grid.
To say there will be blackouts is discounting all the other work people are doing to improve thermal fabric, they said.
Electrification was part of a package that contained improvements to thermal fabric.
To say there will be blackouts is discounting all the other work people are doing to improve thermal fabric, they said.
Part of retrofitting a building was to first improve windows and roof insulation at the very least, or risk losing a vast amount of the energy used to heat or cool a building.
Another issue is that the NatHERS national house energy rating and the NSW BASIX rating would be increasingly geared towards electrification.
In retrofit work, it was also possible to keep the gas connection and simply cap it off to save on expenses.
Some observers say that a version of the Environmental Upgrade Agreements program, where the cost of sustainability infrastructure was allocated and repaid with a loan held against the property rather than the tenant or property owner, may be another solution.
In Melbourne, Liam Wallis said his company, Hip V Hype, had not included gas in any development it had built in the past 10 years, and there had been no negative feedback from clients on this.