Australia’s energy sector has been continuing to work towards on demand response and energy efficiency. This shift from the ‘old ways’ buoys well for avoiding the mistakes made by Germany, the world leader in renewables.
Australia’s energy sector has been continuing to work towards on demand response and energy efficiency. This shift from the ‘old ways’ buoys well for avoiding the mistakes made by Germany, the world leader in renewables.
Australia is in pole position to have a ‘formula one’ efficent energy supply with it’s natural resources, environment and renewable resource potential. Germany’s peak energy efficiency body the German Business Initiative for Energy Efficiency is an ideal reference point for enabling achieve it’s energy potential.
Deputy chairman of German Initiative Christoph von Spesshardt said recently in an interview with Fairfax media; “Australia can learn from Germany’s mistakes of the last few years”.
Germany’s in a misguided irrational politics before policy rush to renewables let energy efficiency measures fall by the wayside. Australia has the advantage of learning from Germany.
“I can see similarities between the situation in Australia now and Germany 10 years ago,” Von Spesshardt said.
Germany has led the way in renewables, which is admirable but they were errors alomng the way by putting too much stress on renewables to solve its energy issues before the industry was ready. Germany set guaranteed kilowatt per hour prices that led to energy generation becoming way overpriced and padded by high feed-in tariffs, Mr von Spesshardt said.
Germany focused on replacing supply without looking at the wider measures that ensure affordability and reliability. “It was, and is, way too expensive a system for renewable energy.” Mr von Spesshardt said Australia was sidestepping many of the mistakes Germany made by talking not only about the supply side and the growing level of renewables but also the demand response side and how users can get smarter about the way they consume it.
“The energy you save is the cleanest and the cheapest,” he said.
Energy efficeicency and availability in an advanced nation such as Australia should be not a diffcult bridge to cross. Australia is ideally set to attain stability, efficiency as well as renewable supply.
The CSIRO’s Low Emissions Technology Roadmap found that if Australia works to meet its Paris targets of lower emissions, it can achieve it with 50 per cent renewable generation, however, if this is not done in conjunction with energy efficiency measures then Australia will need 70 per cent renewable generation to hit the same emissions reduction levels. Fairfax reported
Mr von Spesshardt said “What I see is great is the Australian government talking about energy efficiency, it’s a good start to talk about appliances and buildings. While it’s the right step forward to review energy efficiency policies, and we do hear a lot on that at the federal level, not enough is happening compared to the state level of government.”
The review of the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act (GEMS) will allow the federal government to set national energy efficiency standards for home appliances and equipment. By bringing in new standards and reducing appliances’ energy consumption, household power bills can be reduced, with the current legislation understood to have saved the nation and energy consumers the equivalent of between $879 million and $1.58 billion and reduced potential carbon emissions by between 4.5 and 6.9 megatonnes.
However, Australia’s energy efficiency building codes have not been updated since 2010.
The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) says if these codes are not updated in 2019 it could result in $1.1 billion in unnecessary extra costs on household energy bills between now and 2022.
“Low energy homes reduce the stress on the electricity grid, which can reduce electricity prices for everyone,” RACV spokesman Bryce Prosser said.
There is movement at the station. Federal Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg told Fairfax Media. “Increasing the energy efficiency of Australia’s buildings is a government priority, as the built environment represents up to half of Australia’s electricity use, That’s why the COAG Energy Council and the Commonwealth under its National Energy Productivity Plan to deliver a 40 per cent improvement in energy efficiency by 2030 is taking action on both residential and commercial buildings, including a recent expansion of commercial building disclosure.”
Frydenberg added; “Energy efficiency standards for commercial buildings are being considered in the current revision of the National Construction Code in 2019, and my Department is actively working with stakeholders ahead of any further changes to residential buildings in the future.”
Germany’s energy triangle approach of sticks, carrots and tambourines
Mr von Spesshardt summed up the Australian situation as thus,
1. The Sticks
“The building codes are the sticks, tightening the legislation around construction, Australia could have more ambitious building codes as it would help lower the running costs of construction for new buildings,”
2. The Carrots
“The carrot can be incentives for improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings with loans or grants to aid renovation.”
3. The Tambourines
The tambourines are talking about it, making noise and getting people informed. “What I see in Australia is a great ‘can do’ mentality, and I hope you can do this now with energy efficiency, and this opportunity is seen by policymakers.”
Source: Fairfax, TradersCommunity