Guest essay by Eric Worrall
The cold Aussie state of Victoria has announced that in the future, people will have to rely on their increasingly unstable and unaffordable electricity grid, to hold back the winter chill.
Push to turn off gas to help reach state’s climate goal
Gas appliances including heaters, hot water services and cooktops would be phased out under a proposed moratorium on new gas connections to households.
By Tom Cowie and Nick O’Malley • May 05, 2021 — 05.05am
Gas appliances including heaters, hot water services and cooktops would be phased out under a proposed moratorium on new gas connections to Victorian households to help the state achieve its 2030 target to cut carbon emissions by up to 50 per cent.
The City of Yarra is the first council to pledge to switch its buildings, including pools and community centres, from gas to renewable electricity by 2030 and wants the state government to back a ban on gas connections in new homes.
Victorians are the nation’s biggest users of natural gas for heating, hot water and cooking due to the state’s historically cheap and plentiful supply piped in from Bass Strait since the 1970s.
But the state may need to cut back on gas if it is to meet its climate goal, announced on Sunday, to reduce greenhouse pollution by 28 to 33 per cent of 2005 levels by 2025, and 45 to 50 per cent by 2030.
“I love cooking on gas too, but there are certain luxuries that we are going to have to abandon if we are serious about climate change,” City of Yarra mayor Gabrielle de Vietri said.
“We have a huge opportunity to make a significant impact by moving away from gas.”
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Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said a shift to electricity was part of a plan being developed by the state government to address the way households use gas.
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Read more: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/push-to-turn-off-gas-to-help-reach-state-s-climate-goal-20210504-p57oof.html
This Victorian State Government announcement is yet another example of how back to front and harmful climate policy is.
Given green claims that renewable energy investments will slash household power bills, Instead of forcing higher costs on everyone, all the Victorian Government has to do is deliver some of these green cost savings they keep promising. Then people will switch off their gas appliances of their own free will, without the financial hardship a premature forced switch is likely to inflict.
Update (EW) Added the quote from Victorian Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio.
What I want to know is why they ALWAYS start with residential housing construction? Commercial buildings not using natural gas would be so much better for showing the positive use of green heating and cooling.
Give the Greens the opportunity for a restart in the stonage, at least in the middleages.
How about the primordial slime!
How many export LNG plants does Australia benefit from? If all Australians take the view of Victoria and its politicians towards gas perhaps the LNG export facilities need to be shuttered because Australia is now exporting its carbon causing energy.
California is doing the same thing. Natural gas is bad because….. oh yeah, because its a fossil fuel, made from dead vegetation and dinosaurs, just like the oceans of methane on Titan.
LOL 🙂 – C’mon, you know abiotic hydrocarbons only happen on other planets…
Titan must have been a dinosaur and vegetation paradise. So, where did they all go???
Pathetic, bordering on insanity, what does the el Presidento, and other ministers, do for heating.
The good news is a wind farm project has been blocked, here in Queensland
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/lnp-minister-keith-pitt-uses-veto-powers-to-deny-kaban-green-energy-hubs-funding-bid/news-story/887b11a92c3286457282df03c0a04fc5
The practice of using an image of belching smoke, in the intro, is deceiving?
From the Australian News website (Murdoch papers)
Climate Council warns of gas dangers in schools and homes.
“Parents have been warned that sending their kids to NSW schools could be harming their health.
And the real danger is much wider, with kids at risk across Aussie homes, according to a new report.
The Climate Council warns the use of gas in homes is exposing Australian children to a higher risk of asthma, as well as driving climate change.”
Blatant coordinated propaganda. I’m sure flued heaters are better but I went to school where gas heaters were unflued and I was an asthmatic. Never had an attack in the class room. Always got it sucking in the pollen outside.
Well, we had unflued had in our rental home while living in Sydney. The damp it caused was horrible. Using dehumidifiers helped, but cost, but improved our son’s asthma. The damp causes mould.
My anecdote is from Northen Victoria. Not even the bread goes mouldy it’s that dry.
“but there are certain luxuries that we are going to have to abandon” like living.
Fortunately it doesnt get too cold there, it will make hot water much more expensive and they can just wear coats, gloves and hats in the house during the winter.
I never hear of these types of stories out of China, India, Vietnam, or any developing country.
Oz out of their minds too! There really is no where to go to escape this insanity, unless you want to live in India or China.
Is someone going to build an LNG plant to export all the gas they don’t use?
It’s funny that all these “green savings” are always just a few years in the future, just round the corner.
Just like the disasters they predict.
Victoria has announced taxes and subsidies on EV’s. There is no sense in Victoria.
I am sure burning dried cow and sheep dung to cook and stay warm will help eliminate global warming. (sarc)
Not sarc.
I saw a show a few months back – the host traveled around seeing how people in different places lived. At one home in Africa, the guy he was visiting started a dung fire to cook dinner.
The host marveled at how “sustainable” and “environmentally friendly” this was. He was that clueless.
As far as I can tell, the people making those decisions are, ultimately, elected officials. So the good citizens of the Victoria are getting what they voted for. Good and hard.
For a long time now, reverse cycle air conditioning (sometimes referred to as heat pumps) has been the cheapest form of heating. I know this site fetishises the burning of fossuil fuels, for some reason, but, the coupling of heat pumps, solar and wind is much cheaper than gas, particularly in Australia, where it (gas) is very expensive (yes I know Oz has plenty of gas- why it’s expensive is a long story)
Gas and renewables for heating are compatible – there exist natural gas powered heatpumps, including absorption heatpubms, adsorbtion heatpumps, gas-motor heatpumps. So ban on gas is also a ban on a type of renewable energy – gas powered heatpumps.