Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Australia’s latest climate guru Saul Griffith thinks if we put solar panels on most of the roofs and EVs in all the driveways, we can meet our climate targets.
Climate change solution could come from ‘electrifying everything’, Australian inventor Saul Griffith says
ABC Science / By technology reporter James Purtill
Key points:
“Electrify everything” is the cheapest, fastest route to emissions cuts, experts say
Households would replace petrol cars, gas heaters and other items with electric alternatives
These changes would be minimally disruptive, but provide large emission reductions
Speaking from San Francisco, Sydney-born inventor Saul Griffith explains how Australia can rapidly get most of the way to net zero emissions using existing technology.
Also an entrepreneur and adviser to US presidential campaigns, Dr Griffith is one of the most prominent global advocates for an approach best summed up as “electrify everything”.
“If I had to choose the country for whom electrifying everything is the best economic win in the shortest amount of time … it is Australia,” he said.
…
What would this cost households?
Dr Griffith estimates the acquisitions would cost about $100,000 per household.
Multiplying that by Australia’s 10 million households equals $ 1 trillion.
But a lot of this is money that households would have spent anyway to replace cars, heaters and so on, Dr Griffith points out.
The only difference is they’re buying an electrical version.
…
The government could offer a system of cheap loans to help households to electrify, he proposed.
…
Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-09-07/climate-change-solution-electrify-everything-saul-griffiths/100428158
I doubt Saul’s estimate covers the cost of electrifying industry, and likely does not even fully cover the cost of electrifying households. But lets run with his numbers for a moment.
The biggest issue which jumps out at me, the expenditure Saul proposes is not a one off. If everyone continues to replace their appliances every 10 years, we’re talking about an additional $1 trillion or $100,000 per household which will have to be part financed by additional government soft loans every 10 years.
Since none of this government loan backed electric stuff has a positive impact on productivity, the result of everyone spending more for life’s essentials would be that everyone would end up poorer. The net impact is ordinary people would have to divert significantly more income towards servicing the ongoing government debt burden Saul has “slam dunked” into their lives.
Less money for retirement, or enjoying the fruits of hard work. More dependency on the government, if you hit a rough patch and struggle to repay your “cheap loan”.
I’m going to call BS on official rooftop solar numbers.
Supposedly places like Adelaide have 30%-40% rooftop solar.
Any browsing of google maps satellite seems to say otherwise.
Additionally, SFA of actual panels on the roofs.
I’m guessing they didn’t last and were discarded. The inverters die after a couple of years, and often so do the panels.
Eric
What is surprising, is the lack of solar panels on commercial and industrial buildings.
If solar panels were really competitive on a level subsidy playing ground, c&I buildings should be covered with them
The government slashed subsidies after they started haemorrhaging money. People on the original tariffs have to accept the new tariffs on any additional capacity.
the company I worked at adecade ago went on a water saving drive. our customers were extremely impressed by the savings until one noticed our extravagant landscaping.
In 2017, the latest available data, solar PV supplied a mere 1.4% of primary energy.
According to government data 2018-19 all renewables made up only 6.4% of energy consumption (Table 2.2)
Where will all the copper for renewables come from?
Another rainbow and pot of copper.
Australia seems to be in the grip of both climate alarmism and covid fascism.
I would say in the grip of delusion. As long as the footy (Football/soccer/AFL/RNL etc etc) isn’t affected, most Aussies don’t give a hoot too busy while the country is being sacked.
The output of a typical refinery might be 50% gasoline and 30% diesel plus jet fuel, so let’s not forget about the conversion cost for all those truckers and farmers to electrify and as for electric airplanes, I just don’t see that ever happening.
If Saul is so clever why doesn’t he invent solar panels that produce electricity 24 hours a day?
Already been invented by Spain 😉
https://theecologist.org/2010/apr/16/spanish-nighttime-solar-energy-fraud-unlikely-uk
😆
The same principle applied to wind:
Great cartoon. It could equally apply to “green” hydrogen.
Wow, that gave me a brilliant idea. Charge up your car all day. Have solar panels on the inside of your garage door, reverse in, close it, keep the headlights on, and voila …… a perpetual motion machine, no ????
In addition: panels made from hemp and that last 50+ years.
If only he could ‘re-invent’ baseload nuclear power and its acceptance in society .
Do whatever you want, just don’t ring my doorbell.
I just put down the baby and the dogs.
Peace reins in my realm, any interruption might be met with deadly force.
Might is not the right word, it will be.
This guy is living proof that the ability to obtain advanced degrees is no guarantee of competence. Qualified, competent engineers do not promote fantasies.
News for the idiot called Saul, the government has already moved to contain domestic rooftop solar … there’s no market for excess generation and it can’t afford to pay households for excess energy it can’t use.
And the Australian Energy Market Operator has voiced concern about the intermittent bursts of rooftop solar energy supply to the grid causing disruption and potential destabilisation, and recommends that households be restricted to using rooftop solar at the premises and not exporting that energy to earn credits.
This reminds me about a tiny village near the NSW and QLD border, since the 1960s a land of dreamers and climate worshippers, where the locals were asked if they wanted their village to disconnect from the main electricity grid and go solar. A majority said yes, no surprise given their lifestyle choice.
That was years ago and today the village remains connected to the grid, the cost was unaffordable and home and business electricity price with repayment and maintenance costs included shocked the dreamers.
After all, there is no solar power after the sun sets and until the hours between 10 am and 2 pm the solar system supply would have been minimal, batteries could have provided a boost but diesel generators were needed to keep the batteries charged.
Rubbish somebody will reply, claiming that they live off the grid, failing to explain their full cost structure including making provision for replacement of solar panels and accessories over approximately 20 years. Or that they do not have the convenience of being able to use all electrical appliances and lights whenever they choose.
Economics is not Griffith’s forte.
Typical socialist, happy to spend everyone else’s money for irrational reasons.
We have a diesel truck (8 tonne carrying capacity) in our fleet that was built in 1977. It still runs just fine, even if not used for extended periods….I’d bet my left nut that an electric truck the same age would have been onto its 4th or 5th battery pack by now! If it even still ran?
South Australia to be first gigawatt scale grid to meet all demand with rooftop solar | RenewEconomy
South Australia to be first gigawatt scale grid to meet all demand with rooftop solar
AEMO now considers reaching 100 per cent “instanteneous” renewables penetration on its main grid by 2025 as a “base case” scenario, and is scrambling to ensure that it has the protocols and systems in place to be able to accommodate that.
It is also predicting that rooftop solar could account for up to 75 per cent of total demand across the country’s main grid within five years
Australia’s response to the climate hustle:
(24) Talking duck in Australia can say ‘you bloody fool’ after learning to imitate human speech – YouTube
Nothing beats fossil fuels as a source of energy. Solar and wind are ridiculous! Can you run a factory with a windmill?
Read the book that explains why
The moral case for fossil fuels
love to kick his SNAG butt a looong way!
100k as an affordable figure? over 5x what i live on per yr and the claim of refitting homes and replacing cars?
2nd hand car bought for 1400$ so far run fine for 6 yrs with a few repairs 2 sets of tyres
a dose of reality and head out of fairyland would be useful for this pratt
Saul Griffin doesn’t think; so why give him air space? Perhaps it is the editors that are not thinking, or maybe it is just the race after clickbaits.
I’m pretty sure I can build a time machine. All I need is a few trillion dollars.
Classic error in logic. Electricity is not a power source. It is a distribution method.
Australia emits approx 1.7% of the worlds CO2. So after you convince yourself that CO2 is the drivers of all climate drivers, THEN you must convince yourself that reducing CO2 output 0.1% or even 0.5% (33%!) will have any global affect at all. I think Australia could cease to exist and not have any affect on global CO2 period.
Loan? Never to be repaid.
If CO2 is making the world so hot, why is Saul wearing a hat? Is it just to hide his silly man-bun? Or does he think it makes him look like he’s been out doing field work and has some knowledge of what he is talking about?