Electrification tipping point: the benefits outweigh the cost

Electrification of home appliances and switching to electrified vehicles has passed the “tipping point”, where cost savings and emissions reduction are now the most effective option. The cost savings and emissions reduction deliver a win-win outcome. Over the 15-year life of Australian household gas appliances for heating, hot water, cooking, and petrol vehicles, households will spend an average of $9200 a year on energy bills (including petrol). A fully electrified household with an EV would cost $1300 per year. Taking into account the upfront cost of electrification, a fully electrified household will spend $4100 less per year than the fossil fuel equivalent home. The transition to an electric vehicle (EV) is the largest cost savings and biggest emissions reduction any household can make. An electrified home also saves 9600kg CO2 equivalent of emissions per year. Over 15 years this amounts to 115,000kg CO2 not going into our atmosphere. The fully electric home includes electric heat pumps (recycled air conditioning) for space heating, cooling and water heating, electric cooktop, electric vehicles, rooftop solar and a battery. Each electric purchase decision now saves money and emissions. Space heating heat pump (or reverse cycle air conditioners) save $530 per year. Over 15 years, $8500 would be saved. Water-heating using heat pump technology is now the lowest cost and lowest emissions way to heat water at home. This saves an average of $250 per year, or $2500 and $5500 with solar over 15 years. Cooking is two to three times more efficient with electricity than gas, leading to savings of $20 to $30 per bill, $250 per year, or over 15 years, $4700. Cooking with electricity also removes the negative health impacts of gas cooking. Driving an EV is now the cheapest, lowest emissions form of transport. Driving an EV can save $1500 per year on energy or $2500 with solar charging. Compared to a petrol car, that saving is $17,000 over 15 years with upfront cost or up to $35,000 saving with solar charging. Solar charging is equivalent to $0.13/litre in a petrol car and currently petrol is close to $2/litre. Rooftop solar and batteries are offering savings of $980 per year when the upfront repayment cost is included. An all-electric home using cheap solar for appliances and vehicles offers saving of $2200 per year. By adding a battery, the energy supply and demand curve can be flattened out over the 24 hour day. The cost-of-living savings are hard to ignore from electrifying everything. Not all appliances need to be replaced at once. They can be replaced with electric alternative as the older appliance fail, or you can choose to replace them in order of the biggest cost savers first. Data sourced from Rewiring Australia.

Electrification tipping point: the benefits outweigh the cost

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