‘No time to waste’: getting Australian homes off gas crucial for meeting net zero targets, report says
‘No time to waste’: getting Australian homes off gas crucial for meeting net zero targets, report says
Grattan Institute analysis recommends governments help households transition to electric, and ban new gas connections for homes and businesses
Will those in the southern states cope? Could you switch?
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We built our house specifically to not have mains gas. Large double-glazed picture windows on the north side of the house, Solar and a Battery, decent insulation. Large capacity reverse cycle A/C with the condensers on the south side of the house.
The a week before handover, the Site Supervisor told us that they ‘mistakenly’ budgeted for “electrical assist” hot water instead of full electric. They would need to add Gas, but they would pay for the connection. We argued with them. They argued back. It escalated all the way to the CEO of the Building Company. The Site Supervisor kept insisting that it was impossible to have full electric hot water, that is was cost-prohibitive to install, cost-prohibitive to run and anyone who would not want gas hot water was a fucking idiot. The CEO explained to the Site Supervisor that his own house had Full electric, two Tesla Power-walls and an extensive solar array and hadn’t had to pay for Gas or Electricity since it was built. He then calmly fired the Site Supervisor and instructed the Regional Manager to authorise the Full electric hot water with no extra charge to us.
This is a crazy story. Most houses in northern Australia have full electric hot water. Very rare to have town gas and bottles is often painful.
We had all sorts of problems with the build. It had minimal to do with the company and everything to do with the Site Supervisors(s).
Another example was the Colourbond roof. We specifically wanted a light colour (to reflect heat in summer), with Woodland Grey gutters (to contrast with the roof and complement the render). We turned up one night after work and they had done the whole roof in Woodland Grey. We pointed out this observation and found out that the Site Supervidor had changed the purchase order because he “thought that Woodland Grey would look better”.
His suggested remedy was to repaint the roof and even came into my workplace during work hours to try to con me into authorise the incorrect roof colour.
In the end they had to tear down the Woodland Grey and re-clad in Surf Mist.