Innholdsfortegnelse for 164 / Jul-Sep 2023 i Renew Magazine

Jul—Sep 2023 Hi there, Well, the race to electrify everything in this country is well and truly on. After months of work, Renew has launched its Getting Off Gas toolkit, an extensive resource—which includes a series of free online events-for making the transition away from gas in your home. We've marked the occasion with a bumper Getting Off Gas special in this issue of the magazine: 20-plus pages of articles, guides and profiles to help you be part of the solution. Don't miss our interview with New York Times bestselling author Sarah Wilson who, after her massively successful I Quit Sugar campaign, is now telling everyone: “I Quit Gas”. Our cover interview this issue is with the trailblazing folks at Earthworker Cooperative, who are building solutions for a just transition…

Ask any primary school class what they want fixed in the world and most will answer: “save the trees” or “save the animals”, with a mixture of sadness and passion. If you ask them how, their answer will likely be limited to “recycling”. Yet, we adults often say, with a proud smile on our faces, “the next generation will fix it”-certainly an unfair legacy to leave them, especially if they are only equipped with “recycling”. Schools can be a centrepoint drawing people together-pumping inspiration and learning into the world. They can be the place where ideas are born, where the pebble lands in the lake and creates ripples. In our efforts for a sustainable humanity, schools certainly have an important role to play. Schools can also consume a lot of…

GETTING OFF GAS SPECIAL Renew has launched its Getting Off Gas Toolkit. Here, we bring you a curation of interviews, guides and industry updates for transitioning away from gas in your home. Two thirds of Australian households use gas for cooking or heating, but until recently hardly anyone was aware of the health risks posed by burning this fossil fuel indoors. Having a gas stove in the kitchen just seemed the natural order of things, and gas mining companies have used the marketing term “natural gas” as if it was any more natural than natural coal or natural uranium. A gas flame releases various oxides of nitrogen (known as NOx), formaldehyde and carbon monoxide, which all have adverse health effects. Nitrogen dioxide is a respiratory irritant that can both trigger…

If your kitchen does have an existing cooker circuit, you will need to know what its rating is. The majority of cooker circuits are 30/32 A, sufficient for most electric ovens and freestanding cookers. The associated circuit breaker in your breaker box should be labelled as “oven” or “cooker” and that will tell you what the circuit rating is. The total power you can draw from the circuit is the current rating multiplied by the mains voltage, which in Australia is 230 V. Below is a list of maximum power ratings for common circuit current specifications. 32 A: suitable for cooker up to 7.5 kW 40 A: suitable for cooker up to 9.5 kW 45 A: suitable for cooker up to 10.5 kW 50 A: suitable for…

Alan Pears, AM, is one of Australia's best-regarded sustainability experts. He is a senior industry fellow at RMIT University, advises a number of industry and community organisations, and works as a consultant. Alan writes a column in each issue of Renew magazine. The International Energy Agency report on Australia Every five years or so, the IEA reviews Australia's performance on energy policy and practices. The latest one has just been released. I always enjoy the delicacy of the wording used as they outline the inadequacies of our performance. With regard to liquefied natural gas exports, the report comments that local gas prices have been rising “in step with LNG netback prices”. Netback price is basically the international price with LNG production costs deducted. It then discreetly notes that “this is…

Jul—Sep 2023 Like all of Australia's high country, Canberra and its surrounds are beautiful in winter. But it's a lot easier to appreciate the season when you have a warm home to go to—and too many homes just aren't doing the job. Last winter, Better Renting tracked indoor temperatures in eight Canberra rental homes. They found temperatures below the World Health Organisation's threshold for healthy homes of 18 degrees a shocking 88.3% of the time; the average daily minimum temperature recorded was 7.4 degrees. Weatherproofing homes to make them healthy can make a major difference-and insulation is among the single biggest measures to improve liveability in winter cold and summer heat. So, it is big news that from April this year, the ACT has become the first territory or state…

It feels like the climax of a heartwarming Aussie drama-a ragtag bunch of unionists and environmentalists driving a factory from the Melbourne hills to save a country town in crisis. All the equipment necessary to build a business making solar water heaters, carried aboard a convoy of utes. This all-hands-on-deck approach is key to the success of the Earthworker Cooperative, set up in the late ‘90s to bring together two groups, who were often at loggerheads, in the name of climate action. The idea was to tackle the jobs versus climate dichotomy and prove that tackling the environmental crisis needn't cost hardworking Australians their livelihoods. Based out of Victoria's Trades Hall, long Australia's seat of union action, Earthworker has expanded into a network of co-operatives across the country, each united…

FEATURE You shuffle inside after a hard day's work and plonk yourself on the couch, drained and too exhausted to move. As you're sinking into the cushions and struggling to keep your eyes open, in scampers Alfie, your scruffy little Cavoodle. He bounds up to you like it's a multi-year reunion, and delivers a much-needed hit of joy and energy. As he melts you with his eyes, and gives you the feels, you can't imagine living life without him. The only problem: his carbon pawprint might be bigger than your footprint! When we zoom out and look at the impact our beloved pets are having on the environment, the data is startling. According to some estimates, 60 percent of households own at least one pet. In total, there are over…

Social media programs: There are 6800 members of the Sustainable Schools Australia Facebook page, where parents, teachers and students informally share tips and discuss best approaches for improving sustainability at their school. State educations programs: South Australia: Green Adelaide coordinates Sustainable Schools with 88 sites currently registered. Now that Covid-related pressures are easing, numbers are expected to build to pre-2020 levels, when over 400 schools were involved. Victoria: Sustainability Victoria coordinates Resource Smart Schools. Since the program began, 1400 Victorian schools have participated, saving 118,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases. Australian Capital Territory: The ACT Government's Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate delivers their Sustainable Schools Program (SSP), a replica of Victoria's RSS program. New South Wales: Sustainable Schools NSW is managed by the Australian Association for Environmental Education NSW and…

Dr Ewald shares some tips for your kitchen when making the switch from gas to induction. • When switching from gas to induction cooking, some saucepans won't work. Induction only works with saucepans that a magnet is able to stick to, so test pots with a fridge magnet. • Induction stoves draw a heavy current and need their own 32-amp circuit from the meter board. In an old house, the meter board might need upgrading, so getting a quote from an electrician before buying the stove can be a good idea. • Finding a wok that works well on induction can be difficult. The base should be flat, at least 2.5 mm thick, and made of iron rather than carbon steel or stainless steel. • Not every saucepan draws the…

GETTING OFF GAS SPECIAL FIONA GRAY: Can you tell us when you first came to to learn about the health impacts of gas? Particularly in your home and what your response or feelings were about that? SARAH WILSON: Yeah. I think for about 10 to 12 years I've been aware of it, because I've written about different health issues on blogs. Some building biologists highlighted the problems with gas quite some time ago and I went and looked at it and was like, “Oh, okay.” But I've been a renter. So I was limited by what I could and couldn't do. It was on my radar that induction's the way to go. An electric stove isn't as daggy or as wrong as we once thought. But it was last year…

GREENER RETIREMENT OPTIONS Q – I was talking to a friend recently who built a simple low-energy house in Apollo Bay several years ago when she retired from working in Melbourne. She is now thinking about moving back to the city and is wondering whether any retirement or ‘lifestyle’ communities are embracing sustainability and designing for us older environmentalists, who are looking for sustainable, low-energy accommodation for a continuation of our simple and comfortable lifestyle-with solar panels already installed, no gas connections, some access to north sun, and perhaps raised garden beds for some vegie growing. So many of the existing ‘retirement villages’ are promoted as ‘luxurious’ apartments, with no mention of sustainability. It would seem that the industry has twigged to the fact that baby boomers do not take…

Renew Renew is a national, not-for-profit organisation that inspires, enables and advocates for people to live sustainably in their homes and communities. Established in 1980, Renew provides expert, independent advice on sustainable solutions for the home to households, government and industry. Renew engages with more than 250,000 people each year around Australia and beyond. We work with more than 10,000 members in a network of 14 active branches throughout the country, and have helped thousands of households save money and reduce their environmental footprint with information on energy efficiency, solar power, rainwater tanks, materials reuse and waste. Our community includes attendees at our Speed Date a Sustainability Expert and Sustainable House Day events, users of our online information and calculators, people contacting our advice service, and our research and advocacy…

01 DC charging for business If you run a fleet of EVs, then you may need faster charging than the typical 7kW on-board charger can provide, but freestanding DC chargers are expensive and can take up a lot of space. The Delta DC Wallbox charger is aimed to fill the need for faster charging than AC can provide, while remaining compact and realistically priced. The DC Wallbox has a rated output of 25 kW and can supply that power to any EV with a CCS or CHAdeMO DC charge socket-so pretty much every EV on the market. The Wallbox requires a suitable threephase AC grid connection, but most commercial premises should have an appropriate mains grid supply. Other features of the DC Wallbox indude four-metre charge cables (seven-metre optional), a maximum…

DAN MUSIL: Co-operatives are fundamentally democratic organisations where every member of the co-op has an equal vote. They are set up by people to support each other or support a common goal. In the case of worker co-operatives, the owners of that cooperative are other workers, and workers all have an equal vote in how the co-operative is governed. Most businesses can have bosses sitting in France who might shut the place down with five months’ notice and workers won't get any say. Co-operatives are fundamentally democratic and we think that's a better way of running the economy in general. The principle of democracy is important in itself, but it also leads to better decision-making and better business practices for the local environment and for the local people. It means…

A recent Guardian report1 suggests that Australian capital cities have seen the highest yearly increase in rents since records started in 2007. The 11.7% hike means that the average household of city dwellers can expect to have paid an additional $3200 over the last year when compared to the 12 months prior. As one of the 31% of Australians who rent, the increase has pushed my partner and I to ‘economise’ (as per Philip Lowe's requests) and split a humble two-bedroom 1920's Northcote abode with two mates. It's a cute house. It has high ceilings, reasonable rooms and even a little yard. Unfortunately, these perks have come at the cost of efficient heating, draughtproofing and even a shred of insulation. We're all gas here, and as Renew's research on the…

Great ideas often form when friends get together, and our organisation was certainly one of them. It was post-federal election, and I caught up with climate-conscious friends to discuss climate and election issues. I was uncertain of the next steps I should take to help progress the climate movement. Given that I work part-time as a general dentist, and am a full-time mother to three boys, my spare time is very limited. I wanted to do something meaningful and impactful in the little time I had left each day. During our catch-up, we reflected on the environmental awareness there seemed to be within our Asian communities. A common remark amongst Asian climate activists was how alone we felt, often being one of few Asian faces at climate awareness and education…

When it comes to energy use in a household, there is both the “appliance energy use,” which is everything in the house excluding vehicles, and the “total energy use,” which includes both the appliances and the vehicle fuels used. Household appliances and equipment account for an average of 30% of the total residential energy consumption in Australia. However, this proportion will vary by household depending on the climate, the types of appliances in the home, and the way they are used. The energy use per household of lighting, cooking and other appliances (whitegoods, IT, TVs etc) is fairly consistent across each state. When weighing up the cost of your appliance, the initial price does not tell the whole story. An appliance isn't a bargain (and it won't be an environmentally…

Choose wisely and avoid frustration: • select one with a well laid out control area that can be operated easily and quickly • try before you buy: visit lots of showrooms—press those buttons! • ask a friend if you can cook on theirs; find out their list of pros and cons • borrow or buy a portable induction hotplate to experience one • take a magnet when shopping for new cookware and ensure the entire cookware base is magnetic so you get even cooking and maximum coverage.…