Renew Magazine 166 / Jan-Mar 2024

Jan-Mar 2024 Hi there, As we enter a new year, the urgency for innovation and action to steer Australia’s energy transition has never been greater. According to the Climate Council, parts of Australia have been experiencing temperatures more than 15 degrees above their average over the past six months. Worldwide, we’re seeing a marked increase in extremely hot days, as well as deadlier heatwaves and worsening fire conditions. This issue of Renew looks at the multi-pronged approaches being taken to drive down emissions and address rising temperatures. In our chat with Australian comedian and TV presenter, Craig Reucassel, we hear about the role of media in shifting public attitudes around climate issues, and the significance of making change, both socially and politically, from the ground up. Back from a two-month…

Jan-Mar 2024 In November this year, Renew ran a series of events with the architects behind our Beyond BAL project, showcasing 12 of Australia’s most bushfire-resilient homes as part of our ongoing work to support communities rebuilding after bushfire. It was wonderful working with some of Australia’s best architects who share a passion for designing both sustainable and bushfire-resilient homes. Hearing their stories, it astounded me how they could take a seemingly impossible and complicated situation and produce such simple, effective solutions. Humans are perpetually innovative! For a while now, our global goal has been to limit average global temperature increases to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, but the last few years have seen some averages breaking that limit, if only briefly. These temperature increases are a bit like watching a…

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…

World Solar Challenge After a four-year hiatus, the (Bridgestone) World Solar Challenge—the solar car race between Darwin and Adelaide— returned this year with some interesting developments. There were two vehicle classes this year—Challenger class, which are the single occupant vehicles that race to Adelaide as quickly as possible—and the Cruiser class, which travel over a three-section course more like a regular rally. The Cruiser class vehicles are designed to better represent conventional cars, and must have at least four wheels and be able to carry a minimum of two people. The Cruiser vehicles had to complete three stages within a set time limit, arriving at three control stops in Tennant Creek, Coober Pedy and Adelaide between certain hours. Cruiser class vehicles are scored on design appeal and practicality as well…

There is increasing interest in evaluating how working from home and other recent trends impact on energy use and carbon emissions. The latest contribution to this is a very useful Energy Consumers Australia report from Monash University. A key challenge is how we balance the changes in terms of their impacts on increasing and decreasing overall energy use, household energy costs, carbon emissions, time and personal independence. This is far from straightforward. If working from home saves car travel of 100km per week, it cuts transport emissions by 25kg of emissions per week for an average car. If it leads to higher home heating energy use, and the person uses a fan heater powered by grid electricity for an extra 40 hours per week, it could add emissions of 25kg…

With years of experience working at Victorian Trades Hall Council, Melbourne, and as founder and board member of Earthworker Cooperative, Power Australia (an energy retailer) and Hope Cooperative (for young asylum seekers), Colin Long is turning his vision and drive for working better together to the electrification space. In mid-2023, Colin helped bring together a formidable alliance of energy efficiency and electrification businesses, trades and organisations to help tackle the scale of the problem facing Victoria’s homes. Energy Efficiency and Electrification Alliance, or 3EA (as it is nicknamed), is aiming to be the one-stop-shop that households, government and NGO organisations need to help smooth the transition towards all-electric homes and businesses. The role of 3EA is to interface between larger organisations, and to provide some clarity and certainty for the…