Solar power, electric vehicles key to tougher stance against Russia, Saudis

Victorian houses could help Australia fight back against dictators as sustainability experts call for energy security to be reframed as a matter of national security.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s control over oil and gas supplies in Europe could be eroded by greater use of renewable energy to power homes and cars. Picture: Mikhail METZEL/Sputnik/AFP.

Aussie homes could be turned into weapons against tyrants like Russian president Vladimir Putin by the end of this decade.

Sustainable home-building proponents are urging the government to view solar panels and batteries, as well as electric vehicles, as a way to turn energy security into national security.

The idea is already in play in the US, where earlier this year President Joe Biden used the Defence Production Act legislation to prioritise the manufacture of solar panels, batteries and heat pumps.

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Australian-American author and clean energy proponent Saul Griffith suggested that same idea in his book Electrify, first published a year ago, and said the US shipping these materials to Europe would reduce the need for Russian gas and oil and erode the power of Vladimir Putin.

“It’s using the emergency of Ukraine to help get Europe off gas and to help the environment,” Mr Griffith said.

Pairing energy-efficient home builds with solar panels and electric vehicles could help Australia take a tougher stance against global powers who control oil and gas supplies.

He estimated Australians stood to save up to $4000-$5000 a year by swapping to full electric energy use supported by solar power generation, as well as electric vehicle use, but would have significant political capital that could see us take an even harder stance against human rights abuses in oil-producing nations including Saudi Arabia.

“In Australia we have an even bigger national security issue, because we don’t produce petrol or diesel,” Mr Griffith said.

“If we were driving electric vehicles, we wouldn’t need them.”

Victorian developments are at the forefront of sustainable building approaches that could make this a reality, with the team behind Australia’s most sustainable housing estate, The Cape at Cape Patterson, noting it was also “low hanging fruit” in addressing the nation’s climate change obligations.

The Cape estate at Cape Patterson hosts a growing fleet of electric vehicles being charged by homes that are typically eight-star energy efficient and almost solely powered by the sun.

Developer Brendan Condon said The Cape’s mostly eight-star energy efficient homes already helped power airconditioners in neighbouring towns on hot sunny days as they pumped energy from their rooftops back into the grid.

“We are an example of where we need to move as a nation to reduce our reliance on shipping across oceans,” Mr Condon said.

“We should be bringing in energy from the sun on our rooftops. From our national security point of view, local production makes us more resilient and less able to be disrupted in times of conflict.”

One of the nation’s biggest developers, Mirvac, is also heavily engaged in sustainable projects, with their latest in Melbourne to have no gas connections across the entire townhouse estate.

The Fabric in Altona North is being developed as a sustainable, electricity-only project.

Residents at the Fabric in Altona are expected to have seven-star energy-efficient homes and pay roughly 27 per cent less for heating and cooling compared to an equivalent home built to the current six-star requirement.

Mirvac head of residential Stuart Penklis said they were expecting discussions around energy security and housing to be a “big topic” over the next few years.

“But, fundamentally, we should be doing everything we can to deliver the most efficient buildings and built forms, and to leverage renewables wherever possible,” Mr Penklis said.

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