Ban home gas by 2025: Property Council
Homeowners have expressed alarm over a new Property Council report which called for gas heaters and stovetops to be phased out of all Australian homes within 20 years.
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Domestic gas users have slammed a Property Council report which called for gas heaters and stovetops to be banned in new Australian homes as soon as 2025, and phased out of existing buildings by 2040.
The report authors said their recommendations in the Every Building Counts report, released on Thursday afternoon, “would see the end of gas water heaters and cooktops in Australian homes”.
But readers have expressed alarm over the idea, calling it “sheer arrogrance” and “green stupidity”.
“This is a free country not a dictatorship. Sick of governments banning this and that and pushing us around,” said one reader.
Others were more pragamtic, pointing out the costs involved in converting Australian homes from gas to electricity, or raising concern about the increased stress on the power grid.
“Fantastic idea BUT how will pensioners afford the $1000s to replace gas water heaters, stoves and heating with electric appliances?,” one reader posted.
The report, which was produced in conjunction with the Green Building Council of Australia, said about 100,000 buildings were connected to gas each year, but this was “inconsistent with national goals for a net zero future” and the 2025 update of the National Construction Code should ban gas connections in new buildings.
“Every new building equipped with gas is one more building to retrofit in the future,” the report stated.
An estimated 5.2 million Australian homes use gas hot water and 2.9 million rely on gas heating, but some state and territory governments (primarily Victoria and the ACT) have announced aggressive moves to phase out gas, due to its high emissions.
The authors called for a “national buildings retrofit program” with financial incentives, but did not specify what these should be.
Green Building Council of Australia CEO Davina Rooney warned the retrofitting of Australia’s gas-connected homes would be a complex task.
“Transitioning 85 per cent of homes off gas by 2040 requires retrofitting hot water systems in 5000 homes every week until 2040, starting now,” she said.
The gas industry blasted the recommendations, with Gas Energy Australia CEO Brett Heffernan saying “They make no sense whatsoever”.
“The report doesn’t mention LPG, and two million Australians use LPG in their homes,” Mr Heffernan said.
LPG was on a “journey to net zero” and was expected to hit that mark by 2025, he said.
Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy Jenny McAllister said the report was “really important” and she was “delighted to launch it”.
When asked if the government supported the report’s recommendations around domestic gas, a spokesperson for Senator McAllister said the government’s focus “is on giving consumers more choice not less when it comes to how they use neergy”.
“Upgrading the energy performance of Australian homes will mean we can make every watt count, put downward pressure on power bills and lower emissions,” the spokesperson said.
“Our plan is to give consumers the information and tools they need to measure the energy performances of their homes, so they can make good choices for their family.”
The report also called for every single Australian home – new and existing – to be given an energy performance rating.
Property Council Chief Executive Mike Zorbas said Australians enjoyed the benefits of energy ratings on their refrigerators, but there was no rating scheme operating for their “most important purchase of all”.
“It’s high time all Australian home buyers and renters had access to a consistent national rating, so they know the energy bill costs and comfort levels to expect during colder months,” Mr Zorbas said.
Last week the federal government announced that the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme for new homes (called NatHERS) would be expanded to cover existing houses as part of the May 6 Budget.
Originally published as Ban home gas by 2025: Property Council
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