Dramatically reducing Australia’s use of gas would secure the future of industrial manufacturing and the jobs of hundreds of thousands of workers, according to a bold new report that looks to reset the national debate about gas. Commissioned by the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) and Lock the Gate Alliance, Springmount Advisory’s Turning Down the Gas report finds at least 90% of industrial gas use can already be electrified or regassed with green hydrogen, and technology solutions are rapidly being developed for the remaining 10%.
The report finds:
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The three LNG terminals on Curtis Island near Gladstone make up 30 percent of East Coast industrial gas demand. Restricting the sale of uncontracted gas for export would address short term shortage concerns, while the electrification or phase down of two of the three East Coast LNG facilities by 2035 would reduce domestic gas demand by 79 PJ.
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Replacing gas use in manufacturing with electricity using technology that is commercially available today would reduce demand by 112 PJ by 2035.
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Doing the same in commercial buildings would reduce gas demand by 25 PJ by 2035.
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“Regassing” and substituting metals smelting and refining, iron and steel manufacturing, and chemical manufacturing with green hydrogen would cut gas use by 62 PJ by 2035.
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Targeted government support including more research could help truly “hard to abate” sectors like cement and glass manufacturing wean themselves off fossil gas by 8 PJ by 2035.