Send your submission today!
The Victorian Government is seeking public comment on their planned gas substitution roadmap and the role that gas or renewable energy will play in Victoria’s energy future.
We have until 30 July to make sure they get the message loud and clear that we want renewables not gas.
This is a very important initiative by the Victorian Government.
Please congratulate them on their $1.6 billion budget allocation for a clean energy transition, and their commitment to gas substitution, whilst asking them to move as quickly as possible to set strong targets and reduce gas use immediately.
Here’s some things you might want to ask the Victorian government to include in the roadmap:
- Short term targets for reduction in Victorian gas use, with a minimum 35% reduction by 2025 and 60% reduction by 2030
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Implementation of key measures which have been identified by experts as reducing gas use most quickly such as incentives and planning measures to facilitate:
- Replacement of ducted gas heating
- Installing heat pump hot water
- Switching to heat pump space heating in commercial buildings
- Immediate planning law changes to prohibit gas to new buildings
- Best practice efficiency standards to reduce energy demand
- Prioritising solar thermal technology research and development for high process heat requirements and renewable energy and batteries for electrification
- Ensure that strong support is provided for low income and vulnerable Victorians to shift to cheaper, less polluting alternatives than gas
Here are some things you might want to ask them NOT to do:
- Don’t pursue polluting biomass and biomethane technologies that are risky for the climate and for biodiversity
- Don’t include carbon capture and storage technology which has been tried and demonstrably failed as a means of abating carbon emissions at scale.
- Don’t support so-called ‘blue hydrogen’ from methane gas which is a dirty fuel that has no future in a zero carbon world
- Don’t pursue any further gas developments or expansions in Victoria
This is a critical time for energy decision making in Victoria. Victoria is the only place in the world where fracking is banned in the Constitution.
And yet this state has the highest household gas use in the country. Half of Victoria’s domestic gas use is in space heating alone! What we need from the State Government is an ambitious timetable to accelerate this switch and support clean renewable energy, not polluting gas.
There are some very quick and easy steps Victoria can take to effectively halve total statewide gas demand in the Northmore Gordon report Victorian Gas Market - Demand Side Measures to Avoid Forecast Supply Shortfall commissioned by Environment Victoria
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has this year said that there is no need for new gas in Australia in their March Gas Statement of Opportunities report