Electrify 2515 and beyond!
Austinmer local / scientist / big thinker / energy guru Dr Saul Griffith and his team at Rewiring Australia are on a mission to electrify everything to solve the twin climate and cost-of-living crises. This means transforming all Australian homes, cars and suburbs so they run more efficiently and are powered by renewable energy.
The Electrify 2515 project formed to try get a pilot electrification study happening in a local community. Electrify 2515 is made up of volunteers from the 2515 who work closely with Rewiring Australia staff to try create Australia’s first all electric suburb here in 2515.
How do we create our all electric community?
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1. Electrify Households & Businesses
We need to switch out our fossil fuel driven cars and appliances with efficient, electric machines powered by renewable energy. Electrify 2515 is working to support community members to install solar power and potentially a battery, replace their petrol or diesel car with an electric vehicle, as well as install electric heat pumps for heating our water and homes, and swapping gas for induction cooktops.
If we did all of this, the average household would save over $3000 a year on energy bills and take their household energy emissions from 9,550 kg CO2e per year to zero!
Check out our Household Electrification Guide -
2. Create Smart Energy Users
It’s not enough to install new technology, we need to be smart about how we use it. That is, we need to move more of our energy consumption to the time we produce it (the middle of the day). This can be done in a few ways:
Technology - using smart devices to monitor and control when appliances are being used
Economics - lobbying for solar soaker tariffs to make midday the new “off peak” and incentivise shifts
Behaviour - making changes such as turning your dishwasher on when you leave for work, rather than when you go to bed or using EV chargers during the daytime.
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3. Build Community Connections
We’re all connected via our poles and wires, so let’s build these connections in a way that benefit the whole community.
This includes:
Approaching energy holistically, working with a range of stakeholders such as the energy distributor, retailers, financial institutions, industry and consumers
Build more community assets including large solar arrays, batteries and EV charging infrastructure
Understanding and shaping community behaviour to reduce the impact on the grid and therefore associated costs.
Who is Electrify 2515?
Electrify 2515 is made up of volunteers from our local community who share a common concern for the climate crisis and are driven to finding practical solutions that we can implement locally and work closely with Rewiring Australia staff to try get a pilot electrification project happening in our community.
Beyond our goal to get a funded pilot in place, Electrify 2515 volunteers are researching, advocating and working on a number of other initiatives to help bring about the vision of an electrified community.
This includes:
Running a Community Solar Rollout by partnering with local solar providers to accelerate solar uptake. Find out more.
Organising electric transport bulk buys
Working with council to encourage them to improve EV charging infrastructure and community rooftop solar (you can read our EV charging infrastructure policy submission here).
Working with finance institutions to look at financial packages that assists with people affording the uptake of electric items.
Working with Endeavour Energy to investigate community batteries and localised tariffs to reduce energy costs in the area.
Working with community, social and property groups to determine the best ways to include renters, strata properties and low income households.
Raising awareness, lobbying governments and collaborating with other communities to support their electric journey.