Some of you may be interested in this free online event from Parents for Climate. They say it’s a "practical, no-nonsense webinar designed to help households reduce energy bills, improve comfort, and understand what to look for when taking the next step toward an all-electric home, whether that’s now or sometime in the future…
This is a national session, so we’ll focus on principles, real-life examples, and decision-making frameworks that apply across Australia. Where relevant, we’ll point you to tools and programs to help you find local rebates and support. It’s aimed at parents, homeowners, renters, and anyone curious about lowering bills and future-proofing their home.
What we’ll cover:
-
Where most homes are wasting money on energy
-
How to get off gas (without doing everything at once)
-
What to consider before upgrading to solar, batteries, hot water heat pumps, and efficient heating & cooling
-
Induction cooking and EV charging: what you need to know (and what you don’t)
Date & Time of Webinar (by State):
May 04, 2026
7:30pm (VIC, NSW, QLD, TAS)
7:00pm (SA, NT)
5:30pm (WA)
Send RSVP: https://www.parentsforclimate.org/electrify_your_home_webinar
Some idle comments:
-
In hot climates, an indoors HWHP is preferred, as it offsets AC loads. In cold climates, put it outdoors.
-
Avoid putting AC units directly in the kitchen due to fouling the filters.
-
Multiple single splits can be cheaper than a multi split, and are generally slightly more efficient.
-
Shade can help reduce AC loads significantly.
Adding, with multiple singles it’s possible to put one on the battery backup system whereas a multi-split will usually have too large a draw for the backup system.
-
Individuals can’t do anything meaningful about climate or pollution
We need to go electric for energy security
How can we have energy security by going all-electric when every single piece of hardware in the electric chain is made in China?
We need energy independence, security is a byproduct of that. Every day we go for “net zero” e get further and further away.
Energy security by having the stuff instead of buying the fuel regularly
Does that make sense to you? Buy solar and electric stuff from China and you have it, they can’t take it off you
And when you need to replace it? Or buy more?
In fifty years when a 30kW solar power system is working like a 20kW system the geopolitical system will probably be different
Buy or from whoever is making it. America, Australia, and China are certainly making panels, most likely other countries
Other electrical equipment is made everywhere
The “what if you need more” argument is also a thing for gas hot water, internal combustion engines and everything else
Electric is no different, except it doesn’t need fuel
And my point is that we should start making all absolutely essential things here, especially for probably the single most important thing to our country.
Being reliant on China for the thing that powers our entire country is not a good thing. Did you miss what happened during 2020/2021?
So buy Australian. We have a small number of manufacturers
We have basically none. Can’t buy Australian when the product you want isn’t made in Australia.
Cool, what’s your prescription professor, we going to buy solely Australian made equipment for all future infrastructure?
Oh wait, we were so beholden to preserving profitability of our extractive indutries that we effectively offshored the lions share of our manufacturing sector. Worst part is we have all the raw materials we need on shore to support modern battery and renewable generation technology, but we let our billionaires piss it all away.
Now we are going to get xenophobic about where we source our infrastructure from?
Let me guess we are going to somehow make nuclear cheaper than renewables, somehow kickstart our own nuclear construction capacity from effectively nil, and then we are going to have a properly “'Straylyan” energy grid.
Yet again I ask, what part of the fossil fuel industry are you employed in and do you feel guilty that you are willing to let your ideology get in the way of pursuing the cheapest most effective way of pushing forward?
Make manufacturing locally possible again.
And yes, nuclear should be part of our energy future. The best time to start was decades ago. The next best time is now.
We need to start making solar panels and batteries here as a start.
We should absolutely be making our own solar and batteries, a smart government would have included some money in the budget towards kick starting and incentivising that, they could call it Future Made in Australia.
The problem with Nuclear is that it requires multiple decade commitments to be practical, we have an entire wing of politics which actively wants to take retrograde steps to keep us on gas and coal as long as possible, the next time they are in power they will find ways to go slow on nuclear.
You are right that the best time to start is decades ago, but starting it now will result in us making Hinkley Point look like a model of efficiency.
What we need is to develop our grid in distinct achievable packets of work to minimise the Liberal parties opportunities to piss all over modernisation to help their billionaire buddies.
I have had multiple people show me that 7 Spotlight propaganda piece and try to tell me this is why renewables are a scam, then get defensive and rude when I ask which liar they want me to listen to, the Journalist turned fossil fuel PR flack turned “Veteran Journalist” (who works for a company owned by a billionaire), the politician (and member of a climate denial club called Saltbush that counts a certain mining magnate billionaire as a member) that wants us to build out coal and concedes we should probably do nuclear at some stage, the “conservationist” who won’t admit who is funding him and appears to be a compulsive liar.
We need to get rid of coal and gas as quickly as possible, we need to reduce our usage of fossil fuels in the transport sector, and we need to kick start local manufacturing and R&D. Once we have a reasonable level of security we can start building out capacity for the next century, until then I worry we will be debating and procrastinating until the rest of the world overtakes us… Or worse, laps us.
We really don’t need to get rid of coal and gas as quickly as possible though. Australia’s emission footprint is irrelevant to the world. A fart in the wind. Even if we got to net zero it would change nothing.
Yeah, one more drink won’t hurt, we can stop any time, it’s not a problem.
Actually I’m going to go a few steps forward and let coal and forward get used, but remove every tax breakand subsidy from them. The second a Billionaire starts threatening to take their money elsewhere start nationalising for the sake of the workers.
We need to start treating the existence of billionaires as a sign of serious imbalance and imminent failure.
The existence of billionaires is not a problem.
I agree with you about subsidies and public ownership. Coal etc shouldn’t get subsidies without public ownership. That’s not the discussion being had though, which is the futileness of Australia going “net zero” and how all it’s going to do is bankrupt us, line Chinas pockets, and make us their bitch.
I wonder how applicable this would be to folks outside Australia?
Europe here! That’s my house right now. All electric, car included. 😊
No, I mean the webinar. Is it going to be about the technology in general, or about Australia-specific government policies for installing it?
Just read the above description or go to the registration page. It covers a wide range of topics. In any case, if you or a friend can’t watch it at the time the webinar is on, I can bet it will be recorded and you can watch it in your own time and see.
I think they’d be bits which would be applicable and other bits not. But it might help people think about the various aspects and how it might be adpated to where they live.