Energy is changing, and our built environment needs to be ready.

For one thing, it’s getting more expensive. Massive increases in the wholesale price of gas in Europe due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are fuelling spikes in energy costs all over the world. And here in Australia, wholesale costs for both electricity and gas are reaching never before seen highs, which will inevitably be passed on to consumers.

At a time when climate change threatens our homes, food and health, we know we need to urgently reduce emissions. Australia has signed up to the Paris Climate Agreement to cut our carbon emissions, recently increasing the targets to 43% by 2030 and to net zero by 2050.

We know that means moving to zero carbon energy generation like wind and solar. But did you know that the way we store and distribute energy is changing too?

We already know we need decentralised power generation. The almost two million Australians who have rooftop solar shows that energy generated right where its used, rather than centrally in a power station, is growing in popularity. Who doesn’t love the chance to have free energy? The option to sell surplus energy to the grid and get some dollars into the back pocket doesn’t hurt either.

But the next big thing is going to be storing that power in a decentralised way, and that’s where our built environment comes in.

The obvious way to store energy is batteries – it makes sense to think we could store energy for our own use via a battery or two. Trouble is, big batteries come with a big price tag. The Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC)’s 2021 Decarbonisation discussion paper found that, despite more than 30% of Australian households having rooftop solar, batteries are too expensive for many. At the same time, export ceilings have been imposed by many energy companies, limiting the amount of energy households can sell back into the grid.

But what if you already have a big, expensive battery that you’re not using all the time? What if that big battery could store any excess energy you generate and then sell it back into the grid at the optimum time? Better still, what if that big, expensive battery was able to draw down other people’s surplus power at times when they are generating more than the grid itself can use? And then sell it back in when demand goes up again?

That big battery is your electric car battery. Australia is already part way through a transition to electric vehicles that will decarbonise our transport sector – about two thirds of us are forecast to be driving an electric vehicle by 2030.

The idea of “bidirectional charging” has got techies excited – manufacturers are racing to bring out new two-way car batteries for electric vehicles, that will allow car batteries to download and store power until it is needed and the feed it back into the grid for a price.

This opens up a world of possibility. As well as being generators of energy, anyone with a few rooftop solar panels can in effect become a tiny energy retailer, storing power when there’s too much for the grid. That energy can be used either to power the vehicle, or, if the car’s not active, sold back in when demand rises.

This is not just something that will happen at home. Fleets of off-duty taxis could also operate as giant energy stores, opening up a whole other revenue stream for the companies that own them. Hospitals or schools with rooftop solar could use off-duty school buses or ambulances to do the same thing, easing the pressure on public budgets through lower bills and income generation.

But we won’t be ready for this brave new world of energy storage unless we electrify our cities.

To avert climate change catastrophe, we need to pivot away from fossil fuels like gas and petrol.

That leaves lots of gas pipes with nothing running through them. There’s a push on to turn all the existing gas infrastructure over to hydrogen or other gases. But studies show hydrogen just isn’t that suitable for this use.

But worse still, if we try to stick to gas, we won’t be able to take advantage of the electric revolution that’s coming. Your expensive new hydrogen heater can’t use the energy you generate via your rooftop solar, or the energy stored in electric vehicles or battery banks.

ASBEC’s recent Unlocking the Pathway: Why electrification is the key to net zero buildings research confirms that 100% electrification is the lowest cost, fastest emissions reduction pathway for Australia’s built environment. By electrifying buildings now, hydrogen can be reserved for parts of the economy that will need to rely on high intensity energy requirements, such as industrial and some areas of transport.

If we’re to be truly ready for the changes that are coming, we’ll need charging points to be standard in new builds, and for them to be capable of exporting energy when required. We’ll need a smart grid, which knows how to cope when demand surges. We need chargers that work with vehicles. We need banks of batteries, adapted to the places we have to store them. We need the skills and know-how to fit and manage these systems. None of this can happen without electrifying our built environment.

If we can get our buildings ready to grab hold of the energy storage revolution, the future’s brighter than ever.

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