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168: DJ Bandt, Poll-Shaped Objects & Tanya’s Tall Tale Tweet

🕑 Added 2025-03-22 19:00:08 +0000 UTC
168: DJ Bandt, Poll-Shaped Objects & Tanya’s Tall Tale Tweet

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RankStranger

Regarding solar and electrification, as those who can afford it get off gas, the cost of maintaining the network will be spread around fewer people, who are and will be the ones who can’t afford to do anything about it unless they have some sort of assistance. There are starting to be more council assistance programs available but there are 10M homes that need upgrading so there needs to be a nationally coordinated effort. The energy companies are trying to use market mechanisms (ie high prices) to dissuade people from using energy in peak times but people need power when they need it so they just end up paying more. Solar helps and some of the highest penetration is in the poorer outer suburbs. Many of these systems are poorly designed, poorly installed and purchased with predatory "interest-free" loans but they do help with peoples’ cost of living. Batteries would help a whole hell of a lot more (even for people in apartments, if the right technology is used), especially now that feed-in tariffs are almost gone (because wholesale electricity prices during the days are basically nothing) but the cost is still so high that the payback doesn’t add up for most people. There is a federal rebate program called STCs (a type of renewable energy certificates) that applies to solar panels and heat pump hot water systems which could be applied to battery purchases too. It could take batteries from a bad investment for most people to a good investment for most people overnight but the gov has been more interested in giving money to network operators to install batteries to buffer their networks locally, to make up for decades of underinvestment. The network operators talk a big game about the energy transition but their incentives are fundamentally misaligned with the changes that need to happen so in reality they’re self-serving obstructionists. On rentals, although there is state and federal gov incentives for landlords, I’ve been designing and selling systems for years and only done one on an investment property. Again the incentives are misaligned and even solar Victoria who do the rebates try to sell it to landlords with the idea that they can charge more rent, negating any potential benefit to the tenant. The whole situation is pretty fucked. There are a lot of people working hard to improve it but it’s hard to be optimistic. Sorry about the long post but I hope it helps to illustrate that a federal grant program to help electrify homes could actually be huge. Solidarity ✊

LBenno

Let's not forget that renters pay their own electricity bills. Not landlords. So incentives to install solar can also have a direct benefit for renters.


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