Australia’s Gas-fired Recovery: Does It stack up?
Is the government’s plan for a gas-fired recovery “essential”? Thread:

@barobertson111
Article in @swinjournalism http://www.theswinstandard.net/2020/11/11/australias-gas-fired-recovery-does-it-stack-up/
Video @barobertson111 @IEEFA_AsiaPac
https://vimeo.com/474428967 
Blog http://www.jackmeehan.media/blog/ 

Australia’s Gas-fired Recovery: Does It stack up?
Article in @swinjournalism http://www.theswinstandard.net/2020/11/11/australias-gas-fired-recovery-does-it-stack-up/
Video @barobertson111
https://vimeo.com/474428967 
Video @forceytim
https://vimeo.com/476544481 
Video Melinda Wilson
https://vimeo.com/474118910 
Clickable Slideset
https://www.slideshare.net/JackMeehan7/questions-about-the-gasfired-recovery

Do we really need more gas?

In 2015, Melbourne Energy Institute noted that between half to one million Australian homes may be unaware that their reverse-cycle air conditioner can be simply switched to “heat” instead of using gas.

https://energy.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1993309/switching-off-gas-an-examination-of-declining-gas-demand-in-eastern-australia.pdf

Australia’s major trading partners have given firm net zero commitments to 2050/2060. “Australia’s gas-led recovery is looking increasingly like the Australian government is ‘flogging a dead horse’” says @barobertson111

https://reneweconomy.com.au/australias-gas-led-recovery-is-flogging-a-dead-horse-33844/

Energy researcher @ForceyTim explains that gas is an industry in decline: AEMO “forecasts that the volume of gas burned to make electricity will be only one-fifth of what it was in 2012”, given demand reduction via energy efficiency and electrification

https://reneweconomy.com.au/gas-in-eastern-australia-clearly-a-declining-industry-55630/

Melinda Wilson organised CSG Free Western Sydney in four years of protests, leading to AGL dumping its plans for CSG in Gloucester. Check the video https://vimeo.com/474118910 
You can support Melinda in her fight against health damage from incinerators https://www.facebook.com/westernsydneydaction

Morrison’s handpicked Covid Commission favours not just public spending on gas industry infrastructure, but “sweeping changes” to create a market and underwriting supply.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/21/leaked-covid-19-commission-report-calls-for-australian-taxpayers-to-underwrite-gas-industry-expansion

Mark Ogge from TAI counters Santos’ argument that Narrabri gas will lower gas prices, as it is likely to displace cheaper Cooper Basin gas which in turn would go offshore: “industrial gas customers should be concerned” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/24/santos-claim-narrabri-csg-development-will-lower-prices-misrepresents-government-evidence-thinktank-says

Bruce Robertson, referencing the ACCC ”we are getting ripped off, but the government doesn’t want to do anything about it.. These apparent gas shortages “keep the gas market just starved in Australia, so that they can make more money” Interview 26 Oct https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/domestic-gas-users-paying-too-much.

Increased supply of expensive gas won't reduce electricity prices, says Bruce Robertson citing the ACCC: "for every $1/GJ rise in gas prices, the wholesale price of electricity rises by up to $11/MWh"

https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Retail%20Electricity%20Pricing%20Inquiry-Final%20Report%20June%202018_0.pdf

Video of interview with @barobertson111 from @IEEFA_AsiaPac pulling apart the gas-fired recovery #globalgasglut #harvestingsubsidies
Check https://reneweconomy.com.au/australias-gas-led-recovery-is-flogging-a-dead-horse-33844/ https://vimeo.com/474428967 

The government’s argument for gas as a transition fuel rests on the idea that gas is “50% better” than coal, but this ignores leakage. Santos used an “emissions factor” of just 0.0058%, well below BP’s 3.2% where gas is dirtier. Some wells leak at 30% https://www.climatecollege.unimelb.edu.au/files/site1/docs/6032/20161023%20Review%20of%20Methane%20Emissions.pdf p31

Footage of the aftermath of an explosion in an XTO energy gas well, near Powhatan Point in Ohio, USA, shot using a FLIR camera - it lasted 20 days with total emissions similar to “several European countries”.
Video by @Earthworks

https://www.pnas.org/content/116/52/26376

“Australians are wasting billions of dollars every year burning gas in their homes. There are now cheaper options, what we really need to be doing is getting homes off gas”

@forceytim explains positive alternative to the #gasfiredrecovery https://vimeo.com/476544481