Butters Leadership Oration 2024 – Leadership and Innovation in Clean and Renewable Energy Technologies

On 8 February 2024, Christina West, Lauren Fraser and Callum Heinrich, alongside client David Uncle from Evoenergy, attended the 2024 Annual Butters Leadership Oration.?

The 2024 orator was Dr Saul Griffith. Saul is an engineer and entrepreneur specialising in clean and renewable energy technologies. Saul has founded a dozen technology companies across 20 years in Silicon Valley and is the author of 3 books including Electrify', and The Big Switch'. Saul has recently turned his attention from Otherlab, his independent Research and Development lab, to policy work and writing, including founding Rewiring America and Rewiring Australia, non-partisan organizations dedicated to electrification and decarbonization and the associated policy and regulatory implications of meeting our climate goals.

Electrifying our Homes

Saul spoke on the importance of electrifying our homes, and the importance?of policy in supporting the transition to electric appliances in the home. He suggested that 42% of our domestic emissions emanate from decisions made around the kitchen table - what fuels our cars, what fuels our homes, where our electricity comes from and how?our fuels are made. Saul presented the Australian home running cost based on conventional power vs electrified and showed that each house hold?could save up to $42,000 savings?based on a 10 year appliance lifetime. He highlighted that conventional household power costs continue to rise, while electrification would cause costs to plateau.

Saul also highlighted the ability to create jobs in the local community through installing demand side electric machines, instead of sending money out of the community through using fossil fuels.

Electricity in America

Saul showed his work, supported by his company Otherlab, mapping out all the energy used in America, with data from sources such as the Department of Energy and the census. This map shows the energy production, energy consumption and the energy flow used for activities, like abattoirs, transport of school children and transporting natural gas. Based on this graph, Saul spoke about the?impact his work had had on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a?climate legislation, passed by the United States Congress in August 2022. The legislation contains $520 billion AUD worth of programs and funding to accelerate the transition to net zero in the US. Saul noted that?the bill is a tax incentive to electrify everything in the home (electrifying demand side machines).

Challenges

Saul highlighted some of the challenges faced in meeting the required carbon emissions IPCC requirements.?

• Regulatory environments
• Limitations with technology
• Misinformation shared with the public through social media. The limited credible and reliable information available to the public.
• Money vs moral arguments for electrification (Saul's speech focused on the monetary benefits to electrifying)

Call to Action

Saul urged all engineers to?encourage the Australian government to recognise science, and take action on electrifying Australia. He spoke on his realisation that real impact could come from changing energy policies, which is what inspired him to move into policy work with the US and Australian government.

Interested to learn more? Read about the research and numbers in Saul's books, and here are some interesting online articles:?

• https://mitpress.mit.edu/featured-book-electrify/
• https://www.fastcompany.com/3062630/this-very-very-detailed-chart-shows-how-all-the-energy-in-the-us-is-used
• https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-09-07/climate-change-solution-electrify-everything-saul-griffiths/100428158

Saul presented a thought-provoking oration on the current energy decisions being faced in Australia and America, applicable to both our work and personal lives.