Greens candidate for Ward 3 Deidre Stuart is calling on Council to amend the Development Control Plan to ban all gas connections to new residential and commercial buildings.
Wollongong City Council can introduce requirements that new developments are electric only through their planning powers without waiting for the NSW government to act and many councils are already doing so.
If elected as a councillor, Dr Stuart says that she looks forward to getting this change completed urgently. She understands that Council is currently undertaking a review of sustainability provisions in Wollongong’s DCP, but does not know what the timelines are.
“Electrification of all new buildings is a must and is urgent," Dr Stuart said. "The NSW government proposes 9,200 new homes in Wollongong by 2029 to address current housing shortages. About half of these are already somewhere in planning systems. We definitely need more housing, but we need to make sure that the housing is as affordable and as healthy as possible. Requiring new developments to be fully electric is one way that Council can help future Wollongong residents, especially renters and people on low-incomes. This simple change will help to reduce their energy bills and ease cost of living pressures.”
Research conducted by Strategic Policy Research and reported by 350 Australia demonstrates significant savings compared to the business as usual case, for NSW homes and businesses.
If all NSW councils required new residential buildings to be fully electric by the financial year 2024-25, each newly built home would save $608 each year on average, over a typical economic life of a building (40 years). So every household would save an average of $7,900 over 40 years. At a state level, these household savings total to $5.3 billion over that 40 years. New commercial buildings would save a total of $6.5 million across the state in 2024-25, totalling to $1.3 billion over the 40 years. For Wollongong, specifically, the average expected energy saving per household is $626.16 each year (or $8,810 across 40 years) and the reported total cost savings for the residential sector over the 40 year period is $138.46 million, while $5.4 million each year, in energy cost savings is estimated for the commercial sector.
Dr Stuart said: “All-electric buildings cost less to build, are cheaper to run, and they’re also cleaner and healthier to live and work in. Gas itself is toxic and when burned, produces several other toxic gases. Nitrogen dioxide is just one example of a toxic gas produced when gas is burned."
According to Doctors for the Environment, studies show that nitrogen dioxide is associated with both the development of asthma and with asthma attacks. "For a child with current asthma who lives in a home with a gas stove, 30 per cent of their risk of asthma is from the stove. Australian researchers have estimated that across the community 12 per cent of childhood asthma is attributable to the use of gas cooking stoves," Dr Stuart said.
“When considering the high costs of living many people face, it is important also to consider that poor health itself imposes additional costs on individuals and families. Some Wollongong residents tell me they cannot afford GP or specialist visits, or that they cannot afford prescribed medications. Sick children miss school, and then it takes more effort to catch up. Caring for family members who are sick or taking them to medical appointments also takes carers away from potential employment, and often constrains carers’ employment choices so that they can be responsive to others’ needs.”
Dr Stuart is concerned that many Wollongong residents already live in homes with gas cooktops, and may be already experiencing ill effects from that. “Some people I have spoken to, assume that their rangehood removes pollution associated with using gas for cooking. They are surprised when I suggest they check whether their rangehood just recirculates the air back into the kitchen or ducts the air to outside the house. For a rangehood to be of any benefit at all, it needs to duct to outside the house, but even then it would not extract all the toxic gases released. In cold weather like we are experiencing now, understandably no-one wants to open all their windows while cooking on their gas cooktops, but if using gas appliances indoors, it is really important we ventilate well.”
Dr Stuart emphasised that altering the DCP to ban gas in new residential and commercial buildings does not cost council anything, but would help Council to achieve its sustainability, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, and social equity commitments, which is a part of council’s Sustainable Wollongong 2030: A Climate Health City Strategy. Dr Stuart said: “Let’s do it.”