‘We Are Entering the Electric Age’: Former Australian Chief Scientist on Global Push to Net-Zero

Tesla cars recharge at a Tesla Supercharger station in Pasadena, Calif., on April 14, 2022. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Former Australian Chief Scientist Alan Finkel said humanity was undertaking an age defining transformation of energy systems in its global push to net-zero.

“So substantial that in the naming traditions of the stone age, the iron age, the bronze age, and the industrial age, it could be argued that we are entering the electric age,” Finkel told the Australian Hydrogen Council on Tuesday.

Finkel, who is currently the special adviser to the federal government on low emissions technology, said the key to bringing the goal of net-zero within reach was “electrifying everything.”

However, he admitted that electricity would not be ideal in every circumstance, pointing out the need for other resources such as hydrogen.

“We need to use all the tools available to us to deploy renewable energy as quickly as possible,” he said while warning the transition would take time.

But he noted that the urgency of the situation had been highlighted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which compounded already existing energy issues in many developed nations.

In Australia, the global energy crisis has caused wholesale electricity prices to spike up to 141 percent, leaving households and small businesses bracing for power bill hikes.

A person works on a laptop from a home office. Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images

The highly volatile energy wholesale prices have also led small energy providers to encourage customers to switch to their competitors or turn off sales functions to avoid attracting new customers.

“By leaving, you are helping yourself while helping to protect those who remain with us because we have no choice but to pass on the wholesale costs we’re facing,” ReAmped CEO Luke Blincoe said in a statement.

Finkel said a “quick win” would be replacing the 90 million tonnes of grey hydrogen, which is produced by fossil fuels that are currently used in the industrial sector.

“Doing so would reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 2 percent,” he said. “So that would be a big, quick win. But the majority of use cases will take years to develop and scale.”

Finkel, who led the development of the national hydrogen strategy during his tenure as chief scientist, also spoke of the prospect of using clean hydrogen, adding that the market would need some time to develop.

Australian Hydrogen Council CEO Fiona Simon urged the government to introduce measures to create a hydrogen market.

“The eyes of the new energy world are fixed on Australia. Our trade partners are closely watching how we develop this market,” Simon said. “But the hydrogen economy can’t wait for market forces alone to drive decarbonisation. We need policy certainty and coordination to get this market to scale.

But Finkel noted that it was no surprise that there was currently low demand for a hydrogen market, as the resource is not quite a direct substitute for coal, oil, or natural gas.

AAP contributed to this article.