Our backgrounds & what motivates us

PAUL

A bit about Paul

  • What do you do for a crust? I manage sustainability and procurement teams within local govenment. More recently I have spent a lot of time managing council energy projects such as solar & battery installations and developing electrification and energy efficiency upgrade business cases.

  • What motivates you? Helping organisations and homeowners lower their carbon emmisions footprint in support of broader climate emissions reduction targets.

  • What else do you love doing outside work? I love spending time with my family and maintaining our organic certified hobby farm in the Adelaide Hills.

  • What brought you to Electrify Adelaide? A chance meeting of like minded energy and climate enthusiasts at the 2023 South Australian Industry Climate Change Conference in Adelaide.

Paul’s Electrification journey

  • What steps have you taken in your life to live lighter? Moving to the hills in 2017 having returned to Adelaide from a professional life in central London to live on a hobby farm. Turned vegetarian in 2015. I live off rainwater and a bio-cycle septic system that irrigates fruit trees.

  • How far along are you on the Electrification journey? The hobby farm is run off a 13kw solar and 20kWh battery system, managed by a smart home energy management system that controls, the hot water heat pump, split system air conditioning and electric vehicle charger. I cook on an induction cooktop and 1 of 2 cars are battery electric and the other is being replaced in 2024. All farm equipment is electric other than a diesel run tractor which i dont expect to replace until 2030 due to available technology.

  • What's been some key learnings you'd like to share? Smart home energy automation can accelerate electrification return of investment and be done without needing an electrical engineering degree using HEMS (home energy management system) and joining a VPP (Virtual Power Plant).

  • What are you keen to do next? Trade my surplus PV with my neighbours who don't have solar using a peer to peer trading platform offered as part of a standard retail energy plan offering.

JASPER

A bit about Jasper

  • What do you do for a crust?  I work as a dentist part-time: which in practical terms means I'm the tradie for the mouth

  • What motivates you? A deep care for our planet, equality and fairness. I want a bright and positive future for my 9 year old son but this requires me to be the change I seek in my workplace and community 

  • What else do you love doing outside work?  We've recently built our forever sustainable home so much of my time is dedicated to growing my own food in the garden and tending to a fantastic aquatic wetland that we've created in our home

  • What brought you to Electrify Adelaide? The fact we have many of the solutions for the climate crisis right in front of us and this can make our homes and communities cheaper to run, cleaner and healthier places

Jasper’s Electrification journey;

  • What steps have you taken in your life to live lighter? Apart from my electrification journey, I've gone flexitarian, been involved with tree planting and biodiversity projects such as Trees for Life and Bio R. I've also been involved in community campaigning with various climate and professional groups to implement change around sustainability.

  • How far along are you on the Electrification journey?  We've completed our sustainable house build 12 months ago and it's just been featured in Sanctuary Magazine. You can read it in Issue 65 ("Wetland Wonder"). We have a fully all-electric home with 21kW solar on three-phase, induction stove, heat pump, ultra-airtight home, RCAC for heating/cooling, drive a Tesla Model Y and charge at home for free off the panels. A residential battery is the last item on the list

  • What's been some key learnings you'd like to share? Start from first principles: the size and orientation of your built form are the most important. An all-electric McMansion is still an energy guzzling McMansion. Those considering renovations or extensions can probably with a bit of smart thinking reduce the overall footprint of the house, which in turn reduces heat/cooling requirements in the first place. 

  • What are you keen to do next? I'm keen to see legislators and leaders mandate all new builds go all-electric, and to see more equitable ways that renters and low income households can have fair access to household upgrades.

DAN

A bit about Dan

  • What do you do for a crust? I'm a self-employed Mechanical Designer in the Water Industry.  More recently I've started moving into my passion,  the future energy space, by linking my love of cars with renewable energy in the form of EV Curious.  Here I speak at business & community events about the benefits of EVs and how they can complement your pocket & home energy ecosystem, as one tool for decarbonising our world.  I have recently started re-training as a Home Energy Assessor thorough Scorecard.

  • What motivates you?  Having conversations and sharing experiences that result in greater awareness and the possibility of people making a change for a better environmental outcome or gaining an alternative perspective.  Trying to leave the planet and my community in a better place than it once was, is also a big motivator.

  • What else do you love doing outside work?  Bushwalking, birding and yoga all are great tools for filling my cup.  I'm involved with the local Landcare and Friends groups, seeking to maintain and improve the remnant vegetation in our area, always learning about new flora & fauna with passionate individuals.

  • What brought you to Electrify Adelaide?  After watching Saul on Australian Story and mentioning it to some friends the next day who had also watched it - we all had the same idea  - wouldn't it be great to do something in Adelaide - and so we did..

Dan’s Electrification journey

  • What steps have you taken in your life to live lighter?  Broadly - I try to consume less and give back more.  I believe mindfulness and awareness of our place on the planet also goes a long way to living lighter too.   Practically - I grow as much of our own food as possible with rainwater harvested from our home and try to improve the space we share with our native flora & fauna that depend on it too.

  • How far along are you on the Electrification journey?  We started with Solar PV, then replaced the instant gas HWS with a Heat Pump in 2018.  More recently we added IR panels to the lounge to replace the combustion heater for most of winter.  We bought our first EV in 2019 before replacing our other ICE car with a Kona. The final part of the puzzle was the gas cooktop, which we just replaced with induction in November, after using the SA Gov EV rebate on a new MG4 EV to finance it.

  • What's been some key learnings you'd like to share?  Switching to a TOU electricity tariff from a renewable energy company is FREE.  It has been one of the biggest and simplest steps we have taken, to enable big savings across our home and transport budget. Electrification of the home also results in taking control of your energy and not being so exposed to external forces and fluctuations.  On top of that - once done, it will constantly get cleaner as the grid evolves, whereas fossil fuels will only get worse.  

  • What are you keen to do next? Keen to explore how the MG4s V2L functionality may be able to integrate with our home and knock out some of the Peak hour grid usage.  'V2G lite' if you like, whilst we wait for the V2G market to mature and become feasible. 

DAVID

A bit about David

  • What do you do for a crust? I’m an impact professional, building community for complex problems. With a background primarily in international aid and development, I have been focusing on using these skills and building community for climate action and resilience in South Australia since early 2019. I’m currently the President of the Conservation Council of South Australia.

  • What motivates you?  I am motivated by helping organizations and communities empower themselves and improve collaboration to address climate change, particularly in South Australia. After working for many years in overseas aid and development, my (then 14 y/o) daughter got involved in the climate strikes (in Stockholm, with Greta Thunberg) and when we both moved back to Adelaide in 2019 I agreed to shift my focus to climate and let them get on with being a teenager and finishing school.

  • What else do you love doing outside work?  I spend a lot of time with my 3 year old in our veggie garden where we live in the hills. The rest of my time goes towards building community and working towards systems change in various roles.

  • What brought you to Electrify Adelaide?  A friend (Dan) called me after seeing Saul Griffith on Australian Story in 2022 and we met up with another friend and started talking about what we might do.

David’s Electrification journey

  • What steps have you taken in your life to live lighter?  I have taken several steps to reduce my carbon footprint as a renter, including moving to the Adelaide Hills in 2021, eating less beef and more vegetarian meals, living off rain and bore water, growing lots of veggies and buying green power.

  • How far along are you on the Electrification journey?  As a renter there is a limit to what we can do. Luckily the house is all electric but unfortunately doesn’t have solar or batteries. Down the track I’d love to install a portable solar battery system and one day get an EV.

  • What's been some key learnings you'd like to share?  My focus is around building teams and community to take action and increase our impact. There is a lot to be done at home for most of us but the more we come work together, collaborate on ideas and communicate the more we help accelerate the transition. 

  • What are you keen to do next? I’m focused on helping Unley and Uraidla get going as their own electrification groups and then start getting other communities involved and spread the movement in SA.

ANDREW

A bit about Andrew

  • What do you do for a crust?    I used to be a public servant working vocational education and training. I retired eight years ago.

  • What motivates you?    The science and scientists that tell us what we must do! And my family, especially our grandchildren. Is it possible we are leaving to our children and grandchildren a planet that is less secure and predictable than what we experienced? We need to get moving on the transition from fossil fuels to renewables as well as protecting and rebuilding biodiversity. 

  • What else do you love doing outside work?    Gardening, cycling, swimming, bushwalking (esp long walks in Tassie), reading and being with my family and friends discussing the issues of the day and just hanging out.

  • What brought you to Electrify Adelaide?    I too was inspired by watching Saul Griffith on Australian Story. I love listening to people like Saul who paint the big picture and shine a light on a practical way forward.

Andrew’s Electrification journey

  • What steps have you taken in your life to live lighter? We minimise the use of our one (petrol) car preferring to ride our bicycles whenever possible. I never drove to work in 40 years, only rode my bicycle. Living near the city made that easily achievable. We have been vegetarians for 45 years and passed this onto our children. We grow as much food at home as we can and have over 30 fruit trees and a veggie patch in a small suburban block in Parkside. After the last drought, we removed our best producing orange tree (ouch) and installed a 48,000litre rainwater tank which is filled from our roof and also from part of a neighbour's roof. In good years we use rain water inside the house and in the garden for 9 months of the year. 

  • How far along are you on the Electrification journey?  We initially had 1kw solar in 2012 but two years ago upsized this to 6kw. This year we installed an induction stove and a 300litre heat pump hot water system. A few months ago, we disconnected from mains gas. I would much prefer to drive an EV but as we have only bought second hand vehicles under $6,000, we will probably wait on this purchase. In the meantime, we will be pedalling whenever we can.

  • What's been some key learnings you'd like to share?    Its a good feeling to be pushing electricity out to the grid and heating our water during the day while the sun is shining. The induction stove is a pleasure to cook on with much finer heat control than gas and much easier to clean!

  • What are you keen to do next?  Maybe investigate Time of Use electricity tariff with our retailer that others in the group are recommending. If batteries come down in price we will consider but not if we can purchase an EV that will also function as our home battery when it is parked in the drive.

CORINNE

A bit about Corinne

  • What do you do for a crust?   I am a part time dentist and a full time mother to 3 boys. Surely my hours of ferrying the boys all around town for their extracurricular activities should be a paid role!

  • What motivates you?   The desire to secure a stable future for our children and future generations. I see my climate advocacy work as an extension of my role as a mother. I am also deeply concerned about our wildlife that live in nature- they share this beautiful planet with us and they need more people to stand up and protect their habitat and natural environment.  

  • What else do you love doing outside work?   Having spare time is currently a precious commodity-  when I have the chance, I love to tinker around in the garden with the kids, go on bike rides, and catch up with friends. 

  • What brought you to Electrify Adelaide?   The desire to create the social change needed to shift our societies away from fossil fuels and towards electrification.

Corinne’s Electrification journey

  • What steps have you taken in your life to live lighter? I have cut down on meat intake significantly, and am trying to grow my fruit and vegetables in my backyard. I try to live by the 5R's - refuse, reduce, reuse, repair, recycle- my  boys are very used to wearing patched up clothing to childcare and school! When the boys were younger, I used to upcycle a lot- converting broken household objects into other functional/useful objects that still be used in the house. 

  • How far along are you on the Electrification journey?   I will be installing solar on my roof soon (once the house I am living in is in my name!), but I am currently using a green energy provider. Inside my home, I have induction cooktop and reverse cycle air conditioning. I still need to switch my gas hot water system to a heat pump hot water system. Transport wise, I drive an EV.

  • What's been some key learnings you'd like to share?   The induction stove has been fabulous- my time spent in the kitchen has reduced significantly as it is much faster to cook and much easier to clean! Gone are the days where I had to check fuel prices to pump fuel for the car, and it is so convenient to just plug my EV at home to charge it!

  • What are you keen to do next?  I am really keen to switch to heat pump, but I am waiting for rebates before I do so – the current prices does not make it financially viable as this is a short to medium-term home for me. Looking forward to seeing what the state/federal government can do to assist households like mine to fully electrify our homes!