Researchers at the Institute for Sustainable Futures are tackling the energy problem from all sides to support the transition to 100% renewables, enable local energy solutions to costly and unreliable supply, and forge pathways to a thriving renewable energy economy in Australia’s coal regions.
When Institute for Sustainable Futures researcher Sven Teske was 19, the world crumbled around him.
On April 26, 1986, the No. 4 reactor core exploded in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant near the Ukrainian city of Pripyat. The small town where Sven lived in north Germany was only 1,800km from Chernobyl. The radioactive fallout spread, and nobody in his town was allowed to go outside for a month. For years afterwards, there were signs in the supermarket listing the average radioactivity of the vegetables.
I realised that once a country embraces renewable energy – like wind – you actually empower your own people... Renewable energy is a stabilising force, both socially and economically. – Sven Teske, ISF
In the wake of this experience, he became fascinated by renewable energy, and interested in how communities could advocate for – or protest against – certain forms of energy generation. In Germany, studying engineering in the late 1980s, he was one of the first students in his cohort to take a class on renewable energy. He watched as wind energy transformed from a grassroots movement into a major energy sector. He saw real change happen, in real time. “I realised that once a country embraces renewable energy – like wind – you actually empower your own people,” he says. “Renewable energy is a stabilising force, both socially and economically.”
This insight no longer needs explanation. We’re all living through the aftershocks of Australia’s energy insecurity, and paying the price through soaring costs of electricity, gas and fuel. The economic necessity of a clean energy transition is clear, as are the environmental, social and moral incentives – especially with Australia’s new government working to implement policy that will ensure we comply with our Paris Agreement targets to reach net-zero emissions.
Modelling pathways to net zero
Several years ago, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation approached Sven to model a pathway to limit global warming to 1.5°C. He developed the One Earth Climate Model, the first 1.5°C model that doesn’t depend on unproven, costly greenhouse gas removal technologies to meet that target. Instead, the model shows that a rapid transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050 will do the trick.
It’s now being implemented around the world. Countries like Nepal and Tanzania use the model to develop energy scenarios to meet their nationally determined contributions to decarbonisation and reduced emissions.
The model is also being adapted by powerful global players in other sectors. “The finance industry came to me after seeing the One Earth Climate Model,” Sven says, “and asked me to work on renewable energy scenarios, to guide their investment.”
Around COP27 in November, Sven will release new research that extends the model. The initial version created a global roadmap; now he’s analysing the data to create detailed scenarios for 11 countries (including Australia, India and China).
This kind of outside-the-box thinking that leads to measurable impact and practical change is characteristic of the work the ISF Energy team does. As an independent research institute based within the University of Technology Sydney, ISF has been at the cutting edge of sustainability research for 25 years. The Institute plays a unique role by producing robust academic research to inform policy and systems change while leading applied projects that make a real difference in the world.
Empowering communities to take charge of their energy
Scott Dwyer also observed first-hand as he grew up how an energy revolution can happen fast, when the conditions are right. In his native Scotland, he saw wind turbines cropping up all over the country from the late 1990s onwards. At university, he got involved in a community-owned wind project in Castlemilk (a district of Glasgow), an experience that kickstarted his interest in local and community-owned energy.
After joining ISF, Scott was keen to get involved in projects that collaborate with Australian communities. Since 2020, he has played a key role in MyTown Microgrid, a community-led project in the small town of Heyfield, Victoria. Local resident and member of the Heyfield Community Resource Centre Julie Bryer was instrumental in getting the project off the ground and brokering a partnership between ISF and the centre.
The idea behind MyTown is to empower remote and regional communities to understand whether or not a microgrid makes sense for them as a local energy solution. A microgrid is a collection of homes and businesses that generate, consume and share energy, and are able to disconnect from the main grid as needed. In a microgrid, locally produced renewable energy (like rooftop solar) can be used and shared right where it’s generated. This provides greater energy resilience if there are floods or bushfires.
Wattwatchers energy-monitoring devices were installed for free around Heyfield, which not only improved residents’ energy literacy, but also painted a large-scale picture of the overall energy use patterns of the town.
One of the important outcomes was educating the community about the current energy system... You can’t change the system until you understand it. – Emma Birchall, Heyfield resident and MyTown Community Liaison Officer
In spite of Victoria’s long lockdowns, which made the installation of the devices tricky, the community rallied to support the project, with 98 monitors installed across 79 sites (including 2 schools, 68 residences, and 20 businesses). “At the heart of community energy is the community itself,” the Community Liaison Officer for the project, Heyfield local Emma Birchall says. “The most important questions to ask of any local energy solution are: is it desirable, economically viable, as well as technically feasible? What are the community benefits?”
The insights and learning from the Heyfield feasibility study will be shared with other remote or rural communities around Australia who are also trying to make the right decision about local energy options. “One of the important outcomes was educating the community about the current energy system,” Emma says. “You can’t change the system until you understand it.”
Supporting the energy transition with jobs and skills
The final, crucial aspect to the ISF Energy team’s focus is how to ensure a just energy transition for all Australians. Chris Briggs leads work on developing sustainable careers through widespread reskilling and retraining in regions that have traditionally depended on fossil fuels for economic stability. Chris has long been an advocate for worker rights and has deep expertise in labour markets and workplace issues in relation to climate and energy.
One of the recommendations of his research is that Australia needs a dedicated authority to co-ordinate and manage this transition, and build greater consensus about viable alternatives for these regions. Renewable energy and clean energy will certainly create more jobs than traditional energy industries have, but a range of solutions needs to be considered, including the possibility of also growing manufacturing or local heavy industry in those areas, which will make sense once Australia is a low-cost producer of local renewable energy.
I tell my idealistic students who want a clean energy future to become an engineer or electrician... That’s how we can build that future, quite literally. – Chris Briggs, ISF
In practical terms, with the new federal government prioritising storage and transmission of renewable energy, there are real skill gaps that need to be filled – and quickly. For Chris, the best outcome for Australia is that we will become a renewable energy superpower, and our coal regions will become thriving exporters of renewable energy, as well as large-scale manufacturing hubs that use clean energy. “I tell my idealistic students who want a clean energy future to become an engineer or electrician,” he says. “That’s how we can build that future, quite literally.”