What is ‘renewable gas’ and is it really just around the corner?
An orange flame on your stove would be the signal that you were now burning “renewable gas”, the advertorial said, promising this would happen “sooner than you expect”.
Above the article, which ran in the Age last week, was an advert from pipeline and distribution company Australian Gas Networks (AGN) showing a gas flame burning an unfamiliar green with the words “renewable gas”.
So what is “renewable gas” and how long might it be before the promise of the industry’s advertising turns into a reality?
The impression from some of the current advertising might be that this green gas nirvana is just around the corner.
On Facebook, AGN is currently running a 10-second advert where a blue gas flame turns green with the words: “The journey towards 100% Renewable Gas (using green hydrogen) has already started. Learn more about it and how we’re using it to reduce carbon emissions in the gas network.”
In October and November last year, AGN ran an almost identical version of the advert that was seen more than one million times, according to Facebook data.
A few weeks ago, another gas network operator – Jemena – ran an advertorial in the Sydney Morning Herald, which declared: “Renewable gas can satisfy our energy hunger.”
So what’s going on?
The industry is using the term “renewable gas” to describe both hydrogen made using renewable energy and biomethane that can be produced from organic waste such as human or animal sewage or food.
Both these forms of gas would be considered carbon-neutral – or close to carbon-neutral – because they’re not liberating carbon that was sequestered millions of years ago.
According to the latest government data, Australia currently consumes 1,647 petajoules (PJ) of gas per year, of which households use only 175 PJ. This compares with 16.4 PJ of biogas consumed (mostly at landfill sites).
AGN, which has 2.1 million home and business customers, says in its advertorial that renewable gas is coming “sooner than you think” but in its environmental and social governance report, it says it has a target to have 10% renewable gas in its network by 2030.
There’s a “stretch target” for all the gas to be renewable by 2040 or at the latest by 2050. If this is “sooner than you think” then congratulations.
A statement from Australian Gas Infrastructure Group, which owns AGN, said: “It is still early days for the renewable gas industry, but AGIG, with the support of state governments, has clear targets to transitioning to renewable gas.”
A demonstration site at Hydrogen Park South Australia has delivered renewable gas blends to 700 homes and would be extended to more homes in Adelaide.
The statement said: “There is much work to do, as renewable gas has been in development for a relatively short time, but our customers strongly support our investment in this area.”
Theoretically, biomethane can be a straight swap for fossil gas without the need for people to change their cookers and other appliances. The same can’t be said for hydrogen.
Once blends get to about 20%, AGIG said “some appliances will need modification or replacement” and the company was working with appliance makers.
Jemena told Temperature Check it had identified enough sources of biomethane to completely replace the fossil gas in its network. But this is different from actually having plants generate that gas.
When Temperature Check asked how much carbon-neutral gas it was currently blending, the company said there was “broad consensus that we could integrate as much as 20% biomethane and 20% hydrogen by 2030 across the gas network”.
Amazing coal
Senator Hollie Hughes is the Coalition’s shadow assistant climate change and energy minister, and this week she was out barracking for coal.
“Australia has some of the most amazing coal in the world,” she told Sky News, saying Australia should be using more of it, not less.
Did I say this was the shadow assistant climate change minister? Anyway, Hughes also had a message for the viewers about solar and wind power.
“Renewables do not exist in a transmissible form that can deliver that kind of energy regardless of what anyone says. You can say it all you like. The technology does not exist.
“We need to live in the real world, not off with the fairies and the pixie dust. What might be available in the future does not exist yet.”
Two weeks ago the pixies at the Australian Energy Market Operator released their latest version of a plan to decarbonise the energy grid and deliver affordable and reliable electricity.
The plan did not call for any new inventions to bring into existence things that don’t currently exist (I have not checked with the Australian Energy Market Operator whether any pixie dust was used in producing the report, or if any fairies were harmed in its production, but I suspect the answer would be no on both counts).
Rather, the plan said more investment was needed in things that do exist such as solar and wind power, batteries, energy storage and improvements and extensions to the transmission grid.
“Investment in low-cost renewable energy, firming resources and essential transmission remains the best strategy to deliver affordable and reliable energy, protected against international market shocks,” the report said.
The country’s “amazing coal” exports produce almost double Australia’s domestic greenhouse gas emissions. Australia’s existing solar and wind resources don’t do that.
