{"id":91205,"date":"2025-04-28T09:15:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T23:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=91205"},"modified":"2026-01-28T13:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T04:05:30","slug":"fact-check-actually-we-can-heat-homes-just-fine-without-efficient-gas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/fact-check-actually-we-can-heat-homes-just-fine-without-efficient-gas\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact Check: Actually, We Can Heat Homes Just Fine Without ‘Efficient’ Gas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

The “Australians for Natural Gas” group has today been reported to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for allegedly misleading claims. I’ve looked into this group and found it is spreading a number of false messages on social media, including that gas is an “efficient” source of power and that Australians would struggle to feed themselves or heat their homes without it.<\/p>\n

On April 17 the “Australians for Natural Gas” group posted on social media that “many tradies install and use gas because it is an efficient and effective source of power.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Yeah… that’s not why they do it.<\/p>\n

These gas guys are clearly suggesting giving up gas will cause unemployment, but getting off it will involve a massive amount of work for tradies.\u00a0 Eventually, there’ll be no more gas jobs, but there’ll always be work for tradespeople — or at least until you can buy a tradie-bot at Bunnings.<\/p>\n

The group also recently claimed that “without gas, Australian homes would struggle to heat and feed themselves”:<\/p>\n

\"A

Apparently, there is literally no other way for Australians to cook food, heat water, or warm their homes.<\/p><\/div>\n

The group has also suggested on social media that “if we turn off the gas, energy bills will skyrocket<\/a>“, and that turning off the gas leads to “higher prices<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

My Verdict: False<\/h2>\n

As I’ll show below, electric appliances are way more efficient when it comes to making your home warm and your water and food hot.\u00a0 This directly results in lower energy bills — especially for solar households and super especially for solar and battery ones.<\/p>\n

Currently available electric appliances are around two and a half to five times more efficient than their gas counterparts.<\/p>\n

Of course, if we immediately shut down the gas supply it would cause a lot of people hardship.\u00a0 But that’s not going to happen.\u00a0 Anyone suggesting it is either bonkers or trying to manipulate you.\u00a0 Getting everyone off gas will take years.<\/p>\n

But taking steps to go all electric, whether done at a personal or national level, won’t leave anyone anyone sitting in a cold home after a freezing shower, while sucking on a frozen lasange.\u00a0 (Unless their personal level decisions were really stupid.)<\/p>\n

Who Are ‘Australians For Natural Gas’?<\/h2>\n

Much like the “Mums For Nuclear” group I fact-checked last week<\/a>, “Australians For Natural Gas” are an astroturfed group backed by lobbyists, attempting to appear as a grassroots community effort. The group was set up by the CEO of gas company Tamboran Resources<\/a> and is being boosted by the Coalition’s internal pollster Freshwater Strategy<\/a>. A director of the group has been called up as a Liberal candidate in Whitlam after the party had to dump its initial pick for the seat.<\/p>\n

Non-for-profit group Climate Integrity today reported Australians for Natural Gas to the ACCC<\/a>, asking it be investigated for engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct. The complaint alleges the website and advertising materials of the lobby group failed to disclose its links to the gas industry and Liberals, overinflated the role of gas in the economy and claimed gas would reduce energy bills without disclosing renewables are cheaper.<\/p>\n

So, let’s compare how efficient gas is in comparison to its electric counterparts, and show what impact getting off gas has on bills:<\/p>\n

Gas MJ & Gas KWh<\/h2>\n

Gas is usually sold by the megajoule (MJ) and burning 3.6MJ of it releases 1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) of thermal energy.\u00a0 This is how much heat energy is produced when an electrical resistance heating element uses 1kWh of electricity.\u00a0 These are found in electric kettles, space heaters, and conventional electric hot water systems.\u00a0 I’ll compare how efficient gas is at supplying 1kWh of end-use compared to electricity.<\/p>\n

Gas Vs. Electric Heating Element Efficiency<\/h2>\n

The reason gas is usually less efficient than the most basic type of electrical heating is because fire needs to breathe.\u00a0 And if you want to keep breathing yourself, you won’t try to stop that because gas flames that receive inadequate oxygen produce carbon monoxide, and that stuff will kill you dead.\u00a0 Although it does have the advantage that it will first make you so stupid you won’t care.<\/p>\n

\"Carbon

The good news is this turned out to be a joke and she ain’t dead.<\/p><\/div>\n

Below are estimates of the efficiency of various gas appliances in relation to an appliance that uses an electrical resistance heating element to do the same job.<\/p>\n

Gas Room Heaters: 84%.<\/strong>\u00a0 Gas heaters have a flue to stop them asphyxiating you.\u00a0 Because a flue lets fresh air in and polluted air out, heat is lost with the exhaust.\u00a0 This makes a typical household gas heater only around 84% efficient at providing the heat generated to the room it’s in.\u00a0 This means around 4.3MJ of gas or 1.2kWh are required to supply as much heat as 1kWh of electrical resistance heating.\u00a0 If you have an unflued gas heater, don’t use it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Instant Gas Hot Water: 108%.<\/strong>\u00a0 Gas hot water heaters are about as efficient as room heaters\u00a0 — around 84%.\u00a0 But an instant gas hot water system has an advantage because it doesn’t have a storage tank that gradually loses heat.\u00a0 In an electric hot water system, 25% or more of energy used to heat water can be lost this way.\u00a0 This gives instant gas hot water a modest advantage over conventional electric hot water.<\/p>\n

Storage Gas Hot Water: 75%.\u00a0<\/strong> Not only do these have the disadvantage of the gas flame losing heat to the air, but the small size of their storage tanks means they rapidly lose heat, making them worse than conventional electric hot water.<\/p>\n

Gas Cooking: 42%.<\/strong>\u00a0 Gas is really inefficient for cooking.\u00a0 This is because most of the heat goes into the air rather than food.\u00a0 The comparison is even worse for induction stoves, with gas only being 36% as efficient.\u00a0 Replacing a gas stove with an induction cooker is a no-brainer.\u00a0 Not only will it use around one-third the energy, it’s much easier to clean, and you’ll have a faster and more efficient cooking experience.<\/p>\n