29 Jun 2026
The word “electrification” evokes transmission lines, batteries, offshore wind farms and billion-dollar announcements. Nobody pictures a science teacher wheeling a trolley of electric Bunsen burners into a Year 9 classroom.
But in New South Wales, traditional gas Bunsen burners are being replaced with electric alternatives in new school projects. It’s a small change that few students will notice. But it captures something important about where we are in the energy transition.
Last week we were proud to support the launch of the global Electrify Now campaign during London Climate Action Week. Led by a coalition of organisations including the World Green Building Council, this is the next stage of the “Double Down, Triple Up” campaign to triple renewable energy and double energy efficiency by 2035.
Also this month, the COP31 Presidency has proposed a new global goal to increase electricity’s share of final energy demand from just over 20% today to 35% by 2035, alongside a target to halve the growth in global waste. (Read how Dexus’s Forever Fitout model significantly reduced waste in this month’s issue of Green Building Voice.)
On current trajectories, electricity will account for around 25% of final energy demand by 2035. To reach the 35% required for a Paris-aligned pathway, we need to electrify around four times faster than we are today.
Targets set ambition and campaigns build momentum. But the real work happens in design briefs, fitout specifications, plant rooms, construction sites, procurement schedules and asset management plans.
There are obvious commercial benefits for electrification. JLL has found that all-electric office buildings attract an average 23% rental premium, 7.8% lower vacancy rates and 55 basis points sharper yields than the wider market, as tenants seek space aligned with net zero commitments.
Lendlease’s fossil-fuel-free construction projects have shown how electric equipment can reduce fuel handling, maintenance, site safety and congestion. On one project, a battery-powered crane system saved around 27,000 litres of diesel in a single year, translating in an 8% cost reduction. (Unpack more examples of how industry is decarbonising construction in our recent webinar.)
And as recent fuel price volatility has reminded us, electrification is an energy security strategy. The ABC recently reported a surge in business investment in electrified equipment, with one Melbourne construction company powering three tower cranes from a single battery slash fuel costs by almost a third.
Our challenge is to take electrification from the policy table to the kitchen table. The Global CookSafe Coalition has found electric kitchens are cooler, quieter, cleaner and safer, while also delivering significant cost savings. One gastropub studied by the Coalition could save more than $55,000 a year on energy costs since making the switch.
For chefs, the appeal is even more practical. As MasterChef guest judge Junda Khoo explains: “In an Asian kitchen like ours, a 60-litre stock pot on gas can take up to two and a half hours to get to boiling point… On induction, we can achieve the same result in around 45 minutes, which makes a real difference to labour, efficiency and how we run the kitchen day to day.”
Then there are the benefits nobody sees: better indoor air quality. The students using electric Bunsen burners may never notice their reduced risk of asthma, and that’s precisely the point.
Every major energy technology seems to follow a similar pattern. First, we debate whether it is practical. Then we debate whether it is affordable. Then we start installing it at scale. Look at rooftop solar (4 million on one in three Australian homes). Or batteries (600,000 now installed, according to AEMO). Or electric vehicles (which make up 12.25% of light vehicle sales this year).
What does it take to electrify now?
Through Green Star, advocacy, research and partnerships, we’re helping industry make electrification easier, faster and more practical. Because the path to 35% electrification will be built through millions of decisions – some as large as a crane and other as small as a Bunsen burner.