Electrification is turning into one of the major trends in Australia, with growing numbers of houses getting roof-mounted solar power systems, electric cars becoming a common sight on Australian streets, and companies adopting electric solutions rather than devices working on fossil fuel technologies.

But how do we define electrification?

The easiest way to comprehend it is as follows: Electrification is the substitution of fuel-based technologies with electric-based alternatives.

For instance, rather than driving your fuel-based car, you drive an electric vehicle. Instead of heating your water with natural gas, you have a heat pump water heater installed. Instead of cooking with your gas cooker, you cook on an induction cooker. The task remains the same; the only change is in the source of power.

However, this is not the case as most people think. This is because electrification does not mean that we are using electricity for the first time. Homes and businesses have been using electricity for over a century now. The electricity has always been used in homes to light, operate televisions, refrigerators, computers, and other appliances.

The only difference that has changed over time is how electricity is used.

Electricity is no longer used for lighting and appliances but also replaces fossil fuels in transportation, heating, cooling, manufacturing, and even larger industrial processes.

Electricfication in Homes

Let us begin with some of the easier examples such as homes.

For instance, consider an average home in Australia twenty years ago; it had a gas stove, gas water heater, and a gas heater during winter. But now, modern houses are being developed as electric homes. Gas stoves, water heaters, and heaters are being replaced by induction stoves, air conditioning units, and heat pump water heaters.

You may ask, what is a heat pump?

While the usual electric heater generates heat by using electricity, a heat pump transfers heat from the surrounding air into a storage tank. Simply put, a heat pump transfers heat rather than producing it. This is basically the same principle that operates in a fridge or an air conditioner, but in the opposite direction.

Here is one more example – induction cooking.

It is easy to confuse an induction cooktop with a regular ceramic electric stove, since they look alike. The thing is, an induction cooktop does not heat up the stove top itself; it uses magnetic field to heat the cookware. That is why when you touch an induction cooktop, it is cool, but the pot sitting on it is extremely hot.

Electrification in Transportation

Probably, the clearest example of electrification would be transportation. In contrast to the internal combustion engine, which works on petrol or diesel, an electric car runs on a rechargeable battery and an electric motor.

When pressing the gas pedal, the power goes from the battery to the motor and produces mechanical motion. The mechanism of an electric car is more simple since it has less movable elements than a petrol engine.

However, the car requires electricity rather than gasoline. In order to do this, one should use EV chargers, which may differ depending on the place of use. There are home chargers which are attached to the electrical installation at your house, and public fast chargers with high-powered equipment.

Electrification in Commercial Buildings

Step inside a modern office building, shopping complex or hospital and you will notice that pretty much all equipment works on electricity. Air-conditioning systems, elevators, lighting systems, ventilation systems, computers, security systems, and electric vehicle chargers are all powered by electricity.

Moreover, most of these buildings also have Building Management Systems, commonly known as BMS. BMS can be compared to a building’s brain because they constantly monitor equipment within a building, gather data from sensors and help operators manage the heating, cooling, lighting, and ventilation from a single location.

Electrification in Industry

Electric motors can be found virtually everywhere in the industry. Electric motors drive pumps, fans, conveyors, compressors, mixers and many other types of equipment. Many of these motors are also coupled with Variable Speed Drives, or VSDs. Using VSDs, operators can control the speed of an electric motor by changing its electrical power supply.

Electrical energy is also used by factories to produce heat. Examples of equipment include electric resistance heaters, induction heating, and electric arc furnaces.