The Big Switch Audio Edition: Recent Episodes
Saul Griffith
We partnered with Australian legends across multiple sports and fields to bring you this audio version of the The Big Switch: Australia's Electric Future, by Saul Griffith. To read along with the images of the book, visit https://www.rewiringaustralia.org/thebigswitch/audio
Introduction: Why this book?
Read by the author, Saul Griffith.
Saul is an inventor, author, and founder of multiple companies and nonprofits. He has led projects for agencies including NASA, DARPA, National Science Foundation and more. He has founded and co-founded multiple successful companies, including one acquired by Google, another by Autodesk, and another by a consortium of vehicle manufacturers including Toyota. In 2007 he was awarded a Macarthur Fellowship, the so-called ‘Genius Grant’, for inventions in the service of humanity.
Chapter 1 - The luckiest countryRead by Tim Minchin
Tim is an Australian writer, composer, actor, musician, and comedian.
Chapter 1 will introduce you to the fundamentals of why Australia has the luckiest, easiest and almost certainly most economically beneficial pathway to decarbonise and get to net zero emissions. Electrification is a vaccine for climate change and just as with Covid, Australia should go hard and go early.
To see book images/figures visit:rewiringaustralia.org/thebigswitch/audio
Chapter 2 - Urgency and emissions.
Read by Rachael Haynes.
Rachael is a 6x world championship Australian cricketer, and vice-captain of the Australian cricket team.
Chapter 2 will be brutally honest about our emissions situation, locally and globally, and why action needs to be much faster than you have been led to believe. Science implies we cannot beat 1.5°C of warming unless we move faster than the free market. In a bar fight between science and the free market, the free market might win, but science will still have been right. It is delusional to think we can get this done on time without designing and influencing the market with incentives, mandates, rebates and subsidies for the solutions that science shows are right.
To see book images/figures visit:rewiringaustralia.org/thebigswitch/audio
Chapter 3 - Energy
Read by Tom Hickey.
Tom is an Australian rules footballer.
Chapter 3 lays out the Australian economy in terms of its energy flows, which will help frame the conversation about how we get from here (fossil-fuel dependence) to there (fossil freedom!).
To see book images/figures visit:rewiringaustralia.org/thebigswitch/audio
Chapter 4 - Australia's energy options
Read by Pat Cummins.
Pat is the captain of the Australian men's test cricket team and has won both the Allan Border Medal for best Australian cricketer of the year and was named the ICC international test cricketer of the year. As of May 2022, he is the number one ranked bowler in the world.
Chapter 4 will introduce you to the things that will and won’t get us through this critical energy transition.
To see book images/figures visit:rewiringaustralia.org/thebigswitch/audio
Chapter 5 - Electrify (almost) everything!
Read by Nicola Barr.
Nicola is an Australian rules footballer.
Chapter 5 will build the core argument that you need to forget the hype about hydrogen, lose the idea that everything will run on biodiesel, ditch delusions about carbon sequestration and negative emissions, and instead focus on electrification as the solution. Electrify our homes, electrify our vehicles, electrify our businesses, electrify our industry, electrify agriculture, electrify Australia.
To see book images/figures visit:rewiringaustralia.org/thebigswitch/audio
Chapter 6 - Cheap and getting cheaperRead by Adrian "Ace" Buchan
Ace is a World Surf League Championship Tour surfer, champion of the Billabong Pro Teahupoo and the Quiksilver Pro France.
Chapter 6 will show you the inexorable trends that are the evidence that we will all benefit enormously from the falling costs of our electric climate solutions.
To see book images/figures visit:rewiringaustralia.org/thebigswitch/audio
Chapter 7 - Electrifying our castles
Read by Yael Stone
Yael is an Australian actress, winner of two Sydney Theatre Awards, and best known for her portrayal of Lorna Morello in the Netflix series Orange Is The New Black.
Chapter 7 will show you why electrification is going to save you a lot of money, and that we are about to undergo the largest wealth transfer in history from traditional providers of energy to traditional consumers of energy.
To see book images/figures visit:rewiringaustralia.org/thebigswitch/audio
Chapter 8 - Crushed rocks - the export economyRead by Alicia Lucas
Alicia is a professional Australian rugby union player and Olympic gold medalist.
Chapter 8 will show why Australian industry and exports can make a huge contribution to the global energy transition while generating far more value and income than our existing fossil-fuel exports.
Chapter 9 - Why politicians and regulations matterRead by Dan Cass.
Dan is the energy policy and regulatory lead at the Australia Institute. He is secretary of the Deborah Cass Prize for Writing and a research affiliate at the University of Sydney Business School.
Chapter 9 looks at things we’ve done right on policy, and things we need to do to enable this transition to happen – and to happen at the lowest cost and with the lowest friction.
To see book images/figures visit:rewiringaustralia.org/thebigswitch/audio
Chapter 10 - Financing fossil freedom
Read by Marieke D'Cruz
Marieke is an Australian swimmer, Olympian, and set world records in the 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke.
Chapter 10 will look at the enormous importance of finance, both the cost of finance, but critically also the access to finance. These questions strike at the structural decisions that we can make that determine who wins economically with electrification.
To see book images/figures visit:rewiringaustralia.org/thebigswitch/audio
Chapter 11 - So long, and don't kill all the fish
Read by Christine Milne
Christine is a global greens ambassador and former leader of the Australian Greens.
Chapter 11 will reflect that it is possible to address climate change while still screwing up some other aspects of our magical and beautiful continent and planet, and suggest that we should go forward boldly, but mindfully.
To see book images/figures visit:rewiringaustralia.org/thebigswitch/audio
Chapter 12 - An abundant Australia
Read by Fiona Whitelaw
Fiona is a writer, old friend of the author, and in Saul's words is "maybe the funniest person alive in the southern hemisphere".
Chapter 12 will peek at the future that is already happening and remind us that Australia’s clean energy future can be abundant and improve all of our lives.