Insights published from SFL

The Scenarios for Future Living collaboration between Ausgrid, CPU, DEECA, NSW DCCEEW and Red Energy, UNSW, UTS, Monash University and CSIRO is ramping up. See the important insights from the team’s latest publications below.  

Emerging technology innovation and development report 

Monash University’s report: Emerging technology innovation and development, found that large-scale technology trends and evolving everyday practices, from AI-driven systems and electrified homes to remote care and hybrid work, are likely to place increasing demands on the electricity system. This will likely be compounded by growing vulnerabilities from climate risks including extreme heat, bushfires, drought, riverine floods, and infrastructure disruption.  

“Much of today’s technology innovation doesn’t seriously consider the energy system implications of the technology,” Dr Dahlgren (Monash) said.  

The report identifies several areas where this disconnect is most visible, including rising demand for cooling technologies in a warming climate, the need for more resilient digital and energy infrastructure, and the risks facing home-based healthcare and remote monitoring systems during power outages.  

Emerging lifestyles, preferences, and practices report 

Monash’s Household and home businesses research: Emerging lifestyles, preferences and practices report, draws on a national survey of more than 5,000 Australians conducted between April and May 2025.  

Participants represented a cross section of age, gender, income and living situations across the country. The survey explored how Australians’ living situations, routines and preferences are shaping current energy use and influencing future demand and the transition to renewable energy. Stay tuned for the second year’s report, coming soon.  

State of the grid transition 2026 report 

UTS’s State of the Grid Transition report finds that consumer-led change is moving faster than the institutions and processes that set long-term system direction. Households and businesses are responding to rising costs and uncertainty through choices such as rooftop solar, batteries, electric vehicles and e-bikes, but the ability to do so remains uneven.  

The report says the energy sector needs a clearer shared vision for a future grid that supports reliable, affordable and resilient outcomes.  

What industry leaders are saying about trust in the transition 

AEMC Commissioner Lana Stockman’s speech on building trust in the transition, delivered in May at Monash University, is essential reading. 

“The transition will only ever move as far as the level of trust people have in it. And to understand where trust is breaking down, we need to start with how people are experiencing the system today.”  

Read the whole speech.