Green Energy Providers
On this page we look at changing energy supplier as part of reducing our carbon footprint, we will look a a couple of comparison websites and briefly compare two of the leading green suppliers.
In reducing our carbon foot print it is well worth considering where we buy our energy from and how it is produced. There are websites that help us to compare suppliers both from the point of view of our CO2 emissions and in terms of the cost of our energy. In looking at which supplier to choose there are several things to consider:
1: what are the CO2 emissions associated with our particular tariff? There are several which offer 100% renewable, how do we choose between them and are they all to be trusted?
2: one of the things to be careful about is that all suppliers are obliged to have a certain percentage of renewable energy. It may therefore be that they have divided up the tariffs in such a way that some consumers are paying a premium for 100% renewable so that they can sell more cheaply to the other customers who are not concerned about where their energy comes from. It is important therefore to look at the overall impact of the supplier, not just the individual tariff.
3: some generation may be from nuclear sources; how do you feel about that? Some people are simply happy that it reduces CO2 emissions while others are more concerned about the longer-term consequences.
4: there are some issues which do not show up at first glance on the comparison websites which you may want to consider. Do they use bio-fuels in generation? The concern here is the effect on food supply especially in some of the poorest parts of the world. Others generate fuel from incineration of waste and this itself produces CO2 and there are concerns that it pollutes in other ways. To find out more about these issues may take some research, probably starting with the suppliers own website. Many would be happy to respond to email requests for information. Some may try to claim credit for using old large scale hydro electric production.
5: some suppliers reinvest more of their profit into creating more renewable generation. Some of these do have fossil fuels in their mix of generation; they argue that they are doing more to create long term energy sustainability by burning some fossil fuels now in order to be able to pay for more renewable generating capacity. So another important question is how much is the supplier investing in new capacity for renewable generation?
There are several websites which help in making this choice, two of which are www.greenelectricity.org and www.green.energyhelpline.com these sites will use your post code to let you know which supplies are available in your area and can use your current energy consumption to show how much your CO2 would be reduced and how much you are likely to have to pay. As with all such sites a degree of caution is necessary and results need to be checked. It is worth noting that some suppliers only provide electricity while others provide both electricity and gas and there may be some financial advantage in buying both from the same supplier.
Two contrasting providers have been recommended by several sources, Ecotricity and Good Energy. Ecotricity boasts that while they do not use 100% renewable sources they do support the development of extensive new renewable generating capacity. Ecotricity only provide electricity. On the other hand Good Energy uses 100% renewable sources to generate their electricity but also provide gas as well as electricity. To find out more about these suppliers go to www.goodenergy.co.uk or www.ecotricity.co.uk.
Two requests:
First; please do your homework. Check out any supplier carefully for yourself before signing up; situations change, companies change their policies and new suppliers come onto the market.
Second; please let us know how you get on. Do suppliers live up to expectation or exceed them. We would be happy to change this page or add your comments in the light of real experience.
