eco energy
In the UK we are lucky that we can choose who provides the energy to our home or business, and to a varying extent, the source of the energy provided. Most of the larger UK energy providers now offer a green energy package or tariff where you can choose to support renewable energy through a green tariff. Over recent years the growth of alternative renewable energy schemes in the UK has certainly been assisted by this freedom of customer choice.
What is green energy?
Green energy can be defined as energy generated by renewable sources (hydroelectric, wind, solar, geothermal and biomass) and as opposed to traditional “brown” non-renewable sources (oil, coal and natural gas).
Typically the energy you will use in the UK will either be directly from one of the few green-only energy suppliers, who generate most of their electricity from renewable sources, or indirectly through energy suppliers who generate only a small percentage of their overall energy from renewable sources (and may even buy their green energy from another supplier).
As a result there are a number of choices between the types of green tariff they offer, which can be divided into three main types:
- Green energy generated from suppliers whose primary source is energy which comes from renewable sources.
- The energy you use will be matched by an equivalent amount of renewable energy, either by the supplier itself or by purchasing from another supplier.
- schemes that will contribute environmental benefits through supporting projects or organisations such as the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) or Greenpeace.
The system allows suppliers to match every unit of electricity used by customers on green tarrifs to be balanced by a corresponding unit of renewable electricity being supplied back into the national grid. If a supplier does not have the means to generate the renewable energy themselves, for example as a result of investing in and developing wind farms, they buy from other providers, often supporting a portfolio of independent renewable energy projects.
However is switching to a green energy provider enough to clear that eco-footprint and support claims to be ‘green’ or ‘environmentally friendly’? Not by itself, and certainly not without specific attention to energy use, and just as importantly, waste as well as other environmental factors. But it is certainly the first, easiest and perhaps most significant step you can take in the right direction.
So if you have not already made the change to green energy, now is the time. It may even be as simple as asking your existing energy provider about green tariffs, but also consider switching to a green energy provider which produces its energy from renewable sources - such as the ones listed below.
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