Most renewable electricity tariffs are pointless

Do you get your electricity with a “100% renewable” electricity contract? Most of these contracts do nothing to promote renewable electricity and some of them make use of power with higher emissions than average on the grid. A few retailers genuinely supply renewable power. You may need to pay a bit more, (or maybe these days, a bit less, since they do not use gas)!

The energy group learned about this at our last meeting. One of our members, Adam, has just completed an MSc on the subject and explained all. Thanks Adam! This post was written by another member, Chris - thank you too!

What is renewable electricity?

Electricity is generated and pushed into the National Grid by “generator” companies. Some of them use gas, coal and nuclear power to generate electricity, which we call “non-renewable” because it is extracted from the Earth and can be used up. Gas and coal also contain carbon which they release (as carbon dioxide) when burned, which contributes to climate change (global heating).

Some generators use solar, wind, hydro, biomass (wood chip) or tidal power, which we call “renewable” because the Sun is constantly powering them, so they won’t run out. Building them emits carbon dioxide too, but they don’t usually emit any while operating (or, in the case of biomass, re-emit carbon dioxide that they recently removed from the air). We consider that they contribute much less to climate change.

Energy Saving Survey

Here are some interim results from our survey on energy saving at home. If you haven't filled it in yet it is not too late; we will update this page as we go. Many of us are already keen energy savers anyway to reduce carbon but it is more important than ever now even if you can afford not to. The price increases on both gas and electricity are due to a global shortage of gas that does not come from Russia. Prices will continue to climb until global demand reduces to match supply. In the EU there are proposals for ever higher targets for energy saving by 2030 (see EU Parliament groups unite behind 14.5% energy savings goal for 2030). Individual countries are considering a range of measures to save energy including reducing heating in public buildings, reducing street lighting and even cutting hours of business (see Tariff shields and turning off lights: how Europe is tackling the energy crisis).