Energy news in general

Robin9

It may already have been discussed before but how can any supplier claim that they are 100% green ?

I am guessing that they say they are putting into the grid from their solar, wind and nuclear than their customers actually consume.

I got certificates today from my supplier that they are 100% green both for electricity and gas.

gpman

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82063802#Comment_82063802

I depends what you mean by "green".

There are essentially 2 different definitions.

If could be green because the supplier has done something or bought a certificate from someone else that has done something green to off-set their own non-green activity.

e.g. they could plant a few trees to offset the dirty electricity they sell that is produced by fossil fuels (coal, gas, etc)

This is sometimes referred to as greenwashing

Or they could only buy green (sometimes called "clean") electricity in the first place.

But what is green electricity? Many include nuclear as a form of clean energy as it emits no emissions in production. But what about heating the river water it uses for cooling purposes. What about treating the after affects of nuclear energy production? Is burying it in the ground surrounded by concrete hoping it will eventually decay naturally in a 1000+ years time or perhaps hoping someone will invent a way to treat the contaminated material in 100 years time when we are not here, really green?

I'm not sure how "green" covering our agricultural land with solar panels is either?

There are various reports that wind turbines are not exactly kind to a lot of wildlife.

As for gas, I am led to believe 100Green are the only UK energy supplier to supply green/clean gas. They only buy biogas made from the breakdown of natural waste (hence why it is expensive). I'm sure someone will argue that is not green either, but it is probably greener than the fossil fuel everyone else buys & sells.

debitcardmayhem

I got certificates today from my supplier that they are 100% green both for electricity and gas.

Well they are green for gas since it's you who burns it 🔥

Scot_39

EOn Next gave up that pretense for non-fixed customers a while back - and even then it was based on iirc the EU REGO method.

And yes its what they pay to add in - and how they source it - not what flows into your meter.

Ive not been aware of the same for gas - as havent had gas for decade plus - but apparently their are equivelentts to REGOs - RGGOs for e.g. biomethane production.

And to be fair as a rule - their not the ones burning it - and collectively adding 22% of the UK's official MTCO2e.

Over twice that of electricity generation - with us paying heavy costs for net zero.