greenelectric.co.uk 

 Green electricity links 

Contents...

Please click on the headings below...

1. Electricity labelling
2. Consumer tariffs
3. FoE briefings
4. Business / industrial tariffs
5. Wind power
6. Wave & tidal electricity
7. Solar PV
8. Biomass
9. Domestic scale windpower
10. Combined Heat & Power
11. Carbon offset schemes
12. Trade associations
13. Media
14. Government sites
15. Other recommended sites

Green electricity

By using "green" electricity derived from renewable sources such as wind, wave, tide, biomass and solar PV, we can all contribute to a cleaner world, with reduced risk of global warming and its likely consequences.

This page aims to help consumers - domestic or industrial - to find sources of green electricity for their homes and businesses. Please help us by submitting useful links that you know of.

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1. Electricity labelling

When you buy electricity, there is no "list of ingredients" to tell you how it was produced. That is set to change, as a by-product of the deregulation of EU electricity markets. From 2004 all EU electricity producers will have to disclose the fuels they use...

• Electricity Fuel Mix Information on the fuel mix which each electricity supplier provides to customers in the UK.
• Fuelmix - from here you can see the fuel mix of the electricity supplier you are using in your home, more importantly you can actually do a comparison from the home page so see just how much you can reduce your own CO2 footprint by changing electricity supplier.

• Electricity Labels is Europe’s first website dedicated to electricity disclosure. Created by Consumer Choice and Carbon Consciousness for Electricity (4C Electricity).
• Good Energy Fuel mix disclosure . Good Energy supply 100% renewable electricity to homes and businesses. Please call with any query 01249 766 095

2. Consumer tariffs

The following green electricity tariffs are available to UK consumers. Please let us know if you find any not included here.

• The Ecopower scheme operated by Eastern Energy (part of TXU) simply adds 50p per week to your electricity bill foor the Ecopower Trust. TXU Energi matches these donations up to £500,000 a year.
• Energylinx is a free domestic electricity and gas price comparison service which uses the Friends of the Earth Green Energy League Table as the basis of its Green Energy search. Lots of info on renewable energy.
• Good Energy Fuel mix disclosure . Good Energy supply 100% renewable electricity to homes and businesses. Please call with any query 01249 766 095
• The Go Green tariff by Seeboard adds 0.5p per unit to your bill (about £15 a year) for renewable energy projects. Seeboard matches these sums up to £250,000 a year.
• The Green Electricity Marketplace has information on all green electricity tariffs available to households in the UK.
• Green Electricity marketplace (domestic) tells you which suppliers of green electricity are operating in your area, according to your regional electricity company.
• Compare UK gas and electricity suppliers at Money Supermarket including a comparison of green tariffs and a green energy guide.
• RSPB Energy by Southern Electric promises to match your electricity consumption with generation from renewable sources at no extra cost, while also contributing £30 to RSPB when you sign up.
• The SWEB Green Tariff promises that "your electricity consumption will be matched with energy from renewable sources", and 0.4p a unit (matched by SWEB) goes into a fund for renewable energy projects. You also get a home energy survey and other goodies onn sign up.

• Ecotricity is the main independent supplier of green electricity in the UK. It promises to provide customers with an ever-increasing proportion of electricity generated by new wind turbines - as opposed to just buying up existing renewable capacity.
• The FoE Guide on how to judge how green different company offerings really are. Published in May 2002.
• Good Energy ( formerly Unit[e]) offers the "greenest" electricity available, according to FoE. It is the only supplier committed to exceeding the minimum renewables thresholds set by Government.
• Greenpeace introduces Juice - its renewable electricity tariff, in association with npower.
• Greenplan by Powergen adds an average of £9 per year to your bill (matched by Powergen) to support "renewal energy generation projects with a strong community theme, such as solar panels for churches, ground source heat pumps for homes etc".
• N-Power's Juice tariff by was jointly developed with Greenpeace as a way of stimulating the development of new renewable capacity, including a major wind farm at Hoyle, and a new offshore wind farm in Wales.
• Pickasupplier's green guide describes the different green electricity tariffs available to UK consumers.
• The Scottish Power Green Energy tariff diverts your sign-up discount into a Green Energy Fund, equivalent to under 3p per day. Beware: impossible to navigate website without downloading and running endless Flash stuff.

3. FoE briefings

FoE publishes useful briefings on renewable consumer tariffs, comparing their benefits & performance.

• FoE's 2003 League table of green electricity suppliers, mainly consumer oriented. Puts Unit-e at the top of the tree.
• FoE's main Green energy page.

• The FoE Green Energy League Table - useful but out of date, since published back in 1998.
• The FoE League Table of green electricity suppliers, published May 2002. Comes with useful explanation of the different types of "green" tariff available.

4. Business / industrial tariffs

The following tariffs are available to industrial consumers. Please let us know if you discover any not included here.

• Ecotricity is the main independent supplier of green electricity in the UK. It promises to provide customers with an ever-increasing proportion of electricity generated by new wind turbines - as opposed to just buying up existing renewable capacity.
• Good Energy ( formerly Unit[e]) offers the "greenest" electricity available, according to FoE. It is the only supplier committed to exceeding the minimum renewables thresholds set by Government.
• Powergen's Green Option.

• EUGENE, the European Green Electricity Network, has much information relevant to business and government electricity users.
• Future Energy is an accreditation scheme that audits renewable electricity offerings. "This allows consumers to be confident about electricity supplier's claims about renewable energy."
• Green Prices has much useful information about the green electricty market in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, mainly aimed at large users.

5. Wind power

• BWEA (British Wind Energy Association) is the main body representing the interests of wind generators in the UK.
• Future Offshore is a consultation document about the potential for offshore wind generation in the UK.
• Genasys Power Systems Ltd - for all aspects of small scale renewable energy solutions for homes and businesses. Suppliers to trade and domestic for wind/hydro and solar power.
• solar energy alliance are suppliers and installers of solar energy and wind power equipment. Site is packed with useful info.

• Crown Estate offshore wind page - as landowner of the seabed out to the 12 nautical mile territorial limit, the Crown estate plays an important role in the development of the offshore wind industry by leasing areas of seabed for the placing of turbines.
• All about Offshore Wind Farms in the UK. Site created by the British Wind Energy Association.
• Greenpeace's Sea Wind East report, July 2002, which finds that all of the UK's nuclear power stations could be replaced with wind farms off the UK's eastern shores, also creating 60,000 jobs.
• yes2wind is the pro-wind power campaign site created by Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and WWF-UK. Its aim is to "to counter internet propaganda which has spread scare stories about planned wind farm developments", and give a voice to the pro-wind power majority.

6. Wave & tidal electricity

• Ocean Power Delivery has a system for extracting energy from waves using the relative motion of floating tubes each the size of a train carriage. The first installation of its 'Pelamis' wave energy converter is in Orkney.

• The government's 2003 review of the Severn Barrage.
• Tidal Electric - harnessing the oceans' tides for commercial-scale, cost-competitve renewable electric power. Based in Swansea.

7. Solar PV

• Genasys Power Systems Ltd - for all aspects of small scale renewable energy solutions for homes and businesses. Suppliers to trade and domestic for wind/hydro and solar power.
• PV-UK is shorthand for the British Photovoltaic Association.
• PV roof guide - a complete guide on PV technology and how to go about getting a PV system, by PV-UK.
• PV Systems - for domestic scale & larger solar PV installations.
• The Solar Grants site tells you how to get Government grants towards the installation of solar PV panels - worth 40-65% of total costs. There is also a helpline: 0800-2983978.
• The Solar Trade Association.

• The International Solar Energy Society aims to promote the use of renewable energy while advising governments on its use.
• MySolar is an independent site in 5 languages for all interested in solar energy, and a portal to review prices of PV systems. General info (PV and solar water heaters), systems costs, subsidies, and more...
• A fully searchable database of PV suppliers & installers in the UK, by PV-UK.
• Solar Century is, without doubt, the UK's top solar energy installations company - under the inspired leadership of former Greenpeace Scientific Director Jeremy Leggett.
• solar energy alliance are suppliers and installers of solar energy and wind power equipment. Site is packed with useful info.

8. Biomass

• British Biogen is the trade association for the British biomass power industry.

9. Domestic scale windpower

It is also possible to generate you own windpower at home using a small wind turbine. Here are some suppliers...

• Encraft provides an specification service for small renewable energy projects. You create a personal webpage holding your project details. The system returns financial and environmental costs / benefits, all updated as energy prices, technology prices and grants change.

• Off-grid means living without mains power and water, whether in a house, a yurt, a boat or a camper van. But "Off-grid" also has a more metaphorical meaning - about freedom and being slightly outside the system.
• Proven Wind Turbines - "specialists in small wind systems".

10. Combined Heat & Power

• The Combined Heat and Power Association.

11. Carbon offset schemes

You can also buy "carbon offsets" that will remove the carbon from the atmosphere that you put in, for example by driving, flying or using electricity. These schemes are often based on forestry, but the best are also supporting energy efficiency or renewable energy projects to prevent the CO2 from being emitted in the first place.

• Climate Care is the best of the schemes operating in the UK. It is supporting both energy efficiency, for example by distributing CFL lightbulbs in Mauritius, and eco-forestry in Uganda's national parks.

12. Trade associations

• Association of Electricity Producers (AEP) represents electricity generators, including many which use renewable forms of energy. The site provides information on the work of the Association.
• The Renewable Power Association.
• The Scottish Renewables Forum (SRF) is Scotland's leading renewables body, working to promote the economic, environmental and social benefits of utilising Scotland's renewable resources.

• British Biogen is the trade association for the British biomass power industry.
• The Combined Heat and Power Association.
• PV-UK is shorthand for the British Photovoltaic Association.
• The Solar Trade Association.

13. Media

• The Asden Awards Awards for Sustainable Energy "reward outstanding and innovative renewable energy projects... In particular, we recognise schemes that aim to alleviate poverty and/or improve people's quality of life while protecting the environment."

• Green Futures magazine always carries a good round up of news on the progress of renewable energy generation in the UK.
• ReFocus is "the international rennewable energy magazine".
• Renewable Energy Stocks is an investor and industry news portal for the renewable energy sector, featuring news, exclusive articles, audio interviews, renewable energy blogs, investor conferences and a list of participating public companies in the sector.

14. Government sites

• The DTI Renewable Energy Pages - a valuable and comprehensive resource, with Flash & non-Flash option.
• Ofgem - the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets.
• PIU Energy Review & Consultation - in June 2001, the Prime Minister asked the Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) of the Cabinet Office to review the strategic issues surrounding energy policy for Great Britain. The PIU published "The Energy Review" on 14 February 2002. The Government launched its consultation in May 2002.

• Future Offshore is a consultation document about the potential for offshore wind generation in the UK.
• The Ofgem renewables pages, with information on renewables, combined heat and power, and the Climate Change Levy.
• The UK Capability Guides are a series of downloadable DTI reports about UK company active in the renewable energy sector.

15. Other recommended sites

• The collected writings of Edward Goldsmith, founder of The Ecologist and arguably the father of radical environmentaliosm in the UK
• All about the UK's National Parks.
• Check out tfX to find out about the "stealth killer" trans fats we are being fed in processed foods - everything from Mars bars to Mr Kipling cakes and Linda McCartney sausages.

• Kyoto2 is a set of proposals for an effective Climate Protocol, global in scope, which could raise $100 billion a year or more to invest in renewable power sources.
• Wildfile, the most complete links page for wildlife websites in the UK.