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| grel:green_electricity [2026/03/11 19:44] – Dave Darby | grel:green_electricity [2026/04/15 15:28] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1 |
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| # Green electricity | This topic is part of [[gt:power|Power & heating]]. |
| | ====== Green electricity ====== |
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| ## What is green electricity? | ===== What is green electricity? ===== |
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| This topic is about choosing suppliers that get their electricity from renewables. There are ways to produce your own green electricity, for example using [solar PV](/soel/solar_electricity), [wind](/wind/wind_generators), [hydro](/mhdr/micro-hydro), or [micro-CHP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_combined_heat_and_power) (although this last one uses fossil fuels, with electricity generated as a by-product of heating) - together with a [battery](/batt/batteries) system if you want to be 'off-grid'. But the vast majority of people in the UK are 'on-grid' - i.e. connected to the [National Grid](https://www.nationalgrid.com/uk) - and most of the electricity put into the National Grid is 'brown', from power stations using fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil) or nuclear. | This topic is about choosing suppliers that get their electricity from renewables. There are ways to produce your own green electricity, for example using [solar PV](/soel/solar_electricity), [wind](/wind/wind_generators), [hydro](/mhdr/micro-hydro), or [micro-CHP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_combined_heat_and_power) (although this last one uses fossil fuels, with electricity generated as a by-product of heating) - together with a [battery](/batt/batteries) system if you want to be 'off-grid'. But the vast majority of people in the UK are 'on-grid' - i.e. connected to the [National Grid](https://www.nationalgrid.com/uk) - and most of the electricity put into the National Grid is 'brown', from power stations using fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil) or nuclear. |
| Secondly, if you switch to a green electricity supplier, you won't then be able to trace your electricity back to a wind turbine. It simply means that the more people switch, the greater the proportion of green electricity in the National Grid. | Secondly, if you switch to a green electricity supplier, you won't then be able to trace your electricity back to a wind turbine. It simply means that the more people switch, the greater the proportion of green electricity in the National Grid. |
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| One type of green electricity we particularly favour is [community energy](/comy/community), where communities come together to set up [co-operatives](/coop/co-operatives) to generate electricity or heat from renewables. Ownership of our energy supply is very important. We don't think it should be concentrated in just a few corporations - we don't think that's good for energy security or democracy. Plus the corporate system is based on [perpetual growth](/stea/steady-state_economics), which will continue to damage nature whatever the source of our energy. This is not often addressed by energy experts who understand terawatts but not necessarily political philosophy. | One type of green electricity we particularly favour is [community energy](/comy/community), where communities come together to set up [co-operatives](/coop/co-operatives) to generate electricity or heat from renewables. Ownership of our energy supply is very important. We don't think it should be concentrated in just a few corporations - we don't think that's good for energy security or democracy. Plus the corporate system is based on [perpetual growth](pgec:post-growth), which will continue to damage nature whatever the source of our energy. This is not often addressed by energy experts who understand terawatts but not necessarily political philosophy. |
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| <WRAP center centeralign> | <WRAP center centeralign> |
| </WRAP> | </WRAP> |
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| ## What are the benefits of green electricity? | ===== What are the benefits of green electricity? ===== |
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| This is not about home-scale micro-generation from renewables. This is about your contribution to large-scale renewable energy developments, like wind farms, large hydro-electric power schemes, and also wave and tidal power. There is some opposition to large renewable energy projects, notably wind farms, and we respect people's opinions about the effects of wind turbines on the landscape. We wouldn't want turbines on every hillside, but we think that ultimately, ecology (which after all, supports human life on this planet) is more important than the view. And anything that mitigates the problems below has to be explored. It's too important not to. If you switch to green electricity, you are helping develop large-scale renewable energy projects, which help counter the problems associated with the alternatives - which are: | This is not about home-scale micro-generation from renewables. This is about your contribution to large-scale renewable energy developments, like wind farms, large hydro-electric power schemes, and also wave and tidal power. There is some opposition to large renewable energy projects, notably wind farms, and we respect people's opinions about the effects of wind turbines on the landscape. We wouldn't want turbines on every hillside, but we think that ultimately, ecology (which after all, supports human life on this planet) is more important than the view. And anything that mitigates the problems below has to be explored. It's too important not to. If you switch to green electricity, you are helping develop large-scale renewable energy projects, which help counter the problems associated with the alternatives - which are: |
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| ## What can I do? | ===== What can I do? ===== |
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| You can switch to a green electricity supplier – today. It is probably the easiest and quickest way to have a significant effect in helping to reduce the damage to the ecology of our planet. The green electricity market is constantly changing as new players enter, new generating capacity is built, and prices change. Also, because suppliers are in direct competition with each other for your custom, there is a huge amount of marketing information out there, which can be daunting and confusing. | You can switch to a green electricity supplier – today. It is probably the easiest and quickest way to have a significant effect in helping to reduce the damage to the ecology of our planet. The green electricity market is constantly changing as new players enter, new generating capacity is built, and prices change. Also, because suppliers are in direct competition with each other for your custom, there is a huge amount of marketing information out there, which can be daunting and confusing. |
| We strongly recommend community energy, and there are two ways you can help. First, you could [invest in a community energy scheme](https://communityenergyengland.org/pages/funding-opportunities-2), and secondly, you can switch energy provider - to [Coop Energy](https://energy.yourcoop.coop/), which commits to buying the output of community renewables schemes to sell to the public. You can even stipulate what type of generation your money goes towards. | We strongly recommend community energy, and there are two ways you can help. First, you could [invest in a community energy scheme](https://communityenergyengland.org/pages/funding-opportunities-2), and secondly, you can switch energy provider - to [Coop Energy](https://energy.yourcoop.coop/), which commits to buying the output of community renewables schemes to sell to the public. You can even stipulate what type of generation your money goes towards. |
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| ## Further resources | ===== Forum ===== |
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| | This topic belongs to the section [[gt:power|Power & heating]]. You can ask questions or add information on the corresponding [Forum section](https://forum.growingthecommons.org/t/power). |
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| | ===== Further resources ===== |
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| - [Ethical Consumer](https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/energy/shopping-guide/energy-suppliers) - comparing green electricity suppliers | - [Ethical Consumer](https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/energy/shopping-guide/energy-suppliers) - comparing green electricity suppliers |
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| ## Related topics | ===== Related topics ===== |
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| - [Electric vehicles]() | - [Electric vehicles](elvh:electric_vehicles) |
| - [Low-impact energy]() | - [Low-impact energy](lien:energy) |
| - [Micro-hydro]() | - [Micro-hydro](mhdr:micro-hydro) |
| - [Solar electricity]() | - [Solar electricity](soel:solar_electricity) |
| - [Wind generators]() | - [Wind generators](wind:wind_generators) |
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| ## Specialist curators of this topic | ===== Specialist curators of this topic ===== |
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