Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has not enjoyed a development without controversy: like nuclear power it has had its critics as well as its supporters, with advocates favouring the immediacy with which it can be implemented and its theoretically clean electricity generation, and sceptics fearing that the theory would not hold to the practice, and carbon dumping could cause as many problems as the current dumping of toxic waste.

The British government, though, are continually in favour, and last week Ed Miliband, Energy Secretary and head of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), once again signalled his commmitment to the technology, promising to build electricity plants that are equipped with CCS technology.

Electricity Plants Will Support Strong Renewable Energy and Nuclear Energy Programmes

Confirming that the New Labour government will not ratify plans to build any new coal-fired electricity plants unless they are fitted with CCS technology, Miliband further commented in his speech that renewable energy was still firmly on the government’s agenda; he announced a strategy that would incorporate the three pillars of renewable power, CCS, and nuclear power.

Whilst both nuclear energy and CCS are contentious issues – not to mention the fact that Kingsnorth, the subject of recent protest, is one of the planned build sites for a new electricity plant – it can be said that Miliband’s proposals are ambitious, thoughtful and sensible.

Understanding that renewable energy is by far the purest option in the future, the DECC has drafted a plan that also accepts that the problem of climate change is alive now, and must be dealt with now.  As such, the use of nuclear energy and CCS as a support base for the increased development of renewable energy, is a very sound proposal indeed.

To that end, the stand out statement from Miliband was as follows: “Even on our ambitious targets for renewables, there will be a need, on the estimates we are publishing today, for additional new non-renewable power. We need to use all available low carbon sources”.

No More Polluting Electricity Plants – An Ambitious Statement in the Lead up to Copenhagen

With the count down to the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit well under way, the DECC are certainly setting an example to other nations in positive climate change policy. It further signals the intentions of Britain to lead the way in future energy policy. If the DECC can stick to their proposal, and fit all new coal-fired electricity plants with CCS technology, then it will be a laudible step indeed.

Posted under Electricity Generation

Green energy – or renewable energy, to give it its other name – is so called because it generates electricity in a way that is environmentally friendly, and was designed for that purpose.

The most ready examples of renewable energy and that which creates green electricity, are solar energy and wind energy, as well as wave and tidal power, and hydroelectricity generation.

Green Nuclear Energy – The Case for Nuclear Energy in the Green Energy Family

Nuclear power is a controversial member of the group of green electricity generators. In and of itself, nuclear energy is renewable, and in that sense green; unlike the fossil fuels its sometimes grouped with, nuclear energy isn’t finite.

It also isn’t polluting, or at least not when its dealt with properly. When nuclear waste is effectively maintained, contained and transported, the harmful by-products of the process are kept safe. In so doing, nuclear energy is able to keep the tag of both renewable energy and green energy, in that it remains recyclable, and isn’t harmful to the environment.

Nuclear energy, then, is in theory a valid member of the green electricity family: but can we go as far as calling nuclear green?

Green Nuclear Power – The Case Against

Many anti-nuclear environmentalists argue that the theory just doesn’t hold with practice.  Though nuclear power is perfectly safe as long as nuclear waste is contained, critics argue that anyone who doesn’t see that wastage is likely, as companies cut corners, is being naive.

George Monbiot, for one, has written extensively about the dumping of waste and why green nuclear might not be a possibility citing the recent Trafigura scandal, amongst others, as evidence for the problem with waste dumping and nuclear power.

The question over nuclear power and whether we can call some of it green nuclear, then, is one surrounding realities: though nuclear power is fine in theory, can we trust to the maintenance of that theory?

Green Electricity as Generated from Traditional Green Energy

Some would argue that, to use the common phrase, it would be better to be safe than sorry. In essence, then, they won’t call nuclear energy green because of the potential, and to them very practically real risks.

Given that the classification of nuclear power in this respect is up for debate, many energy companies try to steer clear of nuclear power in their fuel mix, when offering green electricity to customers.

Of the UK’s Green Three, only Ecotricity use nuclear power, and at low levels; in order to call their green tariffs 100% renewable, the other two avoid the use of nuclear power, as shown in studied fuel mix data for UK companies.

When looking to switch gas and electricity to green tariffs, then, it may be best to play safe and avoid nuclear energy; Ecotricity, though, are one of the world’s most reputable green energy companies, and the fact that they are willing to use it should be taken into consideration.

Posted under Articles, Gas & Electricity

Utilities are a funny thing because they’re completely necessary for existence in the modern world. Nobody wants to pay over the odds for them but rarely do we consider changing from the companies that provide them.

This is especially true of gas and electricity, of which many of us will stick loyaly to the same company for many years, whether their prices increase, the service is bad, or the product is substandard or counter to our principles.

Mostly this is perhaps because gas and electricity providers seem quite ubiquitous: if its all coming from the same place, how could there be a noticeable difference in price or practice coming from different companies?

Even so, differences there are. It might all come from the same place (generally speaking) but there are plenty of differences between costs and services across different energy companies and also within different companies according to their different tariffs.

Green Energy Tariffs – What Makes them Different?

Of course differences are more apparent with some companies and tariffs than with others. The new green energy tariffs are generating a lot of interest and continued attention because they change the fundamentals of the service that is usually extended by gas and electricity suppliers.

These tariffs provide gas and electricity that is sourced from renewable energy technology – solar power, wind power, hydroelectric and wave and tidal power, plus more tentatively, nuclear power and biofuel – meaning that their composition is necessarily different from that of traditional gas and electricity tariffs, which rely on coal.

Of current energy tariffs, then, green energy tariffs are the most original, and are often the subject of the question when talking about switching tariffs for gas and electricity.

Helping to Switch to a Green Energy Tariff – Switching Through Ecoswitch

Often green energy tariffs can work out cheaper than other tariffs, and offer particularly cheaper electricity, as well as it being sustainable and ethical.

Its easy to switch too; Ecoswitch specialises in helping people switch from their current gas and electricity suppliers and tariffs to green energy tariffs.

Focusing particularly on the Green Three – Good Energy, Ecotricity and Green Energy who offer the only 100% renewable energy tariffs coupled with a Supplier Fuel Mix over 40%- Ecoswitch makes it simple to switch; just input a few details and compare tariffs accordingly, then use Ecoswitch to switch, letting us do all the hard work.

If you’re interested in switching to a green energy tariff, have a look at Ecoswitch’s green energy tariff comparison pages.

Posted under Articles, Gas & Electricity

As we all know, gas and electricity suppliers work often on estimated charges and bills. This can be prove something of a pain, both if its cheaper or more expensive than the estimate: coming out cheaper, it can be the case that we’ve saved extra in order to cover the cost f gas and electricity and made sacrifices in other areas that we didn’t need to make. The opposite of course can be true of a low estimate: not accounting for the extra cost incured from the low estimate, we can find ourselves lacking.

That is part of the reason for the invention and introduction of the smart meter. Once installed, the smart meter measures gas and electricity usage in real time, and sends it directly to your gas and electricity supplier. It means, then, that there’s no need for estimates on gas and electricity bills and no unnecessary stress about miscalculations.

Secondly, though, the smart meters have become incredibly popular – particularly with governments, and less so with energy companies – because the on-hand information pertaining to real-time energy usage can lead to an easy system for reducing the amount of energy one uses and the amount of money one spends as a result.

Smart Meters are getting so popular for that reason that the British government, through the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), are discussing the compulsory implementation of them across the UK. So useful could they be in energy saving, then, the smart meter is being championed as one of the key tools in the ‘do a little, help a lot’ mantra for saving energy nationwide and cutting CO2 emissions.

Green Energy Tariffs and Smart Meters – Saving Energy Twice Over

Of course saving energy by keeping an eye on accurate energy readings is only saving energy within the remit of the gas and electricity tariff by which you’re served energy by your suppliers. In other words, if you cut down on energy in the home, but your supplier is a particularly bad culprit for energy wastage or production, then the environmental benefits of the cut will be less than if you’re with a more ethical supplier.

Certainly, the money saved won’t change, but many see a cut in energy usage as synonymous with environmental issues. Add in the fact that a more ‘green’ energy supplier could also be cheaper, and saving extra cost by saving extra energy certainly becomes possible.

If you’re interested in saving on CO2 emissions as well as on cost, take a look at Ecoswitch’s Green Energy Comparison Price Calculator for information on the UK’s best green energy tariffs, including costs, and how to switch to tariffs that are 100% renewable in their fuel mix and helping the cause against global warming and climate change.

Posted under Articles, Gas & Electricity

is a green energy tariff price calculator that providers information on only the greenest of the UK’s energy companies: Good Energy, Ecotricity and Green Energy are the only gas and electricity suppliers in the UK who provide a fuel mix that goes over 15% renewable energy. Good Energy are currently at 100%, with Ecotricity at 37.4% and Green Energy at 32%.

All three, though, despite their overall fuel mixes, are also the only three companies to offer 100% renewable energy tariffs. Ecoswitch deals in those, so as to ensue that its customers are always getting green energy in the way it should be; not 10% of the fuel mix, but a proper commitment to sustainability, reducing CO2 emissions and promoting renewable energy.

What the Energy Price Comparison Calculator Gives You

Through the energy price comparison, then, you can get preliminary information on the cost of a green energy tariff, as well as enact the switching itself; Ecoswitch is a simple 5 step process towards switching to an ethical, 100% renewable green energy tariff.

It calculates cost according to post and energy usage, and acts an arbitrator between you and the energy companies so that you can analyse and then choose the most pertinent energy tariff for you.

How the Green Energy Tariff Comparison Works

More specifically, the Ecoswitch Green Energy Price Comparison works in the following way:

• Based on either a specific figure for your current yearly gas and electricity usage – or according to approximations at ‘low’, ‘medium’ and ‘high, set by Ecoswitch for those who aren’t sure about their exact energy usage – the comparison calculator takes that figure and combines it with information pertaining to your postcode, in order to give the most accurate examples of cost for green energy tariffs. Specially, it takes the information you gave on gas and electricity usage and calculates cost according to the pricing per unit set by the various green energy tariffs.
• The energy comparison calculator also presents the results from top to bottom at cheapest to most expensive, for ease of viewing and the best way to read and compare the information.
• From there its a simple case of clicking the ‘Switch Now’ button and entering in quick details, and Ecoswitch will do the hard work for you.

So there you have it. If you’re interested in green energy tariffs – be it for cost, reduction of CO2 emissions, sustainability or even just a change of supplier for your own reasons – then have a look at Ecoswitch’s Green Energy Price Comparison Calculator, for more information, and the chance to switch to the new wave of energy companies that are making sure they do their bit for our environment.

Posted under Articles, Gas & Electricity

Changing the company who supplies your gas and electricity is a lot easier than it might seem at first. In fact as far as something so ingrained in the household goes, it can be simply a matter of getting in touch with the right people; phoning the gas or electricity company in question, or getting in touch with third parties.

Knowing how to start choosing who you’d want to change to, though, is a bit of a different matter. That, of course, requires research and asking a few fundamental questions.

Think about the following:

• Are You Looking Simply to Save Money?
• Is Improved Customer Service on the Agenda?
• Does Sustainability Matter?
• Are You Trying to Reduce the Amount of Energy You Use?

If the first question is the only relevant one, then any energy price comparison websites will do the trick; just punch in the relevant information and compare prices.

The second question would understandably require a little more detective work, and one that online comparisons can’t offer you; it would need to involve talking to companies, getting a feel for their representatives. The comparison aspect of things can nonetheless narrow down the companies that one would be willing to go through that process with.

Questions three and four are in some ways the same question; its hard to be sustainable without also – incidentally or not – reducing the amount of energy you use.

We’ll look at this in more detail, then.

Green Energy Tariffs, Sustainability and Reducing Energy

With the clue in the name, green energy tariffs provide electricity and gas through sources that are eco friendly. This can range from solar and hydroelectricity and tidavel and wave power, to wind and solar energy.

Sometimes, too, it includes biofuels and according to some definitions, nuclear.

Using renewable energy sources is about sustainability and about reducing CO2 emissions, but it can often prove more efficient and use less energy.

If you’re after sustainability or using less energy in particular, then, a green energy tariff is a better place to go.a lot of gas and electricity comparison websites will include green energy tariffs in their searches, but sometimes its hard to know quite how ‘green’ these green energy tariffs are.

Some would argue for example, that biofuel and nuclear are controversial members of the renewable family, and not be willing to include them in the green energy equation.

Equally, some companies will posit a tariff as ‘green’ even if it contains less than 50% renewable energy sources in its fuel mix.

Ecoswitch supports the only 100% renewable energy fuel mix green energy tariffs in the country, so that these traps aren’t a problem. You can find them at the Ecoswitch Green Energy Tariff Comparison section, including a quick form that allows you to switch to one of those tariff, if needs be.

Posted under Articles, Gas & Electricity

There are plenty of energy companies out there, and each offers it service in a variety of ways; the price will differ, certainly, but so too will the way in which they generate gas and electricity for their customers. what follows is a short introduction to the genuine green credentials of some of the UK’s leading energy companies.

What Do We Mean by Fuel Mix?

An energy companies fuel mix is denoted by the combination of sources they use to make fuel for their gas and electricity. So it might come from coal, nuclear power, natural gas, or renewables like solar energy, wind energy, wave power, tidal power or hydroelectricity.

In terms of green electricity, quite simply the more renewables in the mix, the better.

Major Energy Suppliers

The vast bulk of energy suppliers now make sure to publicise their affiliations with green energy and renewable energy sources. Even if they don’t offer green energy tariffs – which a good number of the major gas and electricity companies don’t – they will still detail at great length in green initiatives that the company might undertake.

British Gas, for example, have set up Green Streets of which the website reads:

“British Gas has made £2m available as part of the Green Streets programme, to invest in innovative energy projects in Great Britain’s communities. We are encouraging local residents, businesses and community groups to apply to Green Streets with their project ideas that will help them to save and generate energy locally as well as engaging their wider community, with a chance to win a further £100,000 at the end of the competition“.

Such initiatives are of course designed with corporate responsibility publicity in mind as much as they’re about genuine green endeavours; a look at the fuel mix for British Gas shows that only 6.2% of their energy comes from renewable sources. That’s one of the worst mixes in the UK in terms of green energy, but British Gas aren’t alone in that; most of the major companies have made little headway when it comes to introducing renewable energy into their fuel mix.

In fact none of the major companies – including E.On and EDF Energy – have introduced more than 15% renewable energy into their fuel mix.

The Green Energy Suppliers

This is where the Green Three, the UK’s most famous green energy suppliers, come in. With a name like the Green Three one would expect a bigger commitment to renewable energy sources in the fuel mix. And indeed the three don’t disappoint.

Leading in this regard is Good Energy, whose fuel mix is 100% renewable, making them unique in the UK. Ecotricity and Green energy – who make up the Green Three along with Good Energy – contain respective mixes of 37.4% and 32% renewable energy.

This might not seem all that more green than other energy supplies, but the percentage is on consideration, quite notably higher. The most important thing, though, is to note that both Green Energy and Ecotricity, along with Good energy for obvious reasons, offer energy tariffs that are comprised of 100% renewable energy fuel mixes.

Whilst Ecotricity and Green Energy aren’t able to offer that across the board yet, then, the trio of the Green Three have made sure that in the UK 100% renewable energy tariffs are available, making them stand out from conventional energy companies.

For more information on the Green Three, their tariffs, and switching to them as suppliers of gas or electricity, visit the Ecoswitch Green Energy Comparison section.

Posted under Articles, Gas & Electricity

Home energy comes from a variety of sources; generated as gas and electricity, it can nonetheless find its origins in coal, nuclear power, solar power, wind energy, hydroelectricity, wave power and tidal power, as well as biofuels. Fuel mix, then, is the different energy sources from which a company generates its gas and electricity for use in its energy tariffs.

With conventional electricity companies, it is arguably less important to understand the fuel mix that constitutes a household’s gas and electricity; it will come mostly from coal. But with green energy tariffs and those that are interested in reducing their CO2 emissions, and tackling climate change global warming, fuel mix can be of tremendous importance.

There are plenty of companies that claim to offer green electricity, that aren’t all that green. This is precisely where fuel mix is important; if a company offers green electricity but only 15% of its tariff comes from renewable energy like wind and solar power, its not really too green at all.

When looking at switching to green energy tariffs, then, its importance to be mindful of the fuel mix.

100% Renewable Fuel Mix with the Green Three

At current there are only three companies that offer a reliable and guaranteed 100% renewable energy fuel mix. Those are Green Energy, Good Energy and Ecotricity.

At current, they’re the UK’s leading companies for green energy companies for precisely that reason; other companies offering ‘green tariffs’ have substantially less green energy in their fuel mixes. Ecotricity, Green Energy and Good Energy aren’t quite using 100% renewable energy in all their tariffs just yet, but they are nonetheless the only companies that offer tariffs which fulfil that need.

Further, they’re the companies leading the race to attain that allusive goal of 100% renewable energy in 100% of their tariffs. Ecotricity has come on leaps and bounds:

In just four years we have more than doubled the proportion of green electricity in our mix to nearly 50%. Last year, in difficult market conditions, we still hit an increase of 8%, twenty times the average of all the other energy companies! All suppliers are set a target to increase the amount of renewable they supply by just over 1% a year. Most fail to achieve this lowly target. They don’t do renewables or green issues with any passion or seriousness, they’re just doing the minimum they have to … Less than in fact! The average for Great Britain’s energy companies is 5.9%, a rise of only 0.4% since last year (2007/08).

Our ultimate goal is 100% green electricity sourced from our own turbines but this is a moving target … We’re all on a journey from Brown to Green, it’s not the percentage that counts, but the rate of change that’s being made. Forward the revolution“.

Good energy and Green Energy, it is to be sure, are the ones next in line, and will continue in their efforts. If you’d like more detailed information on the respective fuel mixes of the UK’s gas and electricity suppliers, take a look at the Ecoswitch fuel mix chart.

Posted under Articles, Gas & Electricity

If green energy is your bag then Ecoswitch is the place for your energy needs. Through our Green Energy price and tariff comparison section we provide details on availability and cost for the UK’s genuinely eco friendly green energy tariffs; supporting the UK’s only 100% renewable energy tariffs, Ecoswitch focuses on the Green Three companies, Good energy, Ecotricity and Green Energy.

Switching with Ecoswitch is simple and a matter of providing some very quick information. Put in your postcode, and give an estimate of your monthly or yearly gas and electricity usage – Ecoswitch gives three bands; low at £20pcm medium at £35pcm or high at £50pcm – and receive information on comparative prices for 100% renewable energy tariffs.

Of course if you want a more specific figure, you can input the yearly cost of your bill, and compare green energy tariffs directly and specifically.

Switching to A Green Energy Tariff Once you’ve Compared

Of course Ecoswitch would be of little use to the budding green energy switcher if it couldn’t do the switching part for you. To that end, the Green Energy section also allows interested parties to switch to one of the green energy tariffs on offer, after comparing prices.

From there its just a case of entering details, and Ecoswitch will make sure everything ends up as it should be.

Why Make the Switch?

Most people who make the switch to a green energy tariff do so as a result of combined financial and environmental benefits. Whichever comes higher in their own reckoning isn’t all to important, though green energy tariffs can be comparatively cheaper. Nonetheless, if you’re going for the environmental benefits then any financial benefits are simply going to be a bonus, and vice versa; coming to a green energy tariff for monetary reasons is no shameful thing, and thankfully environmental issues are no longer just the domain of so-called ‘hippies’.

These days, environmental concerns are perfectly mainstream, and plenty of people of all kinds of backgrounds and with various reasons, are switching to green energy tariffs or getting involved in environmentally-based initiatives.

Why the Green Three?

Ecoswitch went with the Green Three because of the guarantees over genuine renewable energy in their fuel mix. Sticking with only the greenest in energy providers means that Ecoswitch is in a position to guarantee the ethical benefits afforded by green energy tariffs to those who go through the Ecoswitch website.

That’s not to say that you have to go with a 100% renewable energy mix; if whatever reason you chose to go for a lower mix, that’s possible too. But the presence of 100% renewable energy tariffs from those Green Three energy companies makes for more confidence surrounding their use of ‘brown’ electricity, and their ability to provide simply 100% renewable energy tariffs to all, at low cost, in the future.

Posted under Articles, Gas & Electricity

There can come a time when a household thinks about changing the way it runs things. Be it the stress around throwing out the 1970s cooker, changing the wallpaper in the spare room and still leaving time to redo the tiles in the bathroom, or changing phone companies, we’ve all seen – normally both as children watching parents and then as head of the households ourselves – that time and again things in a house come to change.

Often, though, a household is slow to change its gas and electricity provider. It seems that something which feels so fundamental to the way a house runs can’t be so easily tampered with; like its part of the fixtures of the home. As a result plenty of people stay with gas and electricity companies that charge them over and above what they could be saving elsewhere.

In fact, switching gas and electricity companies is simple and easy.

Why to Switch to a Green Energy Tariff

Switching might be easy, but choosing could be more difficult. At the moment there are more things to consider than simply the cost; as is so apparent from the wealth of media, global warming and climate change are grave problems. The international Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in December is looking to secure global solutions to the problem, but governments are also encouraging individuals to save what they can on their own scale.

Now its pretty accepted that a lot of energy can be wasted in the home.  Energy saving measures have been pushed as a result: using the heating less often, keeping things turned off at the mains. But less publicised is the use of tariffs that make use of energy and produces little to no CO2 emissions at all.

Such tariffs, generally known as green energy tariffs, work with fuel mixes that encourage the use of green electricity and renewable energy sources. Reducing CO2 emissions by introducing green electricity into the energy they provide, some even offer 100% renewable energy tariffs, cutting out CO2 emissions in everything but production.

Cutting CO2 emissions is an important factor to consider when looking at changing gas and electricity providers, and in cutting cost; green energy tariffs, though, will often cut cost as well as CO2 emissions.

How to Switch to a Green Energy Tariff

Switching is a matter of getting in touch with the right company, who will do the rest of the work for you. Finding the right company can be a little more tricky: Ecoswitch takes care of that part. Have a look at comparing the costs of green energy tariffs at the Ecoswitch Green Energy comparison section.

There you can take a look at different tariffs as well as switch your provider itself.

Posted under Articles, Gas & Electricity