The one thing that hasn’t been very green about renewable energy tariffs up to now is the gas – you can get 100 per cent renewably supplied electricity, but the gas was a sticking point.
Now, renewable energy bill payers can take comfort from efforts being made by the biggest renewable energy suppliers to use biomethane, produced from waste organic matter such as sewage and manure, rather than natural gas, which is a fossil fuel.
Good Energy this week launched the carbon neutral gas tariff to celebrate the signing of the UN Climate Change Agreement in New York next week. It is carbon neutral because although the gas still emits carbon dioxide and other gases, these will be neutralised through verified carbon-reduction schemes that support local communities in Malawi, Vietnam and Nepal.
The supplier wanted to make it easier for energy customers to take action against climate change.
Ecotricity, the rival green energy supplier, is in the process of developing green gas mills to generate its own supply of green gas for customers, with planning awaiting approval for a mill in Gloucestershire.
Good Energy and Ecotricity are currently in a dispute over which company can lay claim to being the ‘greenest’.
Juliet Davenport OBE, founder of Good Energy, said: “World leaders are making a huge promise in New York to take action against climate change. Emissions from energy are one of the biggest causes of global warming, and the simplest way to cut your footprint is switching to renewable electricity and carbon neutral gas. We can all do something to drastically cut our reliance on fossil fuels right now.”
Professor Joanna D. Haigh, Co-Director of the Grantham Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London, said: “The Paris climate conference was an historic event in achieving the unanimous agreement of 195 countries that we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To have any chance of limiting global temperature rise to less than the 2°C agreed to represent a dangerous level we need to replace fossil fuels by low, or preferably zero, carbon sources as soon as possible. One way in which people can contribute to this is by switching to renewable energy suppliers.”
Leaders from 130 countries will sign the agreement, made in Paris last December, at a ceremony in New York on 22nd April. The agreement sets out measures to limit global temperature rise to no more than 2°C.
Good Energy says that the electricity and gas tariffs combined enable customers to cut their personal carbon footprint by up to 50 per cent.
It calculates that the electricity you use at home accounts for around 24% of your carbon footprint and gas 26%. – Electricity consumption accounts for around 45% of the energy carbon footprint of the average home, whilst gas accounts for 46%.
Good Energy’s mission is to support change in the energy market, tackle climate change and boost energy security. Which? and Martin Lewis MoneySavingExpert consistently rate it highly for customer service. The AIM-listed company invests in renewable energy including wind, solar, biofuel, hydro and tidal.
Read our guide to the cheapest green energy tariffs here.