⚡ Is carbon-neutral energy the same thing as renewable energy?
Hint: it's not. Find out why. Plus how you can switch to 100% renewable energy.
Renewable energy is critical to reversing climate change.
If we can power our buildings, manufacturing and transport with renewable energy, we can eliminate nearly 60% of greenhouse gas emissions.
So how can we support renewable energy as consumers and businesses?
Simply by switching to renewable energy.
Check if your home or business is powered by 100% renewable energy - changing to 100% renewable energy is one of the biggest ways to make a positive impact on the environment.
Below, we help you understand how to find, compare and choose certified 100% renewable energy 👇
Carbon neutral isn't always renewable
Carbon neutral energy sounds great. Carbon neutral energy offsets emissions caused in energy generation by funding projects that reduce or remove emissions elsewhere.
And, to be fair, carbon neutral energy is better than standard electricity plans that don’t offset their emissions.
But, there’s no guarantee that carbon neutral energy is supplied from renewable sources. All electricity, no matter how it’s generated, gets fed into the grid and combined. Power companies can’t control which energy source gets delivered to you. This means carbon neutral energy can be sourced from fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas).
Key takeaway
🚧 There’s no guarantee that carbon neutral energy is renewable; it can be sourced from anywhere including fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas).
Find a certified GreenPower plan
So if power companies can’t control which energy source gets delivered to you, how can you buy 100% renewable energy?
To supply you with 100% renewable energy, power companies buy renewable energy certificates from renewable energy suppliers equivalent to the amount of energy you used. By doing so, they can effectively directly match the energy you used to renewable sources. This process is managed and accredited by the government’s GreenPower program.
Buying renewable energy certificates ensures your money goes back to renewable energy suppliers to help them compete with fossil fuel companies. Since 2011, almost $500 million has been invested back to renewable energy through GreenPower plans.
To support the growth of the renewables sector, buy renewable energy sourced directly from solar, wind and hydro, biomass or geothermal energy.
You can find the list of accredited GreenPower providers here.
Key takeaway
🌏 Buying renewable energy reduces your carbon impact and supports the growth of the renewables sector.
Visit the Green Electricity Guide to learn more about each supplier
The good news is most electricity suppliers now offer a GreenPower accredited energy plan. So how do you choose between all of them?
The Green Electricity Guide helps you compare suppliers based on their whole environmental performance, including what they do outside of their GreenPower plans.
The Green Electricity Guide is an independent guide put together by The Total Environment Centre and Greenpeace. They rank retailers on the emissions intensity of the power stations they own, their investments in renewable energy and fossil fuels, and their transparency and sustainability reporting.
While the guide was last updated in 2018, it still provides a good way to assess different energy suppliers and help you choose the right supplier for you.
You can find the rankings here.
Share the good news
After you’ve made the switch to GreenPower, let people know! The more people we can encourage to switch, the more our impact grows.
If you’re a business, when you buy 10% or more of your annual electricity usage as GreenPower, you’re eligible to use the GreenPower Customer Logo to promote your commitment to reducing your impact on the environment.
If you purchase 50% or more of your yearly usage as GreenPower, your business can be listed on the GreenPower government website and receive a GreenPower pack to promote your support of renewable energy at your premises.
Simply go to the GreenPower website once you’ve hit the required amount of GreenPower and apply to use the GreenPower Customer Logo.
Summary
Switching to renewable energy directly reduces emissions. And it’s something we can all do in our homes & businesses.
📅 Plan some time to make the switch to a certified GreenPower plan
💡Compare suppliers using the Green Electricity Guide
📢 Share the good news
This one thing could be the biggest thing you do for the environment this year.
If you’ve read this far, thank you.
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