Different energy companies use different approaches when offering renewable electricity. So how can you obtain 100% renewable energy for your home?
Your electricity service depends upon both where you live and the supplier. Typically about 40% comes from renewable resources such as wind or solar. Switching to 100% renewable electricity won’t change how much power is delivered into your home – rather, it alters which source of energy you pay for. You may decide to augment this by engaging solar panel installers Weston or elsewhere to create your own sustainable energy source.
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Who governs renewable energy tariffs?
While solar panel installers in Weston and across the country will definitely deliver a sustainable source, grid suppliers’ definitions of “renewable or green tariff” vary significantly.
Your choice of tariff is key to its environmental benefits. Your energy provider should explain any environmental advantages of its tariff and provide certificates as evidence of renewable energy sources. To qualify as 100% renewable, an energy company must purchase enough renewable energy certificates to cover their customers’ use in one year.
Energy companies employ four strategies in providing 100% renewable electricity tariffs.
1. Providing renewable power from sustainable energy generation facilities operated by the company.
2. Assisting customers in buying stakes in renewable energy generation facilities and matching the delivery to the consumer’s requirement, however generated. For example, the customer buys into a wind farm facility. This approach is rare.
3. Agreeing a contract or trade arrangement to purchase output from a renewable energy generation facility and then incorporating this into the tariff in question.
4. Using traded certificates called REGOs (Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin) and matching these with customer demand.
It is worth noting that the Committee on Climate Change has highlighted that unbundling REGOs from the actual source of power generation may potentially mean that the supplier promoting the green tariff in question is not actually purchasing renewable electricity but merely purchasing the certificate.
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You will need to determine whether a given energy supplier purchases its electricity directly from generators or only buys renewable certificates.