Green Energy Republic

Welcome...

Welcome to Green Energy Republic, a blog by Good Energy – the only dedicated 100% renewable electricity supplier. Read on for news, views and rants on the green energy industry. Focusing on renewable energy tariffs, technological developments, government legislation, energy saving, microgeneration, lobbying and much more… enjoy, and feel free to leave us a comment or two.

Re-news

Spain generates 53% wind energy in record high

Last weekend Spain was windy. So windy in fact, that Spanish wind farms generated a record-breaking 53% of the country’s electricity demand for several hours, the equivalent of 11 nuclear power stations worth, according to the Guardian. That’s a huge 11.5 gigawatts of clean, renewable energy.

The previous record of 44% was set the week before. 

This comes just five years after critics predicted Spain would never produce more than 14% of its energy from wind. It’s now thought that by the end of this year the Spanish will be powering a quarter of the country, on average, with wind power. 

An inspiring story for us in the UK. After all, we’re a windier country ... although we’re trailing way behind Spain in wind power. 

Countdown to Copenhagen: 

Good and bad news ...

It has become apparent that Ed Miliband has lost confidence on achieving a strong, legally-binding agreement at Copenhagen. Speaking in Parliament earlier this week he indicated that progress was moving too slowly, and that the agreement made is more likely to be a “political one” rather than a legal one.

Some good news however, and lets face it, the only way any meaningful agreement can be achieved, is that President Obama has decided to attend the meeting. We reckon our letter to Gordon Brown must have been what tipped his decision ....

But seriously, it’s a big breakthrough that the top man will be there.

"The key now is for the United States and China, the two largest emitters in the world, is to be able to come up with a framework that, along with other big emitters like the Europeans and those countries that are projected to be large emitters in the future, like India, can all buy into," 

...he said in the Telegraph yesterday. Sounds like he has the right kind of idea at least. 

Before he goes, he should watch this, a Do The Green Thing video:

Green Energy Republic

A Good Energy Blog

Countdown to Copenhagen - our letter to Gordon

Here's the letter we wrote to Gordon Brown, and all those that signed it. 

(Click to see larger images)

 

 

Green Energy Republic

Good Energy Shop customer case study: John Rhodes

John Rhodes in Bedfordshire is harnessing the sun's power and turning it into his own green electricity.

Rhodes PV case studyJohn is an old hand at solar generation - he's had a solar thermal system on his roof for the past five years which takes care of about 75% of his annual hot water needs. One of the first to join Good Energy's HotROCs scheme - which is funded by Good Energy Gas customers - he earns about £86 a year from us for the heat he generates, as well as saving money on heating his hot water.

John was so pleased with the performance of his solar thermals that he's gone a step further, and had a 10-panel 1.8 kWp Solar PV system installed on his roof, so he can start generating clean, green electricity.

"We try and follow a green lifestyle," John explains. "We do a lot of recycling and have a rainwater harvesting system for flushing toilets. I've always wanted solar PV, and when I saw it was available from the Good Energy Shop and Sundog for a good price, around £10,000, I decided to go ahead."

With interest rates at rock bottom, the attractions of solar PV are not only ecological but also financial. As a customer of Good Energy's HomeGen scheme, he'll earn 15p per kWh he generates, the highest rate in the market. John says, "At the moment, it's better to have your money on the roof than in the bank."

To find out how you can start the journey to generating your own energy, visit our new website www.generateyourown.co.uk

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Our letter to Brown

With the Copenhagen climate talks just a month away, we put our heads together with some of our fellow businesses in the SouthWest to discuss what we’d like our Prime Minister to achieve there. The result is this letter, which we’ll be sending to Gordon Brown next week.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown

10 Downing Street

London

Dear Prime Minister

We are a coalition of the most successful businesses in the South West.

As our region has been identified by your government as a regional centre for low-carbon businesses it is very important to us that a strong agreement is reached at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December.

We are delighted that you have said you will attend the talks in person – we hope you will successfully persuade President Obama and the leaders of the other developed nations to attend as well. Without the right decision-makers in the room it will not be possible to achieve an effective agreement.

• We want to see a deal which will commit the UK and other developed nations to tough and binding CO2 emissions targets.
• We want developed countries to commit public funds to help developing countries adapt to climate change without threatening their own economic growth.

But above all, we want an agreement. Failure is not an option.

As businesses, we are prepared to support the agreement by making the changes we need – not only  through our own operations but also through our influence on our customers and suppliers – to make a global agreement work at a local level. 

Please don’t let us down.

Power from the People

Last Saturday we held our first Power from the People event at the Gaia centre, right next to our wind farm in Delabole. Over 150 people bought tickets to attend the event which provided information on how to start and successfully complete a project to help you generate renewable energy at home or on a bigger scale.

After the sessions people came to tell me how excellent they thought the speakers were, especially Lord Paul Tyler’s presentation on renewables at a policy level and his own personal eco home project.  Peter Edward’s account of the history of Delabole wind farm inspired many, and Owen Yeatman’s presentation on Bio Energy and Charley Rattan’s talk on managing a project were all especially well received.

I was pleased that so many found it so informative – It’s such a big subject and it was hard to know which bits to focus on. We’re really keen to continue the energy of the day here at the blog. Please tell us if there are areas you thought we could have paid more attention two or maybe there is a question you didn’t get to ask – so ask it here by leaving a comment. The event maybe over but we can continue our journey to support Power from the People here on the blog!

Hugo House

Good Energy Generation

Re-news

EU agree on something at last
It took a two-day summit after several weeks of discussions to get there but the EU has finally agreed on how much funding the developing world will need in order to deal with the consequences of climate change. And it’s as much as Gordon Brown suggested originally - €100 million a year by 2020.

What they couldn’t agree on was how much of that would come from Europe, undermining Swedish Prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s statement “The EU now has a strong negotiating position and the countdown to Copenhagen now has started." (COP 15 site) How so when they have just thrown a figure in the air? If the EU had agreed to pay their share of that now then it would be leading by example.

What’s more, the agreement on how to divide up the bill even within Europe is far from settled. Parts of the Eastern bloc are strongly against the fund corresponding to pollution levels, as theirs are high, and the richer nations are anti the Eastern states’ suggestion that it should be divided on a national income level – as then the bill would fall at our feet.

This may take more than a two-day jaunt in Brussels to sort through.

Still, Gordon Brown was happy, describing it as a “breakthrough.” Why have there been so many “breakthroughs” and “historic moments” at these meetings with nothing actually being done? Hmmph.

Severn Barrage energy schemes to be scrapped?
One of the biggest casualties of the UK recession could be the Severn Barrage renewable energy project – the concept of harnessing the power of the Severn tides to generate up to 5% of the UK electricity demand, carbon free. The Times reports that the possible £23bn project is likely to be scrapped due to the current financial difficulties faced in the UK.

The Severn Estuary has the second highest tidal ranges in the world holding within it huge amounts of power. Capturing this is vital to the government’s 30% renewables targets by 2020, a target we are way off hitting. However the sheer scale of the project means that it is hugely expensive. The Times quotes government figures of generation costs being £317 per Megawatt hour, which just can’t compete with around £85 for offshore wind.

The conservatives have made clear that they will scrap the scheme if they reach power.

What would you do?

Perhaps we will find the answer following a new project coordinated by the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) - an £8 million fund to unlock the potential of marine energy. The PerAWat (Performance Assessment of Wave and Tidal Array Systems) is a collaboration between utilities, universities and private investors to bring down the generation price of marine energy and make it more competitive. The project hopes to develop mechanisms for accurately assessing energy potential and performance of wave and tidal systems in different scenarios.

Their systems intend to give greater forecasting potential and reduce investment risk. Find out more here http://www.energytechnologies.co.uk/Home/news/09-10-30/£8m_Marine_Project_announced.aspx

On the plus side…
Perhaps our government is hoping it’ll make up the deficit in its renewable energy target with geo-thermal power.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has just announced a £6m fund to explore geo-thermal energy, available to help companies find appropriate sites to harness clean energy from the earth. http://www.greenwisebusiness.co.uk/news/6-million-to-search-for-deep-heat-underground-836.aspx

An interesting iPhone Application
This is even better than the beer drinking iphone app adored by our IT team – someone has invented a wind speed calculator available on the iphone, supposedly accurate to 1.5mph.
It works through the microphone – you hold the iphone in the air and the microphone picks up the noise created by wind. From this it can calculate how fast the wind is blowing.

Check it out - http://goingapps.com/default.aspx but we haven’t tried it ourselves yet, so  don’t blame us if it doesn’t work!

Don’t let this TV ad be banned by the sceptics
This Act on Co2 government ad is being shown nationwide at the moment:

Amazingly, it has attracted over 600 complaints from climate sceptics who want to see it banned. Make sure they don’t win by sticking your name here.

And while you are browsing the internet this site is well worth a look - http://carbonquilt.org  . Carbon Quilt make visual impression of what carbon emissions would look like if we would see them.

Green Energy Republic
A Good Energy blog

Good cooking

We recently visited River Cottage HQ in Devon to take part in their Autumn Fair, and talk to visitors about how we’re working with the River Cottage team to help make Park Farm run as sustainably as possible.

We were kept very busy, but when we did get time to take a break we were well-rewarded with some delicious organic grub. There was moussaka, chickpea tagine with mint yoghurt, burgers and more, as well as ice-cream, cider and cream teas – all organic and locally-sourced of course. All that tasty food inspired us to get back into our own kitchens and, with the days getting chillier, we’ve started to think about some hearty meals we’ll be having for tea (and bringing in for lunch the following day!). 

Like the River Cottage team, we want to make sure we cook as sustainably as possible, so here is some advice we’re going to be following when we rustle up our favourite winter warmers...

Start local...

Buy organic, locally-sourced ingredients if you can; your food will have travelled fewer miles to your table, and organic food is less energy-intensive as it doesn’t require pesticides and fertilisers which need to be both manufactured and sprayed.

Eat less meat...

...and more veggies. Meat generally has a large carbon footprint because of the energy required to feed, graze and transport the animals.  

Don’t peek...

Every time you open the oven door you lose up to 60% of the heat, which means your oven must work harder and use more energy to return it to the required temperature. So either invest in a timer, or clean that glass oven door so you can clearly see your dishes.

Cover up...

Use lids on your pots when cooking, the captured heat value can save you up to 3 times the energy utilized by an open pot.  Glass lids will allow you to view the cooking progress. It will also reduce condensation in your kitchen.

Chill out...

Think about how you use the fridge and freezer. Take foods you’re going to be cooking out of the fridge and bring them up to room temperature before putting them in the oven to reduce cooking times. Always cool warm food to room temperature before putting in the fridge or freezer. If you need to defrost something before cooking it, defrost it slowly in the fridge – not only is it better for the texture of joints of meat etc., but your fridge will save energy too.

Take your time...

If you are preparing a delicate dish that needs to cook slowly – use a slow cooker which cooks at a lower temperature. Slow cookers use over 40% less energy than conventional ovens. 

Cook in bulk...

If you’re baking a potato, why not bake a pie too to utilise as much of the heat produced as possible. Or make double the quantity you need and freeze the rest for another time.

Buy energy-efficient...

Support your efforts by choosing energy-efficient alternatives to your kitchen essentials. Check out our favourites from the Morphy Richards Ecolectric range; the kettle, toaster and slow cooker are great energy-savers and, in our opinion, work really brilliantly. You can read some reviews on our product pages. Always check the energy efficiency rating of all new appliances you buy – try to buy the most efficient you can afford as it’ll save you money in the long run. As well as the energy efficiency rating sticker, you might find an environmental impact rating sticker which indicates the level of CO2 emissions produced by the appliance. 

Don’t cook at all!

There are so many dishes you could prepare that require no cooking at all, so why not give your oven the night off every once in a while.

There are lots more good cooking tips on our website. Click here.

Free book with every order

Don’t forget to take advantage of our current offer! We’re giving away a FREE copy of “Do humans dream of electric cars?” with every order, while stocks last. Created by two of our partners, Sawday’s and Sustrans, the book offers practical, easy advice to help make your transport choices as sustainable as possible. Terms and conditions apply, click here to read more...

Happy cooking!

The Good Energy Shop team

Getting schools on board for 10:10

By Sophy, Good Energy

To the Guardian’s swish offices in Kings Cross yesterday afternoon for the launch of the 10:10 Schools education pack in partnership with charity ActionAid (also a Good Energy partner).
 

Children’s author Anthony Horowitz and Age of Stupid director Franny Armstrong were the headline attractions – and as it was half-term quite a few people had brought their kids along to hear them talk about the importance of getting schools involved in educating about climate change.
 

There was a noticeable intake of breath in the room when Anthony confessed he was due to take no less than 18 flights next month to promote his new book – but he’d managed to whittle it down from 22, so that’s OK then. He’s also swapped his BMW for a Prius and gets a big kick from ordering tap water when he goes to The Ivy.
 

But the real stars of the event were the staff and pupils of Crispin School in Somerset who told us about how their clever initiatives such as the Energy Police and Wear a Jumper campaign have helped the school slash its energy use. 
 

Schools wishing to follow their fantastic example should sign up to 10:10 now – the first 1000 secondary schools signing up will get a free copy of ActionAid’s excellent teaching pack ‘Stupid or not: education for a smarter planet.’ The packs include clips and photocard stories from the film, thought-provoking animations, and many cross curricular links. Primary schools signing up to 10:10 can get Actionaid’s ‘Powerdown’ toolkits. 
 

Actionaid and 10:10 schools have also launched a social networking site to support the campaign where teachers can get advice and guidance on reducing their schools’ carbon emissions – visit http://1010schools.ning.com.
 

We all know how effective children’s pester power can be -- so, tell your kids to tell their schools all about how they can get their free pack from www.actionaid.org.uk/1010. After all, as Anthony Horowitz said, they’re the ones who will be inheriting the mess we leave behind.

  

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LIVESTOCK 2009

Farming and comedy. Not the most obvious pairing (unless we’re talking about The Fast Show’s Farmer Ted or the odd episode of Emmerdale), but Friends of the Earth’s LIVEstock 2009 is set to change all that and bring them together this November.
 

LIVEstock is a unique comedy and music event organised in support of Friends of the Earth’s Food Chain Campaign which has been launched to raise awareness of the need for planet-friendly meat and dairy farming, and call on the government to fix the food chain to ensure thriving farms and a healthy planet for the future.
 

When we bite into a burger or put milk in our tea, we don’t always think about our food’s journey to our kitchen. We need to get thinking though, because in fact, the meat and dairy industry produces more climate-changing emissions than all the planes, cars and lorries on the planet – and a hidden chain links animals in British factory farms to rainforest destruction in South America. 
 

LIVEstock is a great way for us to get behind this important issue – and have good laugh at the same time. A fantastic array of today’s comedy stars including Marcus Brigstocke, Russell Howard, Stephen Merchant, and Lucy Porter is set to get you giggling, and a special appearance from Razorlight will get the party started. We’re assuming the jokes won’t focus solely on chickens crossing roads, but we reckon that this line-up of comedic masterminds could give even the most worn-out jokes a new lease of life!
 

LIVEstock 2009 will take place on Thursday 12 November at London’s Hammersmith Apollo from 7pm. Tickets start at just £25 and are available from Ticketmaster on 08448 44 47 48 or http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/Livestock-2009-tickets/artist/1008668#
 

For more info, head to the official facebook page, here.

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A Green Film

By Sophy, Good Energy

I saw an extraordinary and very moving film last week.

“Green” tells the desperately sad story of a female orang-utan.  A victim of deforestation in Indonesia. And a victim of our consumer culture.

The film has no voiceover, because words would be redundant. The images speak for themselves in the most eloquent way.

A filmmaker friend brought it to show at my local environmental group meeting. He came across it at the Jackson Hole wildlife film festival where it won the top award. But the irony is that it’s unlikely ever to be aired on network television. It’s too hard-hitting. It names and shames too many household brands.  All too aware of that, the film-makers have made it free to download, here: http://www.greenthefilm.com/

Watch it, if you can, with a group of friends, in a dark room on a large screen. It’s probably the best environmental film you’ll see all year. If not the best film.

The site is also a really useful resource for all things Palm Oil, including a shame list of every company contributing to the deforestation of Indonesia. 

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