Ecotricity

Ecotricity is a green energy company based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England specialising in wind power.

History

After conducting a survey of allegedly green energy companies, The Ecologist Magazine reported that, in 2004, Ecotricity invested over £900 per customer on building new wind turbines to generate sustainable energy.cite news |url=http://www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=428 |publisher=The Ecologist |title=Green Electricity… Are you being conned? |date=2005-06-01] That amounts to more than 100 times the amount invested per customer by Powergen, Npower and Scottish Power, who all market themselves as green energy suppliers, and compares with several other green energy suppliers who directly invest nothing in creating additional renewable energy capacity on the UK electricity grid.

Since 2004, Ecotricity's site, WhichGreen.Org, has cited Ecotricity's contribution to new green energy sources, per customer, as £117 in 2005, £275.00 in 2006 and £555.36 in 2007. With Scottish & Southern Energy, for example, averaging around £2-16 per customer in the same period.cite web | url=http://www.whichgreen.com/ | title=Which green electricity suppliers are really green? | publisher=WhichGreen/Ecotricity]

Ecotricity was also a winner in the 2007 Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy. The awards congratulated Ecotricity for their environmental contribution, stating that 'The company's turbines are delivering 46 GWh/year of renewable electricity and avoiding around 46,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year. The installed capacity is expected to double by the end of 2007.' [ [http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/ecotricity Ecotricity wins Ashden Award] ]

Figures dated March 2007 show increase of renewable energy on Ecotricity's standard tariff has risen to 24.1% with a further increase to 30.7% expected by 2008. This percentage is generated purely from wind turbines Ecotricity have helped to build. [http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/about/OurFuelMix/

Ecotricity Fuel Mix Disclosure table]

Ecotricity also provide a 100% renewable Energy tariff in which other renewable energy is brought in along with the energy provided by turbines that they have helped build. [ [http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/energychoice.html Dedicated to building wind turbines to provide renewable energy and wind power ] ]

Criticism

As of August 2007, only 20.2% of energy supplied by Ecotricity comes from renewable sources. While this is higher than the UK average, cite web | url=http://www.electricityinfo.org/suppliers.php | title=Domestic Electricity Suppliers | publisher=ElectricityInfo.org | accessdate=2007-08-14] one other "green energy" company, Good Energy, sources 100% of the energy it supplies from renewable sources. However, Good Energy's historicalcite web | author=Hugo House | url=http://www.delabole.com/windfarm.html | title=Delabole Wind Farm re-powering | publisher=Good Energy | accessdate=?] lack of direct investment in renewable energy infrastructure has also met with criticism..

A substantial proportion of the electricity (25.7% 2006-2007) sold by Ecotricity comes from nuclear sources.

ee also

*Green electricity in the United Kingdom
*Wind power in the United Kingdom
*Energy policy of the United Kingdom
*Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
*Swaffham
*Wind farm

External links

* [http://www.ecotricity.co.uk Ecotricity Website]
* [http://www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=428 Ecologist article on "green" energy]
* [http://www.whichgreen.com/ WhichGreen: Ecotricity's league table for green energy suppliers]
* [http://www.ncc.org.uk/nccpdf/poldocs/NCC144rr_reality_or_rhetoric.pdf 'National Consumer Report: Reality or rhetoric? Green tariffs for domestic consumers] .
* [http://www.electricityinfo.org www.electricityinfo.org]
* [http://www.aecb.net/PDFs/green%20electricity%20illusion.pdf Association for Environment Conscious Building: The Green Electricity Illusion]
* [http://zerocarbonista.com Zerocarbonista.com - Blog by Ecotricity's founder - Dale Vince]

References