Green Electricity

What is green electricity?
Have you ever stopped to think about where
your electricity comes from? In the UK about
two thirds of our electricity is generated by
burning coal and gas in power stations. This
releases millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide,
the main gas responsible for climate change,
every year. The other third of electricity mainly
comes from nuclear power, which has other
worryingly severe environmental impacts.
‘Green electricity’' means electricity produced
from sources which do not cause these
impacts upon the environment. Of course,
every type of electricity generation will have
some impact, but some sources are much
greener than others. The cleanest energy
sources are those which utilise the natural
energy flows of the Earth. These are usually
known as renewable energy sources, because
they will never run out.
Wind power
The winds that blow across the UK can be
harnessed by turbines to provide electricity.
Wind turbines sited in suitable locations
already provide a small, but growing
percentage of the UK's electricity, and are
used successfully all around the world. In fact
wind power is one of the world’s fastest
growing energy sources! Wind turbine
technology has greatly improved over the last
ten years, making wind turbines quieter and
more efficient so that electricity generated
from the wind is now often competitive with
traditional coal-fired and nuclear power
stations. Wind turbines are also beginning to
be built at sea — in the future much of our
electricity could come from these offshore
windfarms.
Solar power
Many people believe that we don't get much
solar energy here in the UK. In fact solar
power is already being used to provide
essential power for many types of equipment
being used in both remote and urban areas
across the country. A solar photovoltaic (PV)
module works by converting sunlight directly
into electricity (even on cloudy days) using
semiconductor technology. The vast majority
of solar modules available today use ‘waste’
silicon from the computer chip industry as the
semiconductor material. They can be
integrated into buildings and even made into
roof tiles virtually indistinguishable from
normal tiles.
Solar energy can also be used to heat water
directly using specially designed collectors.
Even in winter a useful amount of hot water
can be produced from roof top collectors. A
third way to use solar energy is simply to
design buildings to make maximum use of the
sun. Using this so-called 'passive solar'
approach, much of the energy that we
currently use for heating, lighting and air
conditioning can be saved.
Hydro power
Water turbines have been used to provide
electricity for over 100 years and presently
provide over 1% of the UK’s electricity.
Although most of the possible sites for large
hydropower stations in the UK have already
been developed, there is a large potential for
smaller schemes. These can either use a small
dam or work as a 'run of the river' system
which has a minimal impact on the local
environment.
Wave power
Britain is blessed with some of the most
powerful waves in the world. Many different
devices have been designed over the years to
try and capture some of this huge energy
resource. With the proper support, wave power
could provide a significant proportion of the
UK's electricity needs in the future.
Tidal power
Tidal power has been used in Britain for over
a thousand years — at the time of the
Doomsday book over 5,000 tide powered mills
were recorded. Unlike other renewable energy
sources, which depend on the weather, tidal
power is as predictable as the tides
themselves. One way to capture tidal energy is
to build a barrage across an estuary, storing
water behind it as the tide rises and then
releasing the stored water through turbines at
low tide. Several sites around the UK could be
suitable for this type of tidal system, the
largest being the Severn Estuary. Another way
is to use ‘marine current turbines’, which work
like underwater wind turbines, harnessing tidal
currents instead of the winds.
Geothermal
Geothermal energy comes from hot rocks deep
underground. In some parts of the world steam
comes to the surface and can be used to run
steam turbines to produce electricity directly.
In other places water can be pumped down
and heated by the rocks to make steam.
Geothermal energy can also be used to
provide hot water and heating for buildings.
Biomass
Either agricultural wastes or specially grown
plants can be used as a fuel to run small
power stations. As plants grow they absorb
carbon dioxide (the main gas responsible for
climate change) which is then released when
the plants are burnt. So using biomass does
not add any extra carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere. Specially grown 'energy crops'
provide not only an environmentally sound
source of electricity, but also an important
new opportunity for farmers. However, there
are concerns about the sustainability of
sourcing biomass from countries where forests
are being cleared to make way for fast growing
plants that are then used as biomass.
Landfill gas
As rubbish decomposes in the landfill sites
where our household waste is dumped, it gives
off methane gas. This gas can be captured and
burnt in a gas turbine to produce electricity.
Burning the gas does give off carbon dioxide
but since methane, which is emitted from the
landfill site, is in fact a much more powerful
greenhouse gas it is better to burn it than to
allow the methane to escape into the
atmosphere. There are already many landfill
gas systems operating in the UK.
Waste incineration
The UK generates an enormous amount of
waste, and space at landfill sites is quickly
running out. The best solution would be to
recycle as much of the waste as possible, but
instead incinerators are being constructed to
burn the waste. In some cases the energy is
being used to generate electricity. However
many environmentalists are still concerned
about the emission of harmful dioxins and
also about the loss of a valuable resources
that could have been recycled.
Green Electricity Marketplace (GEM) receives
referral fees from some electricity suppliers. It
is not associated with any general switching
site and is committed to promoting renewable
electricity through the provision of information
and independent assessment of Green
electricity tariffs.
We aim to provide accurate and up-to-date
pricing, but given the volatility of the
electricity market, please confirm current
pricing with your chosen supplier.

smartphone-green

Today’s smartphone-equipped, attention-span-starved consumers are inundated with data all day long, keeping up with family and friends, running their professional and business lives, and staying up to date with the latest in green technology news or celebrity gossip. All of this data comes to us in as close to real time as possible, making us demanding consumers of information indeed.

But the smart grid hasn’t delivered home energy data that fast. Today’s smart meter networks and Green Button-enabled consumer energy portals typically deliver energy usage that’s at least 24 hours old. That’s useful for those people who like to pore over charts to plot their household energy efficiency, but let’s face it, most of us aren’t that person.

Colorado municipal utility Fort Collins Utilities is trying a different approach: speeding up the smart-meter-to-back-office-data collection loop, and putting it out to customers every 15 minutes. That might be fast enough to get people involved in energy on a day-to-day basis, if it’s accurate and comes along with information on how they can save money in the process.

That’s the goal that Siemens has set for itself with Fort Collins, which last week became the first utility in the world to launch that company's Energy Engage Mobile application to customers. It’s the latest customer engagement platform from eMeter, the meter data management software startup that Siemens bought in 2011, which it has since turned into a core part of itsintegrated smart grid software vision.

Fort Collins is a long-time customer of eMeter’s EnergyIP platform to manage the data coming from its 100,000 smart electric and water meters installed at homes, businesses and schools throughout the city. But like most other utilities in the country, Fort Collins had been pulling data from those smart meters in hourly increments, consolidating it into 8-hour blocks, and then turning it around to customers the next day.

These are speeds set by the imperatives of the utility’s billing department, not by the desires of smartphone-enabled consumers. Reconfiguring the smart-meter-to-MDMS system to pull data faster is a complex task, but one that eMeter has built into its EnergyIP platform, as Lisa Caswell, eMeter president, explained in an interview last week.

Microsoft -Towards Green

Microsoft announced Tuesday that it's cutting
ties with the American Legislative Exchange
Council, a conservative public-policy lobbying
group. It appears this decision was made due
to ALEC's lobbing efforts to block the
development of renewable energy.
Microsoft had previously been a member of
ALEC's Communications and Technology Task
Force. In a statement, the company said it has
halted all participation in this group.
"In 2014 Microsoft decided to no longer
participate in the American Legislative
Exchange Council's Communications and
Technology Task Force, which had been our
only previous involvement with ALEC," the
company said. "With this decision, we no
longer contribute any dues to ALEC...we are
no longer members of ALEC and do not
provide the organization with financial support
of any kind."
Microsoft's decision comes on the heels of
other major corporations dropping
membership with ALEC, including Coca-Cola,
General Motors, Bank of America, and Proctor
& Gamble. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates
stopped financially supporting ALEC in 2012.
According to advocacy organization Common
Cause , all of these companies pulled
membership with ALEC after it was revealed in
2011 that the lobbying group had secretly
pushed legislation for restrictive voter ID
requirements, anti-union measures, and
proposals to block renewable energy
development.
Environmental organization Greenpeace
lauded Microsoft for ending its relationship
with ALEC.

Thanks to cnet.com

Why Green

REASONS THAT GOING GREEN MAKES SENSE
There is a variety of reasons to go green, but
most come back to supply and demand. We
have a limited amount of resources available
and more and more people using them up. If
we want our future generations to enjoy the
same standard of living we've experienced, we
need to take action.
Green building is a great place to start, as
buildings consume 14% of potable water, 40%
of raw materials, and 39% of energy in the
United States alone (according to the US
Green Building Council). That's 15 trillion
gallons of water and 3 billion tons of raw
materials each year! If that's not enough to
convince you, here are some other reasons to
go green:
For The Environment
Want to make the world a better place?
Implementing green practices into your home
or office can help reduce waste, conserve
natural resources, improve both air and water
quality, and protect ecosystems and
biodiversity.
For The Savings
Want to make your dollar go further? Green
systems and materials reduce energy
consumption, which in turn reduce your energy
bills. They also increase asset value and
profits and decrease marketing time; making
your dollar go further for longer.
For Your Health
Want to live healthier? Green building isn't
just good for the environment; it's also good
for YOU. Sustainable design and technology
enhance a resident's overall quality of life by
improving air and water quality and reducing
noise pollution. According to a 2006 study by
the Center of the Built Environment, University
of California, green office buildings improve
productivity and employee satisfaction in the
workplace.
An abundance of green service professionals
and products are available to help you get
started. For more information, find an NAR
Green Designee in your market or begin
earning your NAR Green Designation today!

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