This week I read an article that suggested Europe’s energy sector has reached a “watershed moment” and predicted that more cost-effective, and of course environmentally friendly, green energy will spell the death of carbon driven energy production within the next decade.
Another article that I read going back a few months now celebrated the fact that the UK’s renewable energy capacity had increased threefold in the past five years, while fossil fuels had fallen by a third. Our country’s renewable energy capacity, produced by wind, solar, biomass and hydropower, had exceeded that resulting from coal, gas and oil fired power stations for the first time in more than a century.
That landmark wasn’t reached by accident. And that change did come about overnight. The UK has been trying to wean itself off high carbon and more environmentally damaging power sources for many years.
Last year nearly one third of the UK’s energy came from renewable sources, with just under a quarter coming from nuclear plants and 41% from gas fired power stations. Incredibly, only 1% was generated by coal fuelled power stations.
In the 1920s an estimated one million British workers were employed in the coal industry; a figure that fell to just 2,000 by 2015. Yet the European coal industry still employs 185,000 people according to trade body Eurocoal.
Today the UK can proudly boast a greater offshore wind capacity than any other country on the planet, with more than 2,000 turbines, and as of this year, the largest offshore wind farm in the world.
Hornsea One, a soon to be completed wind farm off the Yorkshire coast, covers an area five times the size of the city of Hull and will power one million homes. Each wind turbine is taller than London’s iconic Gherkin building. The next generation may be taller than the tallest building in Europe, the Shard.
So, how does this affect you? If you haven’t already done so, you may want to think about switching to one a growing number of green energy suppliers at home, companies who supply most, if not all, of their energy from renewable sources.
Names worth investigating include Ecotricity, Octopus Energy, Good Energy, Green Star, Tonik, Ovo Energy and Green Energy. But, by far our favourite and the company we use at home is Bulb.
Founded in 2015, Bulb is now the UK’s largest provider of green energy with over 1.5 million customers. 100% of Bulb’s electricity is renewable, from solar, wind and hydro, and its gas is carbon neutral. 10% is green gas produced from renewable sources like food or farm waste. They work with independent renewable generators across the UK.
Bulb boasts excellent customer service ratings and received a ‘Best Value for Money’ award from Which last year.
Switching is easy, taking just a few minutes, and based upon our experience, communication and customer service are excellent thereafter. Bulb will even refund any switching fees you incur and with our unique link you can receive a further £50 credit when joining Bulb: www.bulb.me/davidl4377
And if you’re still not convinced, every year the average Bulb customer saves 3.5 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. That’s like planting 1,770 trees. Wow.
For more tips and advice, join the online group at www.facebook.com/plasticfreehomeuk