Monday 25/8/2008 Page: 12
ONE in 10 South Australian electricity customers are now buying GreenPower, double the number of two years ago. Statistics for the 2008 April/May/ June quarter show 74,684 households and businesses bought renewable energy from their electricity provider. It compared to 36,095 GreenPower customers in the same quarter in 2006. GreenPower is the name given to Federal Government accredited renewable energy, such as wind and solar, and usually costs homeowners about 5c per kilowatt hour more.
Greenhouse gas emissions are not produced when GreenPower is generated, unlike traditional electricity sources such as coal and gas. The increase in the past two years has meant 10 per cent of SA's 793,000 electricity customers are now sourcing part or all of their electricity from GreenPower. In 2006, only 5 per cent of SA customers bought GreenPower. Holden Hill businesswoman Liz Davies said she subscribed to GreenPower through retail company Origin Energy to help the environment.
The founder and chief executive of StorPac said buying green energy had added an extra $12 to each quarterly bill. "I thought it would be a lot more but it's only a couple of coffees each week," she said. "Anything we do to reduce the carbon footprint of our lifestyle is something we are prepared to do." University of Adelaide Climate Change Professor Barry Brook said it was great to see a dramatic increase in GreenPower usage in the community. But he said Governments needed to do more to resolve bureaucratic issues to ensure more people bought emission free energy in years to come.
How It Works
- GreenPower is renewable energy sourced from the sun, wind, water and waste.
- It is accredited by an independent authority.
- The equivalent amount of new renewable energy which is bought is added to the electricity grid every year.
- A percentage of GreenPower, such as 10, 20, 25, 50 or 75 percent, can be bought from electricity retailers instead of 100 per cent GreenPower.
0 comments:
Post a Comment