At current, most electricity in the UK comes from traditional methods - fossil fuels, particularly coal, from coal-fired power stations - and the growth in energy consumption through a growth in population, not to mention a growth in industrialised populations, has been one of the biggest contributors to global warming, CO2 emissions, and the problem of climate change.

The reduction of CO2 emissions has been a constant goal for politicians in the past two decades, from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change first set up at the 'Earth Summit' in Rio in 1993, to the Kyoto Procol in 1997 and the new deal laid down at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference this month.

Where energy efficiency has become an issue, and the reduction of CO2 emissions in business an issue too, the way that households get their electricity has been left largely untouched: looking at bringing down consumption rather than changing the way we consume, coal-fired power stations remain the order of the day, so that only a reduction in energy use can bring about a reduction in CO2 emissions.

Green Energy in a Domestic Setting - An Occurrence on the Rise

There are companies that are looking to change that, of course. Currently the biggest organisations in the UK for just this purpose are Good Energy, Ecotricity and Green Energy. All three aim to produce renewable energy, green energy and clean electricity for use in the domestic sphere, meaning that energy consumption is not related to CO2 emissions.

Unfortunately, though it can sometimes be more expensive - or more difficult to get hold of - than conventional energy sources; the companies that have had a hold on gas and electricity consumption for decades - E.On, British Gas, etc - use cheap sources, meaning that they can provide their service cheaply.

But that is not to say that green energy isn't cheap: it just struggles at times to match the prices of those companies who are more interested in cost that environmental concerns.

Continued Investment is Bringing Down Green Energy Prices in KWH

Despite any potential difference in price, though, it has been shown that green energy and ethical gas and electricity are coming to match traditional gas and electricity prices per KWH. As technology improves and the use of green energy is becoming more common place, prices are coming down; they are expected, potentially, to begin to beat the prices of so-called 'brown' electricity.

It is an encouraging scenario indeed. And with CO2 emissions reduction so fervently sought after, government and private investment in green energy, too, will be a welcome thing indeed.

Posted under Articles, Gas & Electricity