Reduce your carbon emissions by 1 tonne EVERY YEAR simply by switching to green electricity. And it might even be cheaper!
Sometimes it’s difficult to feel we’re making a difference in the fight against climate change. Lots of the big changes seem to be out of our hands or up to government, while the actions we take at home can feel too small to make a difference.
Of course, we’d argue that even the small actions matter, from eating less meat to turning down the thermostat by a degree.
However there is one change which is both easy to make, and which can have a huge impact. You could even save money by doing it!
Green electricity
Credit: The Climate Change Committee
The electricity used in homes alone accounts for nearly 10% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions! This is because, despite improvements in recent years, a large amount of our electricity is still generated using fossil fuels, especially natural gas. One kilowatt hour of electricity in the UK caused the emission of around 0.256g of CO2 in 2019.
This quickly adds up. According to our calculations, a large household’s electricity usage, if generated by the standard mix of UK energy sources, creates around 1.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year. This is equivalent to driving a modern car over 5,000 miles!
The solution is green electricity, which is certified as being generated only from renewable sources such and wind and solar. However, households which buy green electricity are not responsible for any emissions at all!
And crucially - the more people demand green electricity, the quicker utility companies will invest in renewable generation from wind and solar.
Switch it up
The great news is that it is very easy to switch to buying electricity which is 100% generated by renewable sources.
Most comparison sights will let you filter the results so that you only see ‘green’ tariffs. If not, the individual tariffs normally state whether they’re green or not. Once you’ve chosen a supplier, it only takes a few clicks, with most of the work to switch taken care of for you.
More often than not, switching will also mean that you’re able to find a cheaper deal and save money too!
So what’s easier? A few clicks to change energy supplier, or giving up the car?!
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