Greenmiles

Green Power and Climate Protection

In the past, every now and then, green energy contribution circulated in the media, last time in early 2009.  Often the argument being that green power does not contribute towards CO2 emissions reduction. A contribution from by British Environmental Ministry supports this view. We have addressed the issue and analyzed it for you.  For the analysis, it is first important to  be aware that industrialized countries like Germany, under the Kyoto Protocol, have an emission target, i.e. Germany must annually emit only a certain amount of greenhouse gas. To achieve this, several measures can be implemented; one can be the obtainment of emissions rights from abroad.

If now power generation from renewable energy sources is being expanded, then electricity generation from fossil-fuel power plants decreases. Green power therefore contributes to emission reduction and achieves the climate protection target of Germany. However, it is also true, that should electricity produced from renewable energy sources not be extended, other mechanism could replace the target of emissions reduction as well. To sum it up here, green energy is one, but not the only option regarding climate protection.

From Greenmiles perspective calculating individual carbon footprint is as follow: The purchase of green power reduces your personal carbon footprint compared to conventional electricity purchase, while not necessarily contributing to global climate change protection (as this depends on the exact design of the green power product). The knowledge of this difference is especially for companies with a "clean" communication approach critical, as well as for private consumers.

A more detailed, short article on this subject has appeared as a Main Topic in the May issue of Energiewirtschaftlichen Tagesfragen (link).