Why is it a lie that the energy that comes to your home is 100% green and other revelations about renewable?
Is green energy the same as renewable? Is there enough renewable energy for all when there is no sun, it rains little, and there is little wind, as it happened recently? What does it mean that my energy has the guarantee of origin? How do I know that the energy that comes to my house is green? Is the Guarantee of Origin system effective in promoting renewable energies?
- Is it the same green as renewable?
- Usually, the companies producing and commercializing energy sputter of ‘renewable’ when they refer to methods of obtaining respectful with the environment, in addition to not based on fossil energies such as coal, gas or oil.
The name ‘green’ may be acceptable in generic terms since it follows a standard environmental line with renewable ones.
However, in the strict sense of the word, ‘green’ and ‘renewable’ do not mean the same thing. We understand green energy as one that does not pollute, is not based on finite sources and is respectful of the environment. In this definition would fit solar energy, the tidal wave, the wind and some more that are renewable.
Of course, as long as we do not consider the secondary effects of its installation, such as the affections to the landscape, the desertification of the soils or the problems for the migratory birds, for example.
But hydropower would never enter this category, for example. The reason is that although it is an example of non-polluting renewable, it implies severe environmental problems to the fluvial environment where a waterfall or a dam is established.
Another case of renewable could be biogas, or a biomass plant, which are contaminants when entering the combined cycle to generate electricity through combustion, although they are respectful of the environment. The ‘100% renewable’ guarantee that marketers give us sometimes contains a mixture of these energies, always renewable but not still green.
- How do I know that the energy that comes to my house is green?
- We can not know. In fact, although many marketers sell it to us, only energy, electrons without further distinction come to our house. It is impossible to trace the electrons that come from a renewable system until they get home and make sure they all come from the same place. The system works like a pool. She calls him pool – which gathers energy from all backgrounds and mixed in what is known as a mix.
This energy goes to our homes according to demand, and in real time, so the only security we have is that it is not 100% renewable. What does happen is that the consumer who wants 100% renewable energy, hires a marketer who agrees to pay only to companies that have generated the number of renewables that we have consumed?
In this way, in theory, our money will go only to companies that generate renewables. What does not mean “that only generate renewable,” but that this is a part of their activity? The objective of this measure is to encourage the generation of renewables among producers.
- What does it mean that my energy has Guarantee of Origin?
- The Guarantee of Origin of a renewable energy expresses that the producer of the same guarantees that a part or the total of the energy that generates is renewable and therefore sells it in the electric market with this seal. The Guarantee of Origin was created in 2007 by the Ministry of Industry and can be sold by the producer to the marketer for it to offer to its customers. It guarantees that our energy will only be paid to a producer that holds it.
- Is there enough renewable energy for all when there is no sun, it rains little, and there is little wind?
- It may be that in these cases the proportion of renewables in the mix falls below the demand due to the impossibility of production. In this situation, we are sent home mostly non-renewable energy. To compensate for this deficit, as soon as conditions are restored, extra renewable energy is produced, and the pool is filled with it for a while.