Energy is vital to our economy but most of the energy we use in the UK today is still derived from fossil fuels. There are two important reasons why we simply cannot continue to rely on fossil fuels for our future energy production:
- Burning fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas produces carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases, which cause global warming
- Fossil fuels are a depleting resource, especially here in the UK, which means that we risk becoming reliant on imports. Depending on other countries for our energy leaves us vulnerable to the effects of increased market competition, such as price increases.
In line with targets set out in the EU’s Energy Climate package (also known as the '20-20-20 Plan'), the UK Government is aiming to achieve a 20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, compared with 1990 levels. The targets also state that the UK, which lags behind many other EU countries in the area of renewables, must achieve a 15% increase in the amount of energy consumption met by renewable sources. This highlights just how important renewable energy and low carbon technologies are to our future.
At LoCO2 Energy, we source renewable energy or low carbon alternatives directly from our own power stations or other independent producers. As a supplier of electricity, we guarantee our customers a high quality supply of electricity every minute of the day. We operate within the electricity supply system, trading with other suppliers to ensure the electricity supply is maintained and matched every half hour. In order to keep a record of each supplier’s electricity the Government has introduced a certification process, which we participate in to assure our customers that we provide the correct information about where our electricity is sourced from.
LoCO2 Energy sources its electricity from a number of renewable, new renewable and low carbon technologies including:
- Water (hydropower)
- Wind
- Solar
- Landfill gas
- Biogas from sewage, landfill sites or anaerobic digestion of farm wastes
- Biomass, including wood and wood waste, municipal biowaste
- Biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel
- High quality CHP (combined heat and power)
- CCGT (combined cycle gas turbines).
The technologies listed above either produce no CO2 emissions, are classed as carbon neutral (they are sourced from crops or natural products with regenerate themselves, consuming carbon from the atmosphere to offset the carbon produced when they generate electricity) or are accredited by the Government as low carbon because they produce significantly less carbon than conventional fossil fuel electricity generation. This enables LoCO2 Energy to supply purely renewable and low carbon electricity.