Traditionally all of our electricity came from coal or gas fired power stations and the only alternative was to buy your own solar panels or wind turbine. Recently another option has become available; it is now law for your energy provider to show where they are sourcing your power from on your bill, allowing you to choose a supplier based on how ‘green’ they are. Signing up for a green energy supply reduces your household emissions by around 1.42 tonnes of CO2 a year and won’t add much, if anything, to your bill.

Before you move into a house check with your landlord if it is possible for you to change energy supplier or ask if they will change the supplier.
There are currently only two electricity companies that supply 100% renewable energy:
Good Energy:
www.good-energy.co.uk or 0845 4561 640
Ecotricity:
www.ecotricity.com or 0800 0326 100

You will still receive electricity in exactly the same way from the national grid. Price differences are small and sometimes a renewable supply is cheaper. It will only take 5 minutes to make the change!

If you are living in a University Residence then your electricity supply already comes from either a green supplier or the University’s combined heat and power plant based on campus. The supply is managed by Estate Services and as a result cannot be changed by students. However these are both quite environmentally sound sources and there’s nothing to stop you following some of the suggestions in the ‘Saving Energy’ section because it’s necessary to reduce what we use.