How to have renewable energy when you don’t have your own solar panels

When you’re renting, living in a flat or just can’t afford it, it’s difficult to get your own solar panels on your roof.

At Ecogoody, we are renting a house, but found a solution: getting our gas and electricity from the handful of companies that supply 100% renewable electricity and gas. The electricity comes from sources such as solar, wind and water, and the renewable gas from decomposing biodegradable organic material. The renewable gas, biomethane is created through a process called ‘anaerobic digestion’.

The prices for renewable energy are definitely similar to, and in some cases cheaper than the other energy companies.

All the energy companies have an online calculator to give you a quote for your energy usage, often based on the size of your house. The rates vary for each company depending on where in the UK you live. So, you are best comparing the prices of all the companies that supply to your area. The average UK home uses about 4000 kWh/year of electricity, or if using both fuels, 12,500kWh/year of gas + 3100kWh/year electricity. This can be a useful estimate for your calculations if you prefer to work it out in detail yourself.

At the moment of writing this, the only company supplying just 100% renewable electricity and gas is 'Green Energy'. 'Engie' have a special tariff that supplies 100% green gas and electricity. 'Ecotricity', 'Good energy', ‘Bulb’, 'Octopus' and ‘Tonik Energy’ supply 100% renewable electricity and a portion of green gas (varying from 6%-14%), some carbon offsetting their gas supplied through measures such as planting trees. ‘Fischer Energy’ supply 100% renewable electricity only.