A warning to PPUK posters...

[Penners]

here's a helpful article about Dale from the Guardian.

Well, I read the article, but I confess that I'm still confused about how Ecotricity can offer anyone 100% green energy...

Ecotricity does not even want to provide new customers with 100% green energy from the start - although it can offer that.

I'm no expert on Britain's electricity network, but if I understand it correctly, the national grid enables power to be switched across the country from any source to any destination. To me this implies interconnection between all customers and all sources of supply - presumably including Ecotricity's wind farms.

So - short of running a special cable from the local wind farm to Chateau Vernon, how does Ecotricity satisfy its undertaking to give you green energy? And what powers Chateau Vernon when the wind isn't blowing?

I'm not just being argumentative about this - I really am looking for reassurance about Ecotricity's credentials. If I can get them, I'll sign up toot sweet.

 

[MdB]

If 10 suppliers each chuck in a bucket of water into a swimming pool and 10 customers each take a bucket full out then will each customer get the "correct" bucket full of water?

Of course not and it is the same with electricity. It all goes into the same pool and comes out of the same pool. If you think about it, this doesn't matter at all as the "green" electricity you are buying will be put into the system by the "green" supplier.

(In actual fact, nobody gets to buy the electricity from any supplier as the electrons only move a few mm backwards and forwards along the cable. In effect, you buy a few electrons from the supplier and then give them back 0.01s later. The electricity supplier then sells you the same electrons again 0.01s after that. What other company gets to sell you the exact same thing over and over 50 times a second!)

 

[Penners]

nobody gets to buy the electricity from any supplier as the electrons only move a few mm backwards and forwards along the cable. In effect, you buy a few electrons from the supplier and then give them back 0.01s later. The electricity supplier then sells you the same electrons again 0.01s after that. What other company gets to sell you the exact same thing over and over 50 times a second!

OK, that's it! I'm telling my supplier that I want DC or my money back.

Your swimming pool analogy says pretty much the same as my tomato soup analogy above (what a linguistically inventive bunch we all are!).

But... I confess that I hadn't taken into account the matter of who throws the water into the pool. I suppose the principle is that increasing numbers of "green" customers will prompt an increasing concentration of "green" water until one day the whole pool will be green (ugh!).

However, I still reckon that Biff is a little premature in saying that he doesn't use nuclear energy. :wink:

 

[biffvernon]

Ecotricity actually sell more electricity than they generate. They buy if on the wholesale market and sell it to customers just like all the other distribution companies. But also, and this is where they differ from the others, they sell their own wind generated electricity. Profits from both operations are reinvested into more wind turbines so gradually a greater proportion of what they sell is wind generated. Signing up with Ecotricity is probably the most effective way of using your purchasing power to encourage more sustainable electricity production.

 

[L1zzy]

AHHHH Biff a kindred spirit !!!!!!!!!!!- you must read 'The Ecologist' I too am an Ecotricity groupie only by 3 weeks though and a bit dismayed to find my monthly dd amount has gone up £8 !!! still worth it but......

Oh an by the way all I tried the two sites and scarey on found my ex and his Mum (very scarey) but only one found me - and beleiev me guys my surname is extremely unusual!...nah not telling........ever!