Ask for more                       

How we can force new investment
in green energy

 

 

 

 

Government funding for green electricity generation and helping homes and businesses to provide their own power is far too low.  

Just 10% green energy generation is planned for 2010 in the UK. This is only a third of the current proportion in Denmark.

Only £30 million over three years will be given to homes and businesses to support their plans to install small-scale green energy projects. This is more than two thousand times less than the £70 billion that will be given to the nuclear industry to clean up our current stock of nuclear waste.

We can use people power to change this policy.

By oversubscribing in our millions to green electricity
and home grants, we can show that the public are way ahead of the government on this issue

Sign up to green electricity 

We want 2 million households and businesses on green electricity by the end of 2006 - not so they can feel good about themselves, but to send a strong message that we want our money invested in green energy not nuclear power. 

This 'critical mass' of people is needed because, with only a small minority signed up, existing green energy (controlled by a Renewables Obligation of just 5.5% this year) is simply shuffled around and 'assigned' to them, while a higher proportion of everyone else's electricity is assigned to power from old technologies, including nuclear.  

Because of this, hardly any new investment in green energy currently results from the thousands of people signed up to green electricity tariffs, but with enough people signed up we can make a difference. 

The three greenest green electricity companies, as rated by Ethical Consumer magazine, are Ecotricity, Good Energy and Green Energy UK, and the quickest way to find out more about their tariffs and sign up is online. Links to their websites are on www.greenenergyworks.org.uk. Or call the numbers below to contact the companies direct.

Good Energy 0845 456 1640     Green Energy UK 0845 456 9550      Ecotricity 08000 326100

Reaching our target would mean every person currently signed up recruiting 12 more households or businesses. Even if you are already on a green tariff, don't you know someone else who would be interested?

Ask for more by applying for a green energy grant 

 

 

 

 

 

The new Low Carbon Buildings fund is the government grant scheme replacing the Clear Skies and Major PV Demonstration programmes, and is supposed to encourage micro-renewable technologies like solar panels and home-scale wind turbines. 

But only £30 million has been committed to the fund so far.

 

If just a few thousand people apply for these grants from 1^st April, the available funds will be exhausted almost immediately.

The Green Party aims to achieve this and force the Government to add 100 times more money to the fund. This amount would still only be a tiny fraction of the amount we are spending already on cleaning up nuclear waste.

 

Keith Taylor, Principal Speaker of the Green Party, said of the £30 million fund when it was announced: "Compared with the billions sunk every year into the nuclear industry, £30 million is a woefully small sum to stimulate the renewable energy sector. Ministerial promises to champion micro-generation are unconvincing when government investment is so low."