Cheap Electricity from Renewable Sources
It’s long been understood that ‘greening the power mix’ – i.e. increasing the amount of domestic energy that comes from renewable sources- is a vital next-step in any sincere commitment towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
On a political level it is also a crucial measure for those non-oil producing countries that believe it important to secure a percentage of their energy from predictable and affordable sources. Domestically, homeowners are increasingly seeing renewable energy sources as a realistic and practical way to lower their utility bills or directly providing cheap electricity.
Renewable energy generally refers to energy that comes from sources that are not finite.
Up to this point, industrial and industrialising societies have largely sustained themselves by ingesting the oil, gas and coal buried just beneath the earth’s surface. Whilst this voracity powered massive increases in gross domestic product and quality of life, it was fundamentally underwritten by a reliance on a set of power sources that have a predetermined lifespan – and once they’re gone, they’re gone forever.
The development of feasible sources of renewable energy to compliment these finite sources has preoccupied some of the brightest minds of our time. Now there are a whole wealth of green power options that are available to ordinary homeowners and not just big businesses (it was only thirty years ago that solar panels were only to be seen on NASA satellites and in hugely expensive commercial installations).
The advantages for homeowners who secure energy from green or renewable sources is not just environmental – by complimenting their conventional energy input with green energy they will pay less for the total amount of energy over time.
Domestic windmills, for example, are increasingly common, and once the initial investment in the hardware has been made these provide the recipient with cheaper utility bills for an indefinite period of time. The same is true with solar panels, and recent changes in the UK mean that homeowners who produce electricity in this way will be able to sell their surplus back to the national grid, which provides a further financial incentive for going green.
