The emerging UK Green Energy movement

The Long Road

The UK has a long way to go in order to reduce its carbon footprint. Although there has been a demonstrable rise in awareness of green issues amongst the general public, the UK still lags behind many of its European neighbours in the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources (the statistics speak for themselves), particularly in Scandanavia. However, a significant movement is beginning to rise up and take positive action. The Scottish Government has made some encouraging moves recently is approving hydro schemes such as these, and hopefully this will continue to happen in the future – although some have questioned how this will be delivered.

Household Energy consumption

Obviously, the most important aspect of the calculation and the one that most of us can influence is that of our Household Energy Consumption. What could make a massive dent in the UK Carbon Footprint would be if people could begin to make the switch to renewable energy within the home. Green consciousness has undoubtedly spread amongst the general populace of the UK and many are now becoming aware that the traditional methods of heating the home are no longer viable.

Many of the biggest UK energy providers are now beginning to implement schemes and initiatives that would begin to stamp out the carbon footprint, including Scottish Hydro Electric – who have introduced a scheme (better plan) that would provide 100% Hydro-Electricity at no extra cost, sliencing many of those sceptics who insist that going green is not cost effective.

Google UK Carbon Footprint Calculator

Google has recently launched its UK Carbon Footprint Calculator, which enables people within the UK to calculate their own carbon footprint. See a good explination of how to go about this here.

Convincing households to alter their energy consumption habits is one aspect, however it is also encouraging to see big business worldwide is becoming increasingly concsious of their carbon footprint and is taking steps to address the issue. Hopefully this is the beginning of a long term trend.