From Envirowiki

Green Power is certified renewable energy. Sources include Solar energy, Wind Power, Hydro Power, wave and tide power, geothermal, and other non greenhouse gas-producing energy sources. Green power can be bought over the grid from most energy retailers, just like from a brown energy supplier.

When you purchase Green Power, the energy company you buy it from must buy an amount of energy equivalent to what you use from an accredited renewable source, and feed it back into the grid. So, the purchase boosts the renewable energy industry and also directly reduces the amount of energy that companies buy from coal-fired power stations (thus directly reducing greenhouse gas emissions).

Many energy companies, such as AGL, Origin, and TRU Energy, sell packages that offer 100% accredited green power, this is more expensive than coal power, due to a levy on green power.

[edit] 1 Accreditation

Green Power can be labelled ‘Accredited’ when it has been approved by the National GreenPower Accreditation Program (see greenpower.gov.au). Some energy companies offer products which claim to be 'green' but are not in fact Accredited Green Power. These may include products which carry only a small percentage of accreditation (e.g: 10% Accredited Green Power and 90% non-accredited 'renewable' power), or products that in fact contain no Green Power at all, but claim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in other ways, such as through the company putting money into abatement schemes, carbon offsets or educational programs. Buying 100% Accredited Green Power is the only way you can be sure that your energy is coming from a truly renewable source. (See also: greenwashing

Some 'renewable' forms of energy are not Accredited through the Green Power scheme because they are environmentally detrimental in other ways (such as large-scale hydro, which can ruin river systems) or because they do not actually boost the renewable industry as they existed before 1997 (and thus do not add additional renewable energy to the grid, e.g. Snowy Hydro). Other forms of 'renewable' energy are not accredited because they come from other countries, such as wind power from New Zealand^{[reference needed]}, which is not accredited but still reduces greenhouse gas emissions and is good for the environment.

For more information on purchasing green energy, and to avoid some of the scams that energy companies may offer, visit greenelectricitywatch.org.au. This is a website run by various ENGOs that compares the 'green' products that various energy retailers offer.

[edit] 2 External Links

• http://www.greenpower.gov.au/ - GreenPower Accredited Renewable Energy Australia
• http://www.greenelectricitywatch.org.au/ - Green Electricity Watch