Green-power

There are different ways to generate green electricity:

Geothermal heat

Generating electricity by means of geothermal heat (not/hardly used in the low countries).

Biomass

Generating electricity by directly burning plant material (e.g. in the case of pruning waste or waste wood from construction or industry), or by fermenting plant material and burning the resulting methane gas (e.g. in the case of manure).

Waste

Generating electricity by incinerating waste in waste incineration plants or by burning landfill gas. Only the incineration of bio-waste counts as “green”. Often the electricity generated during such waste incineration is only partially (48% in 2008) green, because (household) waste also contains fossil residues and other scarce raw materials. Furthermore, the classification of electricity generated from waste incineration as ‘green electricity’ is very controversial because of the toxic emissions released during the incineration process. These are harmful to the environment and can cause respiratory diseases, genetic disorders and even certain forms of cancers.

Hydropower

Water turbines – Working at a lock in a river.

Wave energy – under development.

Tidal energy – Electricity generation by moving water at low tide.

Blue energy – Energy that can be extracted from the difference in salt concentration between seawater and freshwater.

Wind energy

With wind turbines.

Solar energy, solar power

Electricity from sunlight.

Green electricity can also come from old-fashioned power stations, which mainly combusts natural gas or coal. If part of the biomass is mixed in this process, part of the electricity may be sold as green electricity. However, the generation of green electricity by means of biomass combustion is subject to some reservations: the combustion of biomass also releases pollutants, in addition to which the raw material must be obtained in an environmentally friendly way. For example, palm oil is produced on plantations located on land that requires tropical forests to be cleared. In the Netherlands this led to the discontinuation of the subsidy on some forms of green biomass power. Ways of deriving energy from forest and agricultural waste are now being sought in particular.

The idea behind green electricity is that it reduces carbon dioxide and other harmful emissions. As a result, the increase in the greenhouse effect will slow down to some extend. Additionally, this process results in less nuclear waste.

Since green electricity is inexhaustible, will also available be for future generations. This is not just the case with fossil fuels. As such, dependence on fossil fuel suppliers also decreases as consumers use more green electricity.

Switching to green electricity is simple and cannot fail. Despite the fact that the different types of generation options have different impacts on the environment, the impact on sustainability is rated at 3, employee satisfaction at 2 and customer satisfaction at 1.