#020 Choose Renewables
If you control where your power comes from, this is an easy and impactful switch.
I don’t think I really need to make much of an argument for why renewable energy sources are good here.
If you had an imaginary choice between an ever-replenishing candy tree and a plastic wrapped bag from the supermarket, which relied on a pollution-filled and complicated supply chain — which would you choose?
Hopefully the first.
Recognising that we’re in a climate emergency can be overwhelming and disempowering as businesses and individuals. It feels like the problem is too big for little things to even matter.
But, like I wrote about in a previous post, where you spend your money is a very powerful way to use your voice. And when it comes to your power bill, you can send a message clearly that you’re working towards, and care about, a greener future.
So, what’s the big idea?
If you have control over the power supply in your workplace, make the switch to a power company that has environmental performance at the fore. The title of this post is about renewables, but that’s just one way a power provider can show their commitment to the environment.
The Green Electricity Guide have unbiased and independent rankings of Australia’s power suppliers across a number of fields like:
- Emissions — how much CO2 their owned assets are producing
- Decarbonisation — whether the company has shown public support for decarbonisation in the energy sector and is compliant with renewable energy targets
- Carbon Offsets — whether the company contributes to carbon offsets for its non-renewable energy generation
- Renewables — the percentage of renewable sourced energy and how much the company supports local energy production (ie. via solar)
- Fossil Fuels — whether the company is for or against fossil fuels and coal, and whether they have investment in either
- Energy Efficiency and Demand Response / Management — how the supplier offers and encourages energy efficiency information and services
- Transparency — covers things like whether they have a sustainability report and decarbonisation goals, whether they are engaged in greenwashing, and whether they have show a disregard for human or ecosystem health
It’s a thing of beauty.
Because they’ve taken the hard work out of researching and choosing a provider that lives up to your green standards, Instead you can easily have a scroll and select the one you like most.
And if, like me, you enjoy diving into the nitty gritty, you can access and interrogate the full report for each provider.
Getting Started
If you’re a big company, find the person who makes the choices about your power supplier and begin a conversation about why you’re currently with who you are and whether they’d be open to switching.
If you are the person who gets to choose, or are a business that works from home, well, it’s up to you. Go forth and make good choices.
And if like many small businesses, you’re in a shared workspace or co-working space, all hope isn’t lost. As tenants, you can still have a say in how things work. Try and open a conversation with the manager or landlord, and if they’re stubborn to move, try recruiting your fellow tenants to join the ask.
Conversation Starters
If you need some ways to open this conversation with peers, seniors or even your own internal dialogue, here are some things you could ask:
- What underpinned our decision to choose our current provider?
- What underpins our decisions for choosing other suppliers?
- Is it important for us to have a stance on green energy?
- What would it mean if we made the switch to green energy?
Going Further
As boring as it sounds, there are a lot of steps closer to home about reducing energy that go further than just buying clean energy — the less we consume, the less we need to produce in the first place.
Things like taking advantage of natural light wherever possible, choosing energy efficient bulbs and devices and using energy saving settings on air conditioning, lights and devices are all little ways that add up to big savings.
And of course, if you’re using other utilities (e.g. gas, water, internet) there are ways to support either consuming less or choosing green providers too.
