FEAR FOR LACK OF INTEREST GREEN ENERGY

The World Wildlife Fund says it's concerned that consumers will be put off buying energy labeled as "green", partly because of reports that its sustainability is a sham, and also because of European Parliament proposals that may drastically push up the price. Labour Party MEP Dorette Corbey claimed
this week that companies supplying sustainably generated energy knew that the certificates guaranteeing their power was green were "fake".

Energy providers currently supply green energy by purchasing Guarantee of Origin certificates that can be freely traded. There are claims that this in fact allows conventionally-generated power to be sold as green. The European Parliament is proposing legislation to restrict the certificate trading, with the aim of stimulating countries to work harder on producing extra sustainable energy instead of importing the shortfall.

The Netherlands consumes a relatively high proportion of green energy, with 2.5 million consumers purchasing sustainably generated power. But because of this high demand, a large proportion of the energy is not generated in the Netherlands. It is imported from abroad and comes from sources such as hydroelectric dams, wind farms or biomass-burning power stations in countries such as Norway, Sweden and Austria.

The European Parliament is now proposing that Dutch power companies should be prevented from simply buying in green energy, and obliged to produce more green energy in the Netherlands. The EU target is for 20 percent of all energy to be produced by sustainable means by 2020. According to the World Wildlife Fund only 3 percent of energy currently produced in the Netherlands comes from sustainable sources. read more (radionetherlands.nl)

MOST GREEN POWER IN THE NETHERLANDS IS NOT REALLY GREEN
read more (nrc.nl)

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September 29, 2008