Simply green electricity

The world is becoming more and more sustainable, including Twente and the Netherlands. It’s much needed because the exhaust of greenhouse gases must be reduced. One of the ways of doing this is by consuming and producing green energy. Green energy is a collective name for all types of energy that reduce the ecological footprint. The goal is to completely switch to clean energy that does not harm the environment.

 

Green or grey? 

Green electricity is sustainable electricity that is generated from alternative energy sources such as wind, hydro, solar and biomass. It is the opposite of “grey electricity”, which is generated from fossil fuels. For consumers, it is hard to distinguish between green and grey electricity since both power our devices without any difference. 

 

Green electricity can be produced at home or the office, for example using solar panels. In the years to come trust in green electricity must be gained so that less grey electricity is used. Current questions are:

 

• What is true green electricity?
• Is green electricity always produced sustainably?

 

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True green electricity

Sustainable electricity is truly green when at least 80% of it has been produced in the Netherlands. Solar panels and windmills at some place in the Netherlands produce true green electricity. Even though green electricity is referred to as “clean”, it is a mix of true green and grey electricity. C02 is usually compensated by, among others, planting trees and sponsoring sustainable projects to make energy contracts truly green.

Electricity from Twente

Twence, the waste processing plant from Hengelo, is a progressive producer of green electricity. It has realised the largest solar park of Twente, powering 4500 households using 61,000 solar panels. Twente is an expert in producing energy from waste processing. The heat of the Twente biomass power plant can, for example, be used for cooling, sanitisation, heating buildings, drying processes and the manufacturing industry.