Ecotricity logotype
/Our news/2010/Ecotricity customers cooking on UK’s first Green Gas

Our news

    Browse archives
    Our news

    Ecotricity customers cooking on UK’s first Green Gas

    Press enquiries

    If you are a journalist with a media enquiry, please contact our Press Office by email at pressoffice@ecotricity.co.uk

    For all other general enquiries, please call 01453 756 111 or email home@ecotricity.co.uk.

    By Shareef Tai
    1 Jun 2010
    Ecotricity customers cooking on UK’s first Green Gas - Image 1

    British homeowners can now cook and heat with gas made from eco-friendly ‘composted’ organic waste, in a UK first from pioneering green energy company Ecotricity.

    From May 2010, Ecotricity is the first energy company in the UK to include supplies of green biogas, made using a composting-like process known as Anaerobic Digestion (AD), in its gas tariff. The green gas is put into the grid, where it mixes with the ordinary ‘brown’ gas supply and is used by customers for heating and cooking in exactly the same way.

    Ecotricity’s initial supply is made from sugar beets as a natural by-product of the sugar-making process. Green gas can be made from many different sources, and National Grid predicts that it could supply as much 50% of all Britain’s homes (1). British households throw away an estimated 8.3 million tonnes of food alone every year (2).

    Ecotricity says it’s been “staggered by the response” from its existing electricity customers, with 2,500 already “flocking to sign up” since it was launched only two months ago. Ecotricity is planning to supply up to 10% biogas in its mix by the end of 2010, growing this figure year-on-year by investing the money from customers’ bills straight back into building more green gas plants.

    One new customer is Julian Cheal from Bath, who said, “Our Ecotricity electricity bills are already helping to build more windmills, and we’ve wanted to do the same with our gas supply for a long time. So being able to make a big difference with our bills, and knowing the money isn’t going on excess profits or giant salaries, are the big reasons we switched. Now we know we’ll be helping to grow Britain’s amount of green gas supply as well."

    Dale Vince, founder and MD of Ecotricity, said, “For the very first time, customers in Britain now have a choice of where their gas actually comes from - and where the money from their gas bill goes to.

    “We can make green gas from waste that would otherwise be dumped in landfill, heating our homes with last month’s potato peelings and grass clippings. The technology is here, the gas pipelines are here, it just needs someone to step up and make it happen – we’re showing people that it can be done.

    “North Sea supplies are running out fast, so we have to get more of our gas from regions like Russia and the Middle East – but so is every other country. Pretty soon this worldwide demand will outstrip supply. Green gas is a brilliant, simple answer to two big issues facing us all – energy and waste – which we can solve in the same single stroke.”

    No green gas supplies are currently put into the UK grid. So the green gas for Ecotricity’s initial supplies is made in Holland, which is directly connected to the UK gas grid.

    Making green gas using Anaerobic (oxygen-less) Digestion is a straightforward proven process, and has been used as long ago as 1895 to power gas street lamps in Exeter and Hampton. The leftover by-product is used as a nutrient-rich fertilizer.

    As part of its ethical policy, Ecotricity has pledged that all of its green gas will come from existing organic waste sources that would otherwise be put into landfill, and will not include livestock waste or material from potentially damaging sources such as palm oil.

    Ecotricity is a ‘not-for-dividend’ social enterprise with no shareholders to pay. Instead, it re-invests the money from customers’ bills back into building more new sources of renewable energy. In this way, it now supplies 40,000 customers from 51 windmills at 15 wind parks across the UK, which together save over 50,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions going into the atmosphere every year.

    - Ends -

    Notes to Editors

    1: National Grid/Ernst & Young report, February 2009.

    2: WRAP (Waste Resources Action Programme)

    Similar articles

    Stroud Women’s Refuge

    Ecotricity are proud to support Stroud Women’s Refuge as part of our Vulnerability Commitment. Stroud Women’s Refuge are a small charity based in Stroud who help women and children fleeing domestic abuse.

    More
    Manifesto book with long shadow

    Get the book!

    Manifesto out now

    Shop
    Dale Vince portrait with bandana

    DaleVince.com

    Our founder Dale Vince shares his thoughts on the green revolution

    Explore the site

    Don’t just take our word for it…

    Ecotricity is recommended by
    Ethical Consumer Best Buy logo
    • Our story
    • Our mission
    • Our manifesto
    • 29 years of Ecotricity
    • Ecotricity innovation
    • Walking the talk
    • Our partners
    • Our news
    Ecotricity logotype

    Climate Clock

    The Climate Clock is a version of the Doomsday clock that has been running since 1947 - this tracks the risk of global man-made disaster, through man made technology (like nuclear weapons) - displaying the minutes and seconds left before midnight, when disaster strikes. The climate crisis is a small part of the calculations made.
    The climate clock uses a similar approach, but, focuses only on the climate crisis - which is the biggest and most urgent existential threat we face.
    "The Climate Clock is a countdown to the biggest man-made disaster we face - but also a measure by which we can track our progress - moving from fossil to renewable energy. It shows we have no time to lose - the clock is ticking…" Dale Vince, OBE.