46% Of Brits Interested In Switching To Renewable Energy Electricity Company

March 4th, 2013 by James Ayre

Nearly half of all British consumers would be interested in switching to a green electricity supply as long as the cost was the same, a new survey conducted by Ipsos Mori has revealed. Out of those polled, however, only 2% have actually made the switch.

Image Credit: Ardrossan via Wikimedia Commons

The poll included 1,017 people, and found that 46% of them would “switch to a new electricity company if they could get energy that was more environmentally friendly at a comparable price.”

This most interesting part, though, is that only 11% said that they would not make the switch. The other 43% were simply undecided. 11% don’t want greener, cleaner energy? 43% don’t know enough about the matter to know what they want?

The renewable energy company Ecotricity commissioned the survey. Its founder, Dale Vince, said that “many consumers incorrectly expected greener energy to be more costly, while others simply had not contemplated changing.”

The switchover to a green electricity supply is probably the most important thing that an individual consumer can do to cut down on the carbon emissions that she or he is responsible for causing. So, the survey shows that simply educating consumers on the actual cost of renewably generated electricity could go a long way in speeding the rate of adoption.

“These days you can get green electricity that price matches the standard tariffs of the Big Six energy companies — and because the overwhelming majority of households are on those standard tariffs — they could switch to green electricity for the same price that they currently pay.”

Source: Sunday Sun

Keep up to date with all the hottest cleantech news by subscribing to our (free) cleantech newsletter, or keep an eye on sector-specific news by getting our (also free) solar energy newsletter, electric vehicle newsletter, or wind energy newsletter.

Tags: ecotricity, Ecotricity renewable energy electric company, Ecotricity Uk, Good Energy electric company renewables, polls, Renewable energy electric companies, UK, UK Clean Energy, UK Electric companies rentable energy sourcing, UK green energy, Uk survey renewable energy

About the Author

James Ayre 's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy. You can follow his work on Google+.

http://www.facebook.com/larry.shultz.33 Larry Shultz

This type energy is very nice because i also used.’The poll included 1,017 people, and found that 46% of them would “switch
to a new electricity company if they could get energy that was more
environmentally friendly at a comparable price.’And you can check it website. http://www.saturatedgas.com
http://www.facebook.com/matthew.t.peffly Matthew Todd Peffly

This is worse than it sounds, the questions if it cost no more than you current dirty option would you switch to a clean option? 11% said no, clean has to be cheaper than dirty. And 43% said, I can’t think.

This wasn’t switch if it is 1%, 5%,10%, 20% more, it is if it cost the same!
- http://zacharyshahan.com/ Zachary Shahan
  
  I know. Insane. That’s what struck me the most.
http://twitter.com/NP_Lima N’Plima

I’ve already switched energy suppliers a couple of times since I’ve been living in London. My current supplier is called Loco2 and there is a small premium for getting ALL electricity from hydro. I ended up signing up for that. Signed a piece of paper and now the household is polluting a bit less.
logicld

You say ‘The switchover to a green electricity supply is probably the most important thing that an individual consumer can do to cut down on the carbon emissions that she or he is responsible for causing.’ but I think that is ignoring an even bigger cause that we personally have the power to change…

http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/farm/hsus-fact-sheet-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-animal-agriculture.pdf
http://ecowatch.org/2013/factory-farming-global-warming/
http://tinyurl.com/rbarpk
http://tinyurl.com/2fsjmc

What you eat has a massive effect on your carbon footprint, and yet most people don’t know (or prefer to ignore it). My carbon footprint for 2012 was 18x less than the average American (and only half of the carbon footprint which is considered sustainable) and 12x less than the average European, which is not possible without taking action regarding our food choices.
- http://zacharyshahan.com/ Zachary Shahan
  
  Yep, good call. Most people don’t know this. http://planetsave.com/2012/01/15/do-you-know-the-cause-of-51-or-more-of-humanitys-greenhouse-gas-emissions/