Two weeks ago I received a newsletter/magazine from my housing cooperative Woonbedrijf. And while I was perusing the articles a side note caught my eye.

It had the title “Woonbedrijf buys gas and electricity through WoonEnergie”, with a green background colour. It told about the new construction my housing cooperative uses to offer public lightning and collective heating at lower rates. It also told that they choose for green energy as many of their renters consider that important.

Now that last detail did grab my attention.

I do however have a few questions about the green energy they use, for example:

• Does the green electricity come from 100% renewable resources?
• Is the green electricity guaranteed green? (utilities often use non renewable sources if they can’t meet the demands for green electricity)
• How is the used gas for the collective heating green? Are carbon offsets used?

I’ve forwarded these questions to Woonbedrijf and I’m now waiting for their answer.

Although I do have a few questions about the green energy they use, this is still a great leap forward. As in the worst case only the electricity is largely green (due to the odd demand problem), this is still way better than using electricity generated by coal power plants alone.

In my own home I use guaranteed green electricity, and gas that is compensated by planting trees and investments in green energy for developing countries. Many utilities now have such packages, ask your utility if they offer this (and do ask if it is 100% green electricity. Sometimes they sell electricity as green electricity when just a percentage comes from renewable resources).

As a result of that article I’ve started thinking about my own energy consumption. So I’ve started measuring my current power consumption (for a baseline reference). After I’ve have a information about my consumption for one month I’ll try go below that baseline. So expect the first information about this ‘experiment’ in may.