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What is green energy?
Green energy is a general term for renewable energy that private persons and companies buy from their energy supplier. At the moment, green energy refers to electricity from renewable energy sources. However in the future it may be possible to buy 'green gas' or 'green heat'.
Renewable energy sources like wind energy, solar energy, biomass (wood, straw) and hydropower will not become depleted. Using them does not harm the environment, in contrast with the generation of energy from coal, gas or oil.
 Continue: Energy sources
Stimulating green energy
Those who want to use renewable energy, could decide to place a wind turbine or put a solar system on their roof. However, not everybody has the time, knowledge or space required. And it is often advantageous to produce renewable energy on a large scale or at the most optimal places. Therefore, some years ago energy companies started offering renewable electricity to their customers, as an alternative for electricity generated with coal, gas or oil.
Continue: Policy
The increase of green energy in Germany
Green energy has been part of the electric power supply for the last few years and it was paid for by cost-covering buy-back tariffs and ecology tariffs by some regional utilities. Since the liberalisation of the electricity market in March 1998, more and more established regional and municipal utilities, but also a growing number of new utilities that specialise on green energy offer electricity from renewable energy sources. With the decision to buy green energy, a change towards the environmentally-friendly power generation is made because new systems can be installed with these tariffs. By now, the market of local and regional suppliers is so confusing that an independent information source like this site has become necessary. In parallel with the growth of the market for green energy, the need for verifying the origin and the quality of the electricity has led to the development of several certificates with criteria of different ambition level. The criteria of these certificates are sometimes adjusted to the rapid changes in the dynamic market and depending on the energy-political intentions of the certifiers. This may also lead to the creation of new certificates.
Continue: Green energy in Germany
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