Frequently asked questions
This is a resource sheet for Operation Noah, the community climate change campaign.
Further modules can be downloaded from www.christian-ecology.org.uk/noah – your local library will be able to help you if
you do not have internet access at home. For further queries call 01949 861516.
Operation Noah is a project of Christian Ecology Link, registered charity number 327844.
I want to change to a new supplier for cleaner
electricity, but my existing supplier is objecting.
What do I do?
The electricity market in the UK is ‘deregulated’ which
means that you can switch to whichever company you
like, when you like. Clearly your old supplier will not
want to lose your custom, and some companies have
exerted pressure on customers not to switch. OFGEM
(the energy watchdog) is clamping down on this anticompetitive behaviour. If you are get hassle from your
existing supplier, just threaten to report them to OFGEM.
They have no right to prevent you switching, unless you
owe them money.
Why should I pay more for my electricity?
Electricity generated from fossil fuels costs less to
generate in the first place, but burdens future
generations and vulnerable people with the costs of
increasingly severe weather. These are what
economists call ‘external costs’. Furthermore the
traditional energy industry – particularly the nuclear
sector – is heavily subsidised by the taxpayer.
Renewable electricity however places no such burdens
on others – consumers pay for what they get. And as the
technology develops, renewable electricity will become
cheaper.
As well as switching to renewable electricity, it is
important to improve energy efficiency. Buying lowenergy appliances (which again costs more in initial
outlay) will usually yield significant long-term savings in
energy consumption.
With some modest energy-saving measures, you will be
paying less, even on a more expensive tariff.
Will switching to green electricity make my supply
any less reliable?
No. Your electricity will be supplied through the national
grid, just as it is now. Any interruption in service is to do
with the grid and nothing to do with your chosen supplier
of electricity who just tops up the grid with whatever
amount of electricity you use. Your bill, as for your
current power company, will have a 24 hr emergency
number on it for you to call if there is a problem, but this
number is likely to go to a local supplier rather than to
Good Energy or Green Energy. You will probably also
find that your local supplier will call to read your meter
and pass it on to your new supplier.
Where do Good Energy and Green Energy get their
energy from?
Good Energy sources most of its energy from many
small-scale hydropower and wind farms across the UK.
Green Energy’s source is also currently buying from
wind and small-scale hydro, has agreements in place to
buy some solar when built later this year, and are
planning to buy tidal from a proposed project.
But aren’t wind farms are ruining our most beautiful
landscapes?
All energy generation has some impact - just think of the
cooling towers required by fossil-fuel power stations.
The British government is currently targeting offshore
sites for investment. For onshore developments,
Operation Noah supports the introduction of planning
policies which will safeguard our finest landscapes and
wildlife sites, while making appropriate developments in
less sensitive areas more viable. For some, a spoilt
view may be of more concern than the risks of nuclear
power or climatic disruption to people on another
continent in a future age. For others, new features in the
landscape are justified if they help achieve a better world
over all. In sourcing its power from small-scale wind
farms, Good Energy and Green Energy endeavour to
keep the environmental impacts to a minimum.
Don’t windmills kill birds?
When sited according to emerging best practice,
windmills do not pose a threat to bird populations. The
RSBP supports wind power.
What about nuclear?
A huge increase in nuclear capacity is often touted as
the solution to climate change. Of course it is a potential
solution, but at what cost? Nuclear power has always
relied on huge government subsidies. There is also the
problem of radioactive waste remaining hazardous for
hundreds of thousands of years as well as the more
immediate and terrifying prospect of terrorist activity.
Using nuclear power as a solution to climate change
would simply replace one intergenerational burden with
another. The non-nuclear path to sustainable emissions
will involve sacrifices now in terms of restraining our
energy use and seeing more wind farms around the
countryside as opposed to enforcing economic, safety
and health sacrifices on our children.
But can’t we just improve conservation and
efficiency?
We cannot choose between efficiency, reduction of
energy use and renewables. The challenge is just too
immense. We have to do all we can in every sector to
reduce our CO2 emissions by 80-90% to a level that is
just and safe for the future of the world.
But won’t global warming be quite nice for us?
Warmer, sunnier, less winter deaths due to cold?
Although climate change is predicted to cause more
extreme floods and droughts and the possibility of warm-
Frequently asked questions
This is a resource sheet for Operation Noah, the community climate change campaign.
Further modules can be downloaded from www.christian-ecology.org.uk/noah – your local library will be able to help you if
you do not have internet access at home. For further queries call 01949 861516.
Operation Noah is a project of Christian Ecology Link, registered charity number 327844.
weather diseases such as malaria appearing, there will
also be some benefits to the UK in the near future,
including less winter deaths (over-all there will be fewer
deaths due to weather) and warmer summers. But this
is why climate change is an ethical and spiritual issue. In
our lifetimes the impacts in the UK could be
comparatively mild, given our current prosperity and
temperate climate. Poorer people, those in less
temperate climates, and future generations, are facing
much greater risks, with extinction threatening many of
the earth’s species, including maybe even our own.
Short term self-interest instructs us to do nothing. It is
our calling as Christians, or simply as moral beings, to
care for our neighbour that we will never meet that
commands us to act.
Tell us what FAQs you think should be answered here!
E-mail your query to noah@christian-ecology.org.uk