Green energy

The Earth is wrapped in an insulating blanket of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane. As the sun’s rays shine on the earth this blanket of gases traps some of the heat – which has the effect of warming the planet and keeping it at a relatively constant level. Without it the earth would either get too hot or too cold and life would not be able to survive.

The Earth is like a giant greenhouse. But instead of having glass panes which trap heat, the Earth has greenhouse gases.

Global Warming is caused by too many greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere by human activity such as burning fossil fuels, land clearing and increased farming. The increased concentration of these gases is like constantly adding more glass layers to the greenhouse, ultimately raising the temperature inside. Left unchecked the Earth will overheat to a level which could seriously affect life on our planet.

Refer to the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts website.

Some of the ways to produce renewable electricity include:

Wind generation, this involves using the energy in wind to turn blades on windmills to produce electricity.

Solar generation, this involves using solar cells (photovoltaic cells) to convert the sun’s rays into electricity. Because the sun is an almost infinite energy source, solar energy is regarded as being one of the most renewable forms of energy available.

Biomass, this involves using organic sources such as plant material or methane gas from rubbish tips to generate electricity.

We currently buy electricity from all these forms of renewable generation. We don’t buy any electricity generated from the burning of wood waste from the clearing of native forests.

With Government accredited Origin GreenPower products, you can help to reduce the impact of your energy consumption.

GreenPower is Government accredited renewable electricity generated from a source built after 1996. Only those products that meet the stringent rules and guidelines of the Government’s GreenPower accreditation programme can carry the accredited GreenPower tick.

This is your guarantee that Origin’s GreenPower products are fully accredited by the Government.

Our range of GreenPower products are all fully accredited by the Government. Only those products that meet the stringent rules and guidelines of the Government’s GreenPower accreditation programme can carry the accredited GreenPower tick.

Our GreenPower products were rated as Australia’s best in the market for the fourth time by Green Electricity Watch (a body comprising Australia’s leading environmental groups).

We offer:

20% GreenPower (available to business customers only on selected Energy Plans)
When you choose our 20% GreenPower product, we’ll ensure that 20% of your annual electricity consumption matched into the grid with electricity from Government accredited GreenPower sources

25% GreenPower*
When you choose our 25% GreenPower product, we’ll ensure that 25% of your annual electricity consumption matched into the grid with electricity from Government accredited GreenPower sources.

50% GreenPower*
When you choose our 50% GreenPower product, we’ll ensure that 50% of your annual electricity consumption matched into the grid with electricity from Government accredited GreenPower sources.

100% Wind GreenPower *
When you choose our 100% Wind GreenPower product, we’ll ensure that 100% of your annual electricity consumption matched into the grid with electricity from Government accredited wind GreenPower.

* Not available with all Energy Plans.

Our Government accredited Origin GreenPower electricity and Origin Green Gas products offer a range of pricing options to suit various budgets. So it’s easy for all of us to reduce the impact of our energy consumption on greenhouse gas emissions.

We have many competitive offers available. Call us on 13 24 63 to discuss your energy needs. We’re always happy to help.

Pricing of Green Products varies according to your state, tariff type and any Energy Plans. But you can use this table as a rough guide to how much extra to the cost of your energy product our Green product options might cost:

This is because the renewable energy industry is still emerging and does not yet enjoy the same economies of scale as traditional power and production. Power from renewable sources is currently more expensive than traditional generation such as coal fired power stations.

When you purchase one of our Government accredited GreenPower products, we’ll have the chosen percentage of your electricity consumption matched into the electricity grid from GreenPower accredited renewable sources such as wind and solar.

GreenPower makes it easy for all of us to reduce our impact on greenhouse gas emissions.

In order to sell products with GreenPower, we must undertake an annual audit to show that we are buying enough GreenPower to match the amount we are required to provide with green products to customers.

For that audit, we must keep records of all the bills of all of our GreenPower customers and show through receipts that we have purchased the equivalent amount of GreenPower to put back into the grid.

Last year KPMG audited all of our records to make sure that we had purchased enough GreenPower for our green products. If you are interested, you can view the summary of all retailers’ audited returns at the GreenPower  website.

We offer Australia’s first Green Gas to help reduce the impact of your Gas consumption on your greenhouse gas emissions.. When you choose Origin Green LPG we offset the greenhouse gas emissions generated from your Gas consumption.

We estimate the emissions produced by your Gas consumption and offset them, through our independently audited Carbon Reduction Scheme™, which supports a range of verified greenhouse gas offset programs. For every tonne of emissions generated from your Gas usage, we arrange for one tonne of emission reduction to occur.

When you choose our Green LPG, you are contributing to a range of verified greenhouse gas offset programs, through our independently audited Carbon Reduction Scheme™.

Not at present. But if we get sufficient demand for the product we may make it available for customers.