Loans For Rooftop Solar Are Heating Up In Egypt

Two Egyptian banks are moving into green lending with an initiative to finance rooftop solar power systems for residential consumers. National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr are offering loans within specific areas of Cairo, with plans to expand into Egypt's other governorates. How will that work in a mostly Muslim country, where interest payments are forbidden by Islamic law?

Energy Committee Head Magid Eldeen Almanzlaoy said the loans are a product of a tripartite contract between private banks, state-owned electricity companies and the Egyptian Businessmen's Association (EBA). Interest rates will range from 4% to 8%, depending on the size of the systems installed.

The program emerged in part due to an EBA study assessing the feasibility of rooftop solar energy generation in Egypt. With an incessantly sunny climate and some of the world's highest insolation levels, Egypt is a solar-power-generating Nirvana. The country - which is the most populous Arab nation - is rolling out an ambitious renewable energy program for meeting surging domestic energy demand while curbing reliance on fossil fuel imports. Egypt aspires to obtain 20% of its energy from renewables by 2020.

Egypt subsidizes domestic energy and has committed to continuing to do so for at least another five years. Encouraging domestic production of home energy is a practical approach to wean the nation off increasingly expensive gas-dependent electricity. Rooftop solar units for energy and water heating are mature and affordable; the obstacles to the scheme lie beyond economics and technology.

Citizen participants who repay their loans will be able to sell excess electricity produced from their solar units back to the national grid. Simple enough, and a standard feature of most programs that encourage distributed energy production. But most Egyptians have never paid interest on a loan before.

Aisha Abdelhamid, a writer with blog CleanTechnica, voiced healthy cynicism that the scheme will succeed. She wrote that 'interest' is "just another form of 'rashwah' in just about any intelligent Egyptian's opinion." She explained, "'Rashwah' is the Arabic word for Egypt's corrupt system of paying for favors for common, everyday services like getting the light bulb changed on the state-owned electric pole on a street corner."

And how does this jibe with a longstanding culture of civilian distrust of government? It doesn't deter Almanzlaoy's optimism that the plan will succeed. "The initiative will be implemented during the first quarter of the current year, particularly as the legislative structure of the new tariff for renewable energy put Egypt on the map of countries producing electricity from renewable sources," he said.

Back to Ms. Abdelhamid who writes, "'Legislative'? 'Structure'? We don't even have a Parliament right now!"

Egypt's plans for residential solar power generation are definitely heating up.

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More Than Money Put People And The Planet Alongside Profits

LONDON -- EVER SINCE I TOOK MY FIRST STEPS AS AN ENTREPRENEUR MORE THAN FOUR DECADES AGO, I HAVE BEEN MOTIVATED BY THE QUESTION OF WHAT BUSINESS CAN DO TO MAKE PEOPLE'S LIVES BETTER. COMING UP WITH AN ANSWER ISN'T ALWAYS EASY, AND FOR MOST ENTREPRENEURS, SUCCESS FOLLOWS A GOOD AMOUNT OF TRIAL, ERROR, AND FAILURE. ONE IMPORTANT SOURCE OF INSPIRATION IS TO LOOK AHEAD AT THIS WORLD A DECADE OR TWO FROM NOW. WHAT KIND OF FUTURE DO WE ENVISAGE AND WHAT KIND OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES WOULD WE LIKE TO SEE? WHAT ARE THE ROADBLOCKS ALONG THE WAY? As it turns out, our planet faces a broad range of enormous challenges. How can we feed an ever-growing global population? What can be done to lift the world's poor, still well over a billion people, to a higher standard of living and a better life? How can we turn the tide on climate change? And will we ever manage to overcome our divisions and put an end to violent conflict, from Syria to the Congo? On a closer look, I feel that most of the big issues of our day are connected in some way or the other; and more often than not, they point to far greater systemic challenges. One of these is the way we have been treating our beautiful planet, destroying vulnerable ecosystems, wiping out biodiversity and depleting many of our ultimately limited natural assets. For instance, it doesn't require much wisdom to see the straight line that leads from a warming planet to desertification and soil erosion, to water stress and scarcity, and on to massive migration and abject poverty. Likewise, our insatiable appetite for fossil fuels has fueled unrest and armed conflict around the world. It's a vicious cycle, indeed. And it has been a major focus of my own advocacy over the last decades. But as much as I appreciate the seriousness of the situation, I don't dwell on gloom and doom. Challenges exist to be tackled head-on. I'd like to look at this web of interdependencies as a huge opportunity to drive progress and positive change -- through sensible policy, for sure, but especially through innovation and smart investments. As so often, entrepreneurs have a major role to play. The good news is that many are doing it already and at greater scale than ever before. It is one of the reasons why, last June, we launched the B Team, a global group of business leaders which aims to deliver a new way of doing business that prioritizes people and planet alongside profit -- a "Plan B" for businesses the world over. Zooming in a little, one of the big questions in the coming years is how we can ensure access to safe, clean and sustainable energy for our and future generations. Access to energy is a foundation of ensuring sustainable lives for 7 billion people, and despite the huge size and incumbent nature of the energy sector, there is lots of room for improvement. First and foremost, I see a huge amount of opportunity to use energy more efficiently than we currently are. This applies to more efficient cars and aircraft as much as it does to electronic devices. And it's of particular importance when it comes to buildings. As a recent report by the Carbon War Room pointed out, buildings are responsible for 40% of the total energy consumed globally, and one third of the world's carbon emissions. Not only is there a huge potential to reduce these emissions globally through greater energy efficiency (the equivalent of over 1.1 billion tons of CO2), but the financial savings of reduced energy use can be equally monumental: to the order of trillions of dollars globally. Second, new and disruptive energy technologies (from advanced renewable fuels, to electric cars that leave their petrol-powered rivals behind, to more efficient, lower-cost solar cells and intelligent ways of heating and cooling buildings) need adequate financial backing. Many investors are still reluctant to grapple with what they see as risky early-stage concepts. But I am convinced that some of these innovations and concepts will succeed, and organizations like the Carbon War Room are already helping to get billion-dollar markets off the ground that could save billions of tons of carbon emissions. The challenge is for investors to create scenarios where they can back these sorts of efforts without throwing too much money down the drain. The MIT Technology Review recently pointed out that, in the US, private foundations can count investments in start-ups as charitable grants - even if they go on to deliver massive returns. The catch is that the start-ups have to clearly be too risky for normal investors, and have to clearly serve a philanthropic role. But ways need to be found to ensure that resources go into the right ideas from the right places. This also means that the world needs to start a conversation about energy subsidies. Sceptics frequently argue that low-carbon renewable energy costs more than conventional fossil energy. However, as the International Monetary Fund pointed out back in March 2013, global energy subsidies are estimated to total about 1.9 trillion worldwide, or about 2.5% of global GDP. If these energy tax subsidies around the world were eliminated, global CO2 emissions could be reduced by over 4 billion tons (or 13%). For comparison, the whole world invested 244 billion into renewable energy in 2012; it would have likely been more, were it not for the unstable and uncertain subsidies and policies for renewables. To be sure, each of these challenges for the energy sector still represents a huge mountain to climb. But the relentless optimist in me likes to think that the "clean revolution" is not a choice between saving our planet and growing our businesses. Both are two sides of the same coin. With the right mix of innovation, investment and sensible regulation, I see success well within reach. More

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March Solar Eclipse How Will It Effect The Energy Grid

The solar eclipse on 20 March will be a test for Europe's energy grid, but the real concern is the ability to quickly restore the network, writes John Harris.

"John Harris, is Vice-President and Head of Governmental Affairs and Communications at Landis+Gyr, a global company providing electricity metering systems."

Under a cloudless morning sky on Friday, 20 March 2015, more than 35 gigawatts of solar energy, the equivalent of almost 80 medium size conventional power plants, will gradually fade from Europe's energy grid. This is the prediction made by the association of European transmission system operators (ENTSO-E) about the impact of the upcoming eclipse.

The total solar eclipse will only be visible in the remote north of Europe next month, but a partial eclipse will be seen over all of Europe. Astronomers predict that sunlight will be cut by between 30 and 98 percent depending on the location of the observer. The sudden change in solar power production will cause a challenge for European transmission operators: how to coordinate the use of the reserves in order to balance the power in real time without creating overloads on the grid.

TSOs have been preparing for the solar eclipse for months. Here, the challenge is to make sure that there is sufficient energy from conventional generation to satisfy demand during the eclipse. Since the event's time and duration is predictable well in advance, insuring sufficient capacity from conventional generation is feasible.

Issue can be however the cost of the reserve. Continental Europe overall has 87 GW of solar capacity installed, mainly in Germany, Italy and France. German solar capacity alone has risen from just a few hundred MW in 2003, when the region last witnessed a major eclipse, to 38,200 MW now. On a global scale, photovoltaic power capacity is projected to double or even triple to 430 GW by 2018. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), solar power is expected to be the world's largest source of electricity by 2050.

TURNING THE LIGHTS BACK ON

Even though an eclipse tends to spur people's imagination, from a network management point of view it's actually just another example for the general difficulties of integrating intermittent renewable energy. The real network management challenge lies in the rapid restoration of network once the sunlight returns after about 90 minutes or so of partial or total darkness. When large amounts of energy are being fed back in the network, a point can be reached where the smart inverters automatically limit the amount of energy that reaches the grid. This, if not managed properly, could lead to a shortage of supply at distribution network level possibly causing even unplanned outages in parts of the effected distributed network.

The optimal way to prepare for more unexpected, rapidly arising difficult weather conditions is by implementing network automation at distribution level. For example real time information provided by sensors and a range of other smart devices enable active network management and much shorter response times. While active network management and real time information is becoming more popular, the use of batteries is lagging behind.

Quickly charging batteries are ideal for advanced active network management. Using energy storage devices allows further reduction of response time after blackouts. We should therefore be quite confident that we are able to deal successfully with a rare and predictable event like the eclipse. However, the concern should rather be about more common, frequent and unpredictable difficult weather conditions requiring higher level of automation of the distribution network.

Of course, these types of natural phenomena - along with major sporting or cultural events - will always put a strain on the network, but the system can be made more robust. In the Energy Union Communication, the European Commission says that it will address the range of acceptable risk levels for supply interruptions which will include variable renewable production, demand response and storage possibilities.

Moreover, as the Communication rightly asserts, the European energy markets and grids need to be "fit for renewables". An eclipse would still cause a certain degree of strain on a system with conventional generation, but the high volume of solar energy increases the disruption exponentially. Therefore, it is imperative that the opportunity offered by a fundamental transformation of the Europe's energy system be seized and the issues of renewables, security of supply, energy efficiency and innovation are addressed in a holistic matter. The celestial bodies don't care which is the "energy policy topic du jour".

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Energy Bill Vote The Guide Consist Of High Quality Step By Stepcontent And Illustrations Written By Experienced Technology Expertsthat Specialize In Free Energy

A Renewable Energy Program For 2030

Despite all of the recent adverse publicity surrounding fossil fuels, crude oil and organic gas has been helpful for the development of our contemporary world. It has helped the population have life right after dark, transportation of goods all over the world, and permitted technology to advance. Nonetheless, the use of fossil fuels has also resulted in many adverse consequences: it has designed serious pollution, political conflict, financial control and total dependence of countries that lack this natural resource.

The provide of fossil fuels is restricted, and it truly is only situated in particular locations from the globe. The demand for fossil fuels creates conflicts which threaten peace. Nations which have adequate fossil fuel supplies could potentially threaten the security and economy of countries which are dependent upon these countries. Additionally, there happen to be numerous estimates created regarding the volume of fossil fuels left inside the globe. These estimates are dependent upon the population development, and how much the actual fossil fuel consumption increases within the close to future. These estimates state that there is enough for approximately an additional 35 years of oil, 37 years of natural gas, and 107 years of coal . As well as the adverse environmental consequences of making use of these fuels, there is certainly a finite provide of fossil fuels which will force the usage of yet another form of power. This restricted provide and big demand will cause inevitable price tag increases. As a result, the finish of low-cost oil is swiftly approaching.

The usage of fossil fuels to fulfill the world's power requirements is causing harmful side-effects for folks, plants and animals. Waste products from these fuels heat the earth's atmosphere and pollute the earth's air, water, and ground. This benefits in decreased living situations for all species on the earth. As well as becoming hazardous to our ecosystem, as well as the overall health of a lot of species, the pollution can also be changing the atmosphere from the globe. This trend is known as worldwide warming, and will continue to grow to be worse on account of the boost in the combustion of fossil fuels for electrical energy because of the growing globe population. Within the approach of burning the gasoline, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and unburned hydrocarbons are released into the atmosphere. The catalytic converters minimize a large portion in the pollution, however they aren't ideal. Many cities currently have unsafe levels of ozone in the air. The planet wants a energy source that has low pollutant emissions, is energy-efficient, and has an unlimited provide of fuel for a rising world population.

Numerous option power technologies have been researched and developed. These include solar, wind, bioenergy, geothermal power as well as several other individuals. Solar cells use the sun to generate electrical energy, wind energy is obtained in the kinetic power in the wind, bioenergy is extracted from plants and geothermal energy is power in the earth. Each and every of these alternative energy sources has its positive aspects and disadvantages and all are in varying stages of improvement.

For most nations around the globe, if the supply of fossil fuels were cut off -- the whole economy would come to a halt. There wouldn't be a way for people to drive to function, or use electrical energy in their residences or workplaces. The global population consumes petroleum items at a rate one hundred,000 times higher than the rate that they're formed. The United states of america currently imports 70% of the oil, and it really is still increasing. About 80% of the total energy inside the world is offered by fossil energy sources . The International Energy Agency estimates that the major planet demand for power is anticipated to develop by about 45% by 2030. The price of meeting this power demand is estimated to be 20 trillion U. S. dollars [2, 3]. Consequently, because a lot money requirements to be spent on the investment in energy infrastructure within the upcoming years, this enables an opportunity for replacing the fossil fuel infrastructure having a renewable energy infrastructure. U.S. coal and fossil fuel plants are currently relatively old simply because at the very least half from the plants had been built before 1970. When the oldest plants are retired 1st, it may be a simple progression to transfer the energy production to alternative power without retiring the plant's prematurely.

Although the demand for oil is increasing, the world's oil production peaked in 2005 . In 2006, nations that had a important percentage of their energy from renewable power was Canada (16%), followed by France (6%), Italy (6.5%), Germany (five.6%), Usa (4.8%), and the United kingdom (1.7%) . The worldwide community has reached a point exactly where future power demands have to be balanced with future financial and environmental requirements. We at present have a actual chance to transform the way that our economy utilizes energy, prevent further pollution, and we are able to support to insure a safer and more secure future

About international warming

For all you international warming naysayers - please keep reading!

Everyone is aware that the definition of international warming can be a substantial improve inside the Earth's temperature over a brief time period because of the outcome of human activities. An increase in temperature of 0.4

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The Latest Substitute For Fossils

To many of us, 'Bacteria' is synonymous with diseases. But how many of us know that without them our body cannot absorb certain essential nutrients? The bacterium under study here is E. coli ("Escherichia coli") commonly called the gut bacteria. The benefits of this particular bacterium is immense to the human body in that, it provides us not only with protection against other harmful bacterium strains but also helps us in our very sustenance.

Recently another benefit of this bacterium has been identified which leads to its categorization as a source of green energy. With our fossil resources dwindling, the need for alternate sources of energy is of high priority. While solar, wind, and hydroelectric energy are the most common choices, their use isn't as pervasive as it should be. Our stock of fossil fuels, which currently helps us meet majority of our energy demand, is finite. With the demand for energy growing day by day, scientists are researching and devising several techniques of producing energy in a way that doesn't harm or pollute the environment unlike fossils.

As the name suggests, fossils fuels are derived from plants and animal fossils that are millions of years old. Fossil sources are finite and the energy they produce is non-renewable. With the demand for energy increasing exponentially in the past few centuries, our resources are rapidly decreasing and is barely enough to sustain us through the next century. The use of fossils is immensely disadvantageous for both human beings and the environment. When extracted, fossils pose a severe damage to the landscape as they are to be dug out from underground wells. Pollution is another major disadvantage of fossil fuels. On burning, they give out harmful gases like nitrogen monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. These gases pollute the air that we breathe. They also cause acid rain which destructs buildings. Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas which is responsible for global warming, a looming threat to our very existence. As global warming has scaled new heights, it has complemented the depletion of ozone layer which protects us from the sun's ultra violet rays. This can lead to skin cancer and cataract in mammals.

Propane is an appealing choice for alternate energy source as it is a clean fuel and is highly in demand in the global market. Though it is produced as a by-product in the manufacture of LPG and in petroleum refining, these sources are finite and the amount produced is not commercially viable. In its current form, it takes up the bulk of LPG which has several applications ranging from central heating to conventional motor vehicles. Thus, alternate methods for production of propane has become the priority of the scientific community which recently made a breakthrough in this regard.

A team of scientists from Imperial College, London and the University of Turku in Finland, used E.coli to interrupt the biological process that converts fatty acids to cell membrane. The research used enzymes to channel the fatty acids along a different biological pathway. The bacteria subjected to this modification produced renewable, engine ready propane instead of cell membrane.

Albeit this research is in early stages, the fact that it produces propane that can be directly used as engine fuel without any processing makes it a discovery of enormous magnitude. This research provides a method of production of propane which was previously possible only through fossil reserves. Although the production has only been in small quantities now, scientists intend to expand its reaches and make it a sustainable energy source in future. Its use could initially complement and eventually, completely replace fossil fuels and petroleum. Propane is the obvious choice for scientists as this gas can easily escape the cell. This gas requires very little energy to transform itself into its liquid state which is easily transported, stored and used.

Using E.coli as the host, Scientists interrupted the biological process by which it converts fatty acids to cell membrane. When this reaction is thwarted at an early stage, an intermediate called butyric acid (a compound with a nasty smell) is formed. Butyric acid is the precursor of propane. A bacterial enzyme called CAR was used to convert butyric acid to butyraldehyde. When an enzyme called ADO, short for aldehyde-deformylating oxygenase is added to it, butyraldehyde is converted to propane. ADO is a commonly used enzyme for the naturally creating hydrocarbons. Previous attempts to use ADO enzyme have been futile as scientists were unable to harness the natural power of this enzyme to create hydrocarbons. However, scientists at the Imperial College have discovered that by stimulating ADO with electrons, they were able to enhance the catalytic capability of this enzyme substantially and ultimately produce propane.

The amount of propane produced currently by this methods is about one thousand times less than what is commercially required. Hence scientists are refining this method to make this promising discovery available to the world. This type of fuel has the potential to become one of the most pervasive and economical fuels available for the future. The method of production is not as elaborate as it is for petroleum products and it also is more economical than fossils. The most important aspect of using propane as a substitute for fossil fuel is that the efficacy of the engine remains the same as in the case of fossils. This is one distinct edge that propane has over other sources of energy like sun and wind which are sustainable but not as efficient as fossils and propane. This is one main reason people would readily adopt propane as a source of fuel in future when it is commercially produced.

As the global demand for energy is increasing day by day, energy technology has become a lucrative field with a lot of scope and more and more scientists are taking up to it. Currently algae can be used to make biodiesel, but it is not commercially viable as the harvesting and processing requires a lot of energy. Moreover, biodiesel cannot be used independently as a fuel, but only in association with petroleum products. Hence the only reduce fossil consumption but not completely eliminate its use. Propane on the other hand can be easily extracted from the natural process with minimal energy and is compatible with the existing infrastructure for easy use. They can completely replace the use of petroleum in automobiles. Typically, propane costs lesser than gasoline. It also enhances the engine efficiency. Propane is non-toxic, non-poisonous and insoluble in water. On burning, they give out lesser amounts of harmful gases and lesser greenhouse gases compared to fossils.

Fossils take millions of years to form. Since these resources are not recyclable, at this rate of usage, we are leaving absolutely nothing for our future generation. It is thus essential that we use them judiciously and prudently to make our lives easier and to prolong our lives. Once these resources are depleted, we cannot obtain any more coal, gas or oil. Hence, it is of at most importance that we depend on fossils as sparingly as possible and find alternative sources of energy to perform some of the functions that we currently satisfy using fossils.

The post The Latest Substitute for Fossils appeared first on Earth Untouched.

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Uw P Receives 5 000 From Wind Energy Firm

"An article from the Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA):"

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville's new sustainable and renewable energy systems major recently received 5,000 from Wind Capital Group, a wind-energy firm in Missouri, for its renewable-energy program to help promote and further the program.

Besides equipment and field trips, Wind Capital Group's commitment also will help fund student and faculty collaborative research and projects, scholarships within the program, and student and faculty conference trips.

Wind Capital has a number of projects, including a proposed wind farm in Smelser Township (and parts of two other Grant County townships), that the company is pursuing. The goal is to develop more wind-generated electricity in Wisconsin. The project is on hold pending state regulators' efforts to come up with statewide rules for wind farms.

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Which Power Companies Dud Solar Households

The Total Environment Centre has assembled data showing for the first time all the current government feed-in tariffs and solar export prices offered by electricity retailers in all states and territories for residential customers.

The table below sets out which states mandate a minimum price for power exports and the level specified. The best rate is in the Northern Territory at 27.13 CENTS PER KILOWATT-HOUR.

"Figure 1: Status of each Australian state and territory on minimum regulated export prices"

In terms of the extent to which power retailers compete to go beyond the levels specified above, the TEC's Mark Byrne noted: "The results are not pretty."

According to Byrne: "Even where competition does exist [between power retailers] most retailers only offer what state governments mandate them to offer. Where there is no minimum price for exported energy, only a handful of retailers offer more than a token amount."

Going above and beyond

The TEC highlighted only two power retailers which it felt were going the extra mile:

- CLICK ENERGY, a retailer in NSW, Victoria and Queensland which offers 10C PER KILOWATT-HOUR for solar power exports;

- HORIZON POWER"," the government power provider for regions of Western Australia that are not connected to the main southwest grid (the 'SWIS'). Horizon can offer prices for exported power in some of its service areas as high as 50C PER KILOWATT-HOUR. This is because Horizon is heavily dependent on use of relatively expensive fuel sources, particularly diesel, for providing power to its remote customers while at the same time charging them artificially low prices (subsidised by WA taxpayers). The company has gone to the effort of determining a rate for solar exports calibrated to the value of avoiding the use of expensive fuel. This is something I believe Ergon in Queensland is yet to do, and the Queensland Competition Commission did not require them to do when they were supposed to.

The table below provides a brief summary of offers from retailers which go beyond the mandated minimums in particular jurisdictions. In WA, Synergy is the only retailer for residential customers (because power prices are set at subsidised levels), so this is all that is on offer in that state. Also, in Victoria there is only one retailer that offers a rate above the mandated minimum - Click Energy. And Tasmania doesn't yet have retailer competition.

"Note: latest information provided by EnergyAustralia to Climate Spectator is that they offer a rate of 5.1 cents per kWh for exports in NSW and 6 cents per kWh for exports in Queensland."

So who are the retailers dudding solar owners?

The TEC names a number of power retailers as failing to go beyond the minimum level specified by the jurisdictional regulations but a number of these operate solely in Victoria and are, in fact, no worse than many of the retailers listed in the table above for that state. For example, among others Powershop is named by the TEC but they offer a rate no worse than anyone else in their sole state of Victoria, other than Click Energy. Indeed for those benefiting from the premium 60 cent feed-in tariff, Powershop at least offer 8 CENTS on top of that while Origin only pays 6 CENTS (The TEC data doesn't consider the legacy feed-in tariff arrangements).

If we exclude Victorian specialist retailers then we get a better picture of the retailers dudding solar owners where retail competition exists:

1. SIMPLY ENERGY pay NOTHING AT ALL for exported power by their customers in NSW and Queensland who were too late to get the government premium feed-in tariffs and only the BARE MINIMUM they're forced to pay in South Australia and Victoria. Their parent company - International Power/GDF Suez - has also been one of the most active corporates in lobbying against government policies that reduce carbon emissions and support solar and energy efficient products.

2. DODO POWER AND GAS are another solar-dudding retailer operating in Queensland, NSW, SA, ACT and Victoria, although they aren't noticeably active in undermining government policy to reduce carbon emissions - probably due to no ownership of power generation assets.

3. MOMENTUM pay NOTHING for NSW customers exporting power who aren't on premium feed-in tariffs and the BARE MINIMUM they are required to pay in SA and Victoria (they don't operate in Queensland). In addition, they act to undermine the voluntary GreenPower scheme and dupe customers by suggesting customers are buying 100 per cent renewable energy. This is purely an accounting sleight of hand because the renewable power they claim their customers are receiving is power that Hydro Tasmania would have generated in any case. By signing up as a Momentum customer on their '100 per cent Smile Power' product you are making precisely no difference to the amount of renewable energy generated in this country and no difference to greenhouse gas emissions. This is something the company belatedly acknowledges right at the bottom of its web page spruiking Smile Power as renewable energy. However, at least Hydro Tasmania has not been actively lobbying to undermine emission reduction policies. In fact, they have been supportive, for the most part, of the Renewable Energy Target and pricing carbon emissions, consistent with their commercial interests.

Original information source: http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/8/6/solar-energy/which-power-companies-dud-solar-households

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