News from EKOenergy

Edition 75  -  1 December 2016

Each time a consumer buys EKOenergy certified electricity, the seller pays at least € 0,10 per MWh to our Climate Fund.

Recently we donated €5000 to the Belgian organisation Solar Without Borders to build a first solar powered minigrid in Togo.

The concept is simple: 3 solar panels, a battery and wires going to 6 neighbouring houses. The neighbours prepay for the electricity with their mobile phone and can use it for lighting and for small electrical devices.

The system is managed by local entrepreneurs and owned by a cooperative structure. We are now considering to join the cooperative and become not only sponsor, but also co-owner of a growing number of such minigrids.

Click her for a short presentation about the Energy Kiosk project.

Nordic Green Energy Sweden launched their EKOenergy electricity product with a great party in the ABBA Museum in Stockholm. What a fantastic and inspiring start!

To make the party complete, a second Swedish seller jumped on the EKOenergy train too: LOS Energy.

Selling electricity may sometimes be considered as boring, but selling EKOenergy definitely never is. Swedish sellers are now becoming aware of this.

We are very proud of these Swedish partners and we are sure we will do great things together.
 

"Through EKOenergy we give consumers the possibility to promote the development of renewable energy and to at the same time something good for people and nature, both locally and internationally.  With EKOenergy we can also provide international companies an opportunity to choose an ecolabel that work outside Sweden too"

Hanna Radoncic, Head of Marketing and Communication, Nordic Green Energy Sweden

Our brewery campaign is getting a lot of positive response. The Spanish brewer Urban Beer is one of the first to really make the switch. They buy EKOenergy from Gesternova. Thanks a lot and we are looking forward to seeing our logo on your bottles!

In Finland Slush is using EKOenergy. Slush is Europe's largest fair and exhibition for startups: over 15.000 attendees, 1700 startups, 800 investors...  The aim is to build a world-wide startup community. Slush buys EKOenergy via Enegia. We are proud to be part of this and we are looking forward to seeing EKOenergy at the Slush events in Tokyo, Shangai and Singapore too.

We also successfully helped a second Russian company to switch to EKOenergy and we hope they will actively communicate about it.
 

@EKOenergy_  Thank you, it is a pleasure to use your #Ekoenergia. You are an example to follow

@100x100madera, a happy Spanish EKOenergy user, on twitter. 

The campaign video of Protect our Winters and EKOenergy is now also available in English and Swedish.

The video shows Finnish Winter Olympian and silver medal winner Enni Rukajärvi, desperately waiting for snow in 2020.

Also the campaign website itself has been partially translated. Click here for the English version.

Protect our winters, switch to renewables, switch to EKOenergy!

 

"Sustainability is one of the key values that informs our work at Espoon Asunnot. That is why it was an obvious choice for us to switch to an EKOenergia-certified energy supplier as part of our ongoing action on climate change. In doing so, we are also working in line with the City of Espoo’s climate policy and the city’s strategic objective of being a leader in tackling climate change."

Seppo Kallio, Managing Director at housing supplier Espoon Asunnot.

For all EKOenergy labelled hydropower sold, the seller pays at least €0.10 per MWh to our Environmental Fund. With this money, we finance projects that mitigate the negative environmental impacts of hydropower production.

We have now launched a call for projects in Finland. This is where most sales of EKOenergy certified hydropower take place. Other calls for other countries will be opened later.

We are looking for projects that will start in 2017. The deadline for submission is 31 January 2017 and the maximum donation is €50,000.

The projects will be evaluated by river restoration experts. For some projects, a second round with a public vote will be organised.

EKOenergy is growing well in Germany. We are glad to welcome another enthusiastic energy supplier: Stadtwerke Gütersloh.

Stadtwerke Gütersloh is the regional energy and water company of the city of Gütersloh, a city of about 100,000 inhabitants. The company has about 450 employees.

Stadtwerke Gütersloh will start offering EKOenergy certified electricity to businesses.

Welcome on board and looking forward to cooperating with you and your customers.
 

Last week, temperatures near the North Pole were an unheard of 20°C warmer than normal, researchers have reported.

The Arctic is currently in the midst of polar night, where the Sun hardly ever rises. Usually, it’s the time when things get really cold and vast, thick ice sheets form for the winter.

But this year, temperatures are much warmer than usual.

And even though sea ice is forming again after reaching its annual low in September, it’s doing so much slower than usual.  In fact, so far the amount of ice coverage is even lower than the record-breaking low of 2012.

Changes in the Arctic will not only affect local people and ecosystems but also the rest of the world, because the Arctic plays a special role in global climate. See also http://www.greenfacts.org/en/arctic-climate-change/

First 4 paragraphs copied from Fiona MacDonald, Science alert.