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Last Updated On: 18/04/2023 by Daniel
Last week I attended JC business school, I stumped upon a group of lovely people working for Vandeborn. They give me a clearer picture of what "green energy" really means, what GvO is, and how we can contribute to the local production of the green energy.
All Green Energy has a GvO, now, what is it?
All Green Energy has a GvO, now, what is it?
GvO, in its full name, Garantie van Oorsprong (Gurantee of the origin) is a certificate that proves the electricity generated from is "green" (for example, from solar power or wind power). One GvO certificate will be issued when 1MWh green energy is produced ¹ .
GvO is tradable
GvO is tradable
GvO can be seperated from the electricity it generated and be sold on the market. In the Netherlands, the need of green energy is WAY MORE than its actual production², that's why a lot of Dutch energy companies purchase GvO from Scandinivian countries where GvO is of plenty of supply. The certificate can only be sold once. And once the GvO certificate is sold, then power that generates this GvO is no longer considered "green power", although it does, factually speaking, green power. The graph below will give you an idea of how GvO works.
Vandebron: Say No to Greenwashing
Vandebron: Say No to Greenwashing
Like the name has said (Van de bron means "from the source" in Dutch), energy that Vandebron sold are sourced from where it is produced. In other words, energy that is sold at Vandebron will not be seperated from the GvO it produces. And it is produced in the Netherlands. Just like what I mentioned in other blogs, I really like the idea of local supply and local consumption, which is exactly what Vandebron is trying to achieve.
Their business model encourages and empowers people in the Netherlands who want to make a visible change in energy supply. As a consumer, you can choose where you want the energy from, as a supplier, you can send your energy directly to the user and contrubuting to the green energy in the Netherlands. They have an audacious goal: help to make this country using 100% renewable energy! That sounds so cool to me!
Their price model is also different than traditional supplier. They have stated that they won't make profits on your energy use. Instead, they price is flecutating around the total use of energy, by consuming more green energy, Vandeborn would have more purchase power and encourages the growth of local energy supplier. So that they can continue to offer green energy at a more competitve and sustsainable price than that of traditional supplier!
What can I do?
What can I do?
It occurs to me that there's still no much we can do at invidual level. For myself I'm living inside an apartment where installing a solar panel and selling electricity back to supplier doesn't seem to be feasible. But I am indeed considering ways to use my energy more sustainablily. I live in a west-facing apartment, so during summer time the heat become a bit intolerable. I'm considering to invest in a portable solar panel that collects enough energy to at least charge my phone. So that heat wave is less suffering to me and might contribute to a greener life style!
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