Is There a Difference Between Green Energy and Renewable Energy?

Renewable energies are produced from natural phenomena that renew themselves continuously and quickly, such as wind, sunlight, and tides, unlike fossil fuels, which are natural but can take millions of years to replenish. Using green or renewable energy, therefore, reduces our impact by conserving the planet’s depletable resources. However, green energy theoretically adds an extra notion: in addition to being sustainable, it produces a negligible amount of pollutants. This nuance doesn’t have a practical impact, as EDF states, “the exploitation of renewable energies generates little to no waste or polluting emissions.” This means that if, in the future, a renewable energy source was found to be polluting, it would not be considered green energy. But today, all renewable energies are green energies and vice versa.

There are several types of energy qualified as green or renewable, available in varying quantities. This is why, in 2020, renewable energies accounted for only 19.1% of energy consumption in France. This figure is increasing year by year as new infrastructures are created and processes are improved.

Methods of producing green energy include:

Biomass: This involves converting organic and plant matter into energy. The most known and used example of biomass is wood energy, which involves burning wood to produce heat.

Hydropower: This energy is generated through the movement of water, which turns turbines to generate electricity. This electricity is mostly used on the coasts due to energy loss during transport. Studies are ongoing to reduce this loss during energy transport or storage.

Wind Energy: Generated through wind power using the same turbine principle as hydropower.

Solar Energy: Capturing the heat emitted by the sun with solar panels and converting it into electricity. This energy depends on the climate and is therefore constrained by the location of installations and seasonality.

Geothermal Energy: Capturing heat from the ground. This production method has the advantage of being constant throughout the year, as the temperature inside the Earth is unchanging.

All the above green energies are also renewable, as the two terms are synonymous.

To encourage the creation of new renewable energy production structures, a system of energy origin guarantees has been established.

Initially, this system required electric transport networks (RTE) to inject a certain amount of green electricity. This condition was verified through certificates of the electricity’s origin. However, RTEs found ways to circumvent this obligation by purchasing green electricity abroad and injecting it into the French grid. Thus, technically, there was more green energy in France, but very few renewable energy production systems were created, as everything was done through importation. This is why, in 2021, ADEME created the VertVolt label to encourage the creation of new renewable energy production infrastructures.

What changes with the VertVolt label is the addition of requirements regarding the origin of renewable energies and a two-level system.

To achieve Level 1 (Engaged Level), in addition to certificates of origin, green energy must be purchased from producers based in France.
For Level 2 (Highly Engaged Level), all Level 1 conditions must be met, and in addition, 25% of renewable energy must come from:

• Installations commissioned recently without state aid
• Installations set up by local authorities with shared governance (i.e., the project is jointly managed with another entity, such as a citizen project or an association).

This level system aims to encourage the creation of new infrastructures.

France has an energy plan defining its goals over several years, called the Multiannual Energy Programming (PPE). According to the PPE, France aimed to reach 23% renewable energy in its energy mix by 2020. In reality, renewable energies accounted for only 14% of the energy mix in 2020 and 19.1% in 2022.

The goal for 2030 is to reach 33%, exceeding the European target of 32%. According to the government’s website, we should surpass this target. The government predicts that by 2030, 40% of electricity production will come from renewable energies.

Now you know there is no difference between green energy and renewable energy. Would you like assistance in negotiating your energy contract? Contact Dametis to control the price and origin of your energy.