Is Your Energy Supply Vegan?

Hidden animal by-products could be lurking in your energy supply, so how can you make sure it’s vegan?

Making sure your food, clothing and cleaning supplies are vegan might not be too challenging thanks to clear labelling and vegan accreditation schemes –but ensuring our energy supply is vegan isn’t as simple.

In fact, four of the Big Six energy companies in the UK have animal by-products hidden in their production.

Lockdown is the perfect time to think about our lifestyles and make changes to live as sustainably as possible. With Ecotricity’s ‘Vegan Energy Month’ running throughout June, the ethical energy supplier is encouraging us to think about where our energy comes from.

So how can you make sure your energy supply is vegan?

What makes most energy non-vegan?

In the UK, there are two main types of non-vegan energy generation: anaerobic digestion and biomass. Both of these methods often contain by-products from animal farming including factory-farmed animals, slaughterhouse waste, fish’s body parts and animal slurry.

As vegans, we want to avoid using animal products wherever possible. By switching to Ecotricity, you can rest easy knowing your energy supply has no hidden nasties in it.

And if you switch to Ecotricity using our partnership scheme, you will be doing something even more positive for animals. Ecotricity will donate up to £60 to per switch to Viva! so we can continue creating a vegan world. Just use this link.

What’s the difference between green energy and vegan energy?

‘Green energy’ means that the energy comes from renewable sources instead of fossil fuels, but it often still has animal by-products in it.

This means ‘green energy’ is not very green at all. Animal agriculture is the second biggest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, and responsible for more emissions than all the planes, trains, boats, buses and cars combined.

Ecotricity make a fifth of their energy from wind and sun mills they’ve built with the help of their customers’ energy bills. They’re also investing in new forms of green energy by building green gas mills – and until they can 100% green gas all their gas is carbon neutralised.

While we might not be able to partake in physical activism during lockdown, making kind decisions like switching to Ecotricity’s vegan energy can help continue protecting the environment and saving animals.