Wash now? Or better later?

Saving CO₂ in everyday life, making the energy system more effective and reducing energy costs in the long term – this is all now possible very simply via app. YOULE shows how much renewable energy is on the grid now and in the next 24 hours and helps to adjust people’s own energy consumption to the availability of green electricity. Helping you contribute to climate protection!

“Do you want to do your laundry or vacuum the house today? Then do it preferably between 12 mid-day and 2 p.m.” “Does your e-bike need charging? You can charge most sustainably tomorrow before 7 p.m.” People who adapt their electricity consumption as well as possible to the variable production of electricity with wind and solar power actively protect the climate. YOULE provides the information you need for this. The app gives live recommendations via push notification and 24-hour outlooks on the most suitable periods to consume electricity. The green power outlook in the app always shows the current percentage of green power in the German grid at hourly intervals and uses the traffic light principle for a better overview: a red or yellow bar means the green power share is up to 20 percent or 55 percent respectively. Users should consume as little electricity as possible. A green bar appears when the proportion of green electricity is over 55 percent – the perfect time to consume electricity.

Good to know! After all, if we consume electricity exactly when it is largely generated from renewable energies, a positive domino effect sets in: the green electricity is transported away and solar and wind power plants do not have to be shut down. No gas-fired power plant is ramped up and CO₂ emissions are consequently reduced. In the long term, grid fees will fall – and with them, electricity costs. That is the best case scenario.

However, if, for example, a particularly large amount of renewable electricity is produced in the north of Germany that cannot be transported away, a grid bottleneck occurs. The existing electricity grid does not have enough capacity. The wind and solar power plants located upstream of the grid bottleneck are then shut down. The renewable energy that could actually be produced is virtually being thrown away. Behind the grid bottleneck, a power plant simultaneously ramps up to feed in more electricity and keep the total amount of electricity in the grid stable. These interventions in electricity generation are called redispatch. All consumers pay the costs of such redispatch activity via the grid fees. And the climate suffers too, because the power plants that are ramped up during grid bottlenecks often burn natural gas.

YOULE also has this in mind: in some federal states, the app can already provide information about deactivated renewable energy plants. If many people adjust their electricity consumption to these messages, they can use existing resources and actively counteract redispatch.

The YOULE app initiated by GP JOULE creates awareness for sensible electricity consumption and empowers all users to integrate this knowledge into their everyday lives. Regular energy news and tips on saving electricity complement the app’s services and make YOULE the perfect companion for energy heroes.

YOULE is available in the App Store and the Google Play Store.