Includes: sources, generation,
Excludes:
Sub headings: Renewable Energy; Fossil fuels
― UK energy policy since 1980 has failed Scotland. It has led to the six largest energy companies seeing profit margins rise 4.48% since 2016, with 34.9% of households in Scotland currently facing fuel poverty.
― According to the latest figures, 26.5% (or around 649,000) of Scottish households live in fuel poverty while 7.5% of households (183,000) live in extreme fuel poverty. This is unacceptable in contemporary Scotland.
― Common Weal strongly disagrees with the proposal to end export and generation tariffs for renewable energy on 31st March 2019.
― Doing so will be irrevocably harmful to the renewable industry with the solar industry likely to be badly affected.
― The aims of the European Union’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), which requires EPCs to be produced for all new buildings and those being sold or rented out, are fundamentally sound and should serve to drive improvements in energy performance.
― We have identified no examples of low-carbon heating being taken up on a large scale without government assistance.
― The primary barrier to the roll-out of low carbon heat is financial. Efficient schemes like renewably powered district heating will have to be government financed.
― In principle, Common Weal supports mandatory improvements for houses owned by owner-occupiers and private landlords however we note a number of problems with the proposals covered by this consultation.
― The response is strongly of the view that the Scottish Government has significantly under-estimated the financial, resource and time costs involved in using Energy Performance Ccertificates as a basic measure of energy efficiency.
There is an awful lot in the Plan. The following is a very quick summary of some of the key action points from the plan:
― The Scenarios presented overestimate the number of electric cars likely to be in use in Scotland by 2050 due to underestimating the rise of home working, car sharing, internet shopping and public transport.
This independent report to the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council gives: