Scottish councils will receive £10m to cut energy use
Scottish councils will receive £10m in grants as part of a major initiative to cut Scotland’s energy use 12% by 2020.
Local councils in Scotland will receive £10m in grants as part of a major new initiative from the Scottish government that aims to reduce the country's total energy use 12% by 2020.
This is part of Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Action Plan (EEAP). EEAP is the latest in a series of measures from Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond designed to help cut the country's carbon emissions 42% by the end of the decade.
Under the EEAP local councils will be given £10m to help fund free insulation and energy saving advice for up to 100,000 households. The measure is expected to save Scottish households £2bn on their energy bills up to 2020 while also creating around 10,000 jobs in the green building and energy efficiency sector.
Apart from helping households, businesses will also be encouraged to use a new Single Resource and Energy Efficiency Service that will provide firms with energy audits and advice on how to cut their energy use.
In addition, a new working group will explore options for improving the energy efficiency of non-domestic building stock with the intention of developing new building regulations by 2012.
The plan to cut energy use follows the pledge to generate 80% of electricity from renewable energy by 2020
The plan follows the pledge made last months to generate 80% of Scottish electricity from renewable energy by 2020, which further underlines the Scottish Government's commitment to energy efficiency and microgeneration.
Ian Marchant, chief executive of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) and convener of Scotland's 2020 Climate Group said that responsibility was now on businesses and the government to work together to deliver on the new plan and cut energy use 12% by 2020.
However, Duncan McLaren, Friends of the Earth Scotland chief executive said: 'If the government cannot provide the cash, then it must use regulation to require action, backed by measures to ensure that private financial institutions make the funds necessary available to all.
Funding must come at low interest rates that allow householders and businesses to pay loans off through the savings they make on energy bills.'
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