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It also means wasting less energy, by adopting energy efficiency measures. This consists not of a few big changes, but a myriad of small steps taken in all sectors of society - individuals, small and large businesses, government and public bodies. In practice, it often proves difficult to motivate people, partly through lack of awareness, partly because for most people energy is a relatively small part of a domestic or a company budget. There is also an aversion to investing capital in energy saving equipment, if takes more than about two years to pay back. Fuel prices are so low that it seems cheaper to go on burning more fuel than it is to use it more efficently. The best opportunities exist where replacement is necessary or when starting from scratch, but too often they are missed. For example, the property developer who lays down a building specification may be ruled by a perceived notion of "what the market expects", where energy efficient design is not seen as glamorous as an en suite bathroom or office air-conditioning.
The 1993 Scottish Energy Study (1) calculated Scottish domestic
energy consumption could be reduced by 50%, often by
cost-effective measures. But for many people on low incomes,
where heating can be as much as 25% of the weekly budget, this
is an unattainable luxury. The study drew attention to the high
level of "fuel poverty" in Scotland, where low income families
live in energy inefficient homes and are unable to pay expensive
fuel bills, and to the fact that 20% of Scotland's homes, over
300,000 dwellings, are rated very low in the National Home
Energy Rating for adequacy of heating and insulation. It called
for an insulation and heating investment programme to address
these cases, raising the "tolerable standard" for Scottish
housing, increasing the range of energy improvement grants
available for low income households, and mandatory energy
efficiency "labelling" for domestic appliances. As voters and as
consumers, church members represent a significant slice of the
Scottish market. If we all pressed for only certificated energy
efficient appliances or housing, we would eventually affect what
is on offer. There are many steps we can take in our own homes,
and our church buildings are notoriously wasteful of energy. The
Church of Scotland has since 1979 operated a consultancy and
advice service, and in January 1994 produced a new book entitled
"Heat and Light - A Practical Guide to Energy Conservation in
Church Buildings", designed to help tackle the problem.
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For the a long time to come, however, it seems inevitable that oil and gas will be needed, especially for heating, cooking and transport fuels. This means we should minimise our other uses of them, in particular in electricity production. Already over half of Scotland's electricity comes from other sources which do not produce significant CO2 and acid emissions, namely hydro (15%) and nuclear power (over 45%), but electricity supplies only a fifth of Scotland's total energy.(2) Renewable electricity has great potential, but is not without its problems.(1,3,4) Most major hydroelectric sites have been used, and the environmental impact of more large dams would probably be unacceptable. There is scope for many smaller schemes which impact minimally, but their output would be correspondingly low. Renewable energy is usually in a much more "dilute" form than fossil and nuclear fuels. To generate renewable electricity on a scale comparable with a large power station needs a great many individual units, such as wind generators. Scotland has Europe's largest theoretical potential for wind power, but its potential is limited to perhaps 10-20% of our electricity by its variable strength, and also by the environmental impact of large numbers of wind farms.(3,4) Offshore wave power could provide a large source without much land impact, but presently cost and technical uncertainities mean that its large scale practicability remains to be proven. Smaller on-shore wave devices and tidal stream generators are also being explored.
There is much scope for renewable electricity in Scotland, but
it would be prudent to expect that it may only produce half of
our electricity requirements. Tapping it also has two major
obstacles. One is that Scotland is heavily oversupplied with
generating capacity and has an over-stretched grid; until
Longannet and the two nuclear stations wear out there is no need
for more. Renewables are also less well developed and tend to be
capital intensive, putting them at a disadvantage for investment
according to present market criteria, especially against low
fossil fuels prices and well-proven technologies. But
substantially greater renewables investment support will be
needed for the medium and long term.
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Underlying these concerns is the absence of a coherent energy policy, able to embrace the needs 20-40 years ahead.(5) It is stewardship of the worst kind to concentrate on an approach which biases energy choices towards the most attractive short-term financial returns and not towards the wisest long-term deployment of our resources. In particular, to consume gas on a very large scale to generate electricity is to waste a single resource, limited in size, insecure in long-term supply and for which there are other important uses. The minimum requirement is a radical approach to energy policy, involving investment incentives, fiscal policy and government inititaives pitched to discourage consumption, encourage energy saving, andmove as far as possible to renewable sources. And each of us needs to respond in kind.
This page has been produced by the Society Religion and Technology Project of the Church of Scotland. For more about our work on other issues, see our Other SRT Project pages, or our SRT Publications List.
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