Energy Issues Key at Dunfermline By-Election
2nd February 2006
Keeping the house warm is important in mid winter. With ever increasing fuel and electricity bills, the candidates in the Dunfermline and West Fife by election face some awkward questions on the doorstep. Heating costs link directly to UK energy policy which is determined by Westminster MPs. All have their part to play in pulling the levers of power. Ask your candidate how they will tackle the energy question, from keeping the kettle boiling in the kitchen to the chaos developing as climate change leads to the melting of the world’s glaciers and ice sheets.
Scottish politicians, both in Westminster and Holyrood, have a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate how a country with abundant natural resources can face an energy future quite different to the past. We need politicians who can deliver policies that use energy resources sensibly and without detriment to the planet and its life support systems. Only last year, in Gleneagles, world leaders were left in no doubt that tackling climate change is at the top of the UK’s agenda. Now we must follow fine words with action. There is no time to lose and, with the Westminster Government in the midst of a UK wide energy review, we can all make a difference by talking to our MPs and MSPs and in our decisions at the ballot box.
Unfortunately good intentions are not, at present, matched by results. To keep the kettles boiling in Birmingham and Basingstoke, the wind turbines are going up in Scotland. And these are monster turbines. Most of those already in place are not much over 50 metres in height. What is coming is quite different – many applications for turbines 100 – 140 metres (taller than the Forth rail bridge) are now in the planning system, awaiting approval, along with the massive network of bulldozed roads needed to get these turbines into position on our hills and in the glens. This is vandalism of the Scottish landscape on an unprecedented scale. Our policy makers, driven by the multinational energy companies and their shareholders, have forgotten the public interest. They are ignoring our greatest asset, the scenery that makes Scotland famous across the world. Our wild land is being sacrificed for commercial gain and greed and we, the public, are paying for it. And it is completely unnecessary, given the alternatives that are available. All we need to change things are politicians in Westminster and Holyrood with an understanding of energy issues and a commitment to cherish the landscape of Scotland.
The UK Government has set up a Sustainable Development Commission, chaired by Jonathon Porritt. In a report on wind power, published in May 2005, the Commission emphasised the importance of energy saving and said it was “essential to reduce demand on the grid” and this was perhaps “the most cost-effective way of meeting our obligations to cut greenhouse gas emission”. It may also help to reduce the cost of heating our homes. So we believe that the primary function of wind turbines on the land of Scotland should be to help reduce local demand for electricity, not to boil the kettles of southern England.
This means lots of small turbines, under 50 metres in height, in our fields, on our roofs and maybe in our gardens. The giant turbines, by and large, are not fit for our landscape. They have been designed for offshore use and that is where they should go.
To achieve this we need to strip away from the multinational energy companies the huge financial support they receive from the Government for land based wind turbine development, through the Renewables Obligation, which we all potentially pay for through increased electricity charges. Instead we need the money redirected into community projects and better support for individual householders. Small wind turbines along with other energy saving measures, such as solar panels, geothermal systems and improved insulation standards will all help to reduce local electricity demand. Combine this with the development of clean coal technology and energy generation from biomass onshore, with tidal, wave and wind systems offshore, and we will be moving towards a sensible energy policy for Scotland and the UK. Please ask your candidate to deliver!
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Press ( Feb 06) -
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