Scotland’s First Minister promotes Green Energy
Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond used his New Year message to promote renewable energy. He said how Scotland could take full advantage of the ‘renewable revolution’ if the Scottish Parliament had more powers, with equal access to the electricity grid. At present it faces the highest UK transmission costs to the National Grid.
However, the Climate Change Act passed in 2009 set legally binding targets to cut Scottish greenhouse gas emissions by 42 % by 2020. In order to reach these targets, all forms of renewable energy need to be employed.
PV Solar Panels capture the sun’s energy and turn this into solar electricity. PV panels don’t need direct sunlight and generate solar electricity even on cloudy days. As the Energy Savings Trust writes ‘A typical home PV system can produce around 40 % of the electricity a household uses a year’.
Grants of upto £4000 are still available in many part of Scotland when you install PV panels. New feed-in tariffs, due in April 2010 will mean you can sell any excess solar electricity back to the national grid. This means investing in Solar Panels is a good way to start 2010. You get a return on your investment and help Scotland achieve the 42 % reduction target.
