Micro-renewables Technologies
The final item of business today is a members' business debate on motion S2M-3320, in the name of Sarah Boyack, on promoting energy saving using micro and small-scale renewables technology. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament believes that micro and small-scale renewables technology offers huge opportunities to tackle both fuel poverty and the causes of climate change; notes the Scottish Executive's target of achieving a 20% improvement in energy efficiency on 2000 levels by 2010; believes that, to help achieve this target, building standards should be amended to include micro-renewables technology as permitted developments and should require generation capacity to be included in all new developments; particularly notes examples of good practice in Edinburgh Central such as Dunedin Canmore Housing Association's European award-nominated Slateford Green Development; believes that local authorities should be required to consider the role that micro-generation targets could deliver in achieving sustainable energy and to set appropriate targets accordingly; notes the Energy Savings Trust's proposal of a flat rate reduction on council tax or its replacement for houses which incorporate certified energy efficiency or micro-renewables technology, and believes that fiscal measures such as these should be actively considered.
I thank colleagues for signing my motion and helping me to bring this debate to the chamber tonight. I am particularly delighted by the range of cross-party support, and the 38 members who took the time to sign the motion.
Most members know that I have been working on this issue and bringing it to the Parliament for a long time. It crops up in many questions to ministers and it is regularly raised in written questions. We have also dealt with it in the cross-party group on renewable energy. We have been working on the grid, and Nora Radcliffe, Robin Harper and I have been involved in work on small-scale renewables for the past few years.
We have now moved from talking about small-scale renewables as a future possibility, to talking about the micro-renewables option. I have also been working with my colleague Mark Lazarowicz, who has been working on the issue in the United Kingdom Parliament. I am pleased to report that he managed to get more than 100 of his colleagues to stay in London on a Friday to vote his bill through the first stage of the private member's bill process. That is not something that happens every day of the week in the House of Commons.
I strongly believe that we must not let Scotland fall behind in this debate. We need to legislate to make micro-renewables happen here too. That technology needs to be part of the Scottish Executive's renewables targets. I firmly believe that the idea's time has come and I acknowledge the tremendous support that there is for the proposals outwith the Scottish Parliament—from the environmental non-governmental organisations, the fuel poverty and energy efficiency campaigners, the renewables industry and the Scottish renewables forum.
There is widespread support within and outwith the Scottish Parliament because it is a win-win idea for Scotland. Much support for the proposals comes because there are huge environmental benefits to using energy from buildings as part of our overall strategy to create zero or low-carbon heat and power. It is also a potentially significant way of tackling climate change and there are huge opportunities to gain benefits for our fuel poverty strategy.
The era of cheap domestic power is now over. Energywatch reports that gas prices have gone up by 30 per cent, and electricity prices have risen by 20 per cent in the past two years. We know from the Scottish house condition survey that every 5 per cent increase in fuel costs drags 30,000 Scots back into fuel poverty. Barnardo's estimates that 46,000 children live in fuel poverty. That must end, and this is an opportunity to bring it to an end.
It is no coincidence that Scotland's social housing providers are leading the way in making use of the Scottish community and householder renewables initiative. Canmore Housing Association in my constituency has several projects that use micro-renewables, energy efficiency and management technologies. The Slateford Green project has won awards at European level, but there are others. There are families in my constituency who are already living with lower fuel bills and warm homes. I would like all my constituents to have the same opportunity.
That is beginning to happen across Scotland, though: Berwickshire Housing Association, Queen's Cross in Glasgow, and projects in Dundee and Aberdeen are examples; more are happening all the time. The technologies do work, especially when projects are linked between micro-generation and energy efficiency. That is the real win-win situation.
I congratulate the member on securing the debate. Does she agree that if we managed to introduce net metering so that people could pay back into the grid from their own systems, that would be even more beneficial to many people?
That must be part of the picture. It is not enough just to encourage people to use renewable energy technologies; we have to reward them for it by giving them a fair price and encouraging them to install the new technology.
The debate raises a huge series of issues about the grid. However, I do not have time to go into them in my brief slot tonight.
The technologies are working already. We know what the barriers are and we have to get rid of them. We need to make sure that the projects that are working away quietly become the norm across Scotland. We need to move up a gear; we need to incorporate those technologies as standard in every new building. That is why we need to change our building standards and make sure that the planning system grants permitted development to those projects.
We have to encourage and incentivise people to add the new technologies to their existing housing and buildings—we should not deal only with new buildings. By installing the new technologies we will create a mass market; we will bring down costs; we will stimulate manufacturing in Scotland; and, crucially, we will create a pool of skilled installers who know how to fit the technology.
We also need to raise awareness and make it easier for people to install renewable energy in their homes, as it is far too difficult at the moment. It can be done, but it requires a huge amount of personal research and commitment. We should reward everybody for using environmentally friendly heat and power technology.
The Energy Saving Trust pilot shows that if we knock £100 off people's council tax, they will start installing technologies that are energy efficient and renewable. I hope that the Scottish Executive will promote a micro-generation strategy as part of its overall renewables strategy.
If we are to hit the 40 per cent renewables target by 2020, we need to use every technology in the box, and micro-generation has to be part of that process. Let us use the power of public sector procurement with every new building that goes up in Scotland and, crucially, with every project that looks at regenerating the fabric of existing buildings.
This is a huge opportunity for us. I have set out ideas in my own member's bill, and I know that Shiona Baird has been working on the same topic. Tonight is a chance to get the debate going in the Parliament about how we deliver micro-generation and energy efficiency. It is a huge win-win for Scotland: we can protect our environment; we can tackle fuel poverty; and we can create jobs.
I thank everyone who supported me in bringing the debate to the Parliament. Let us see this as the start of the debate and a continuation of the ideas that are already out there in Scotland. Let us make sure that we really make a difference and that we create a tipping point where not just every new building, but every existing one takes advantage of the massive benefits that are available from the new technology.
I have a considerable list of members who wish to speak in the debate. I will start with speeches at four minutes, and that limit must be observed. I may have to reduce the time for members who speak later, but I will advise them then.
I congratulate Sarah Boyack on securing this very interesting debate. I do not think that there will be too much disagreement on many of the issues. The debate is timely, given that energy is dominating the headlines after Tony Blair's ludicrous comments about the need for nuclear power.
It is disconcerting and infuriating that the energy debate in the United Kingdom, which considers the issues from a UK perspective, dominates our headlines in Scotland. Our energy debate is distinct from that of the rest of the UK—we are an energy-rich country. We do not need nuclear power, because we have huge renewables potential and other clean, safer alternatives.
Renewables are relevant to the debate. They offer opportunities for households, businesses and communities. The debate is about how we can bring renewables right down to the lowest possible level, away from industrial-scale projects towards small-scale renewables sources and embedding renewables in our homes, our workplaces and our communities.
Households can play a role through energy efficiency, which is an important debate as we consider how we can achieve our targets for reducing emissions. By using renewable energy in their homes, people can play their own little part in tackling global warming and we can get people thinking about their domestic energy use, how they can change it and how they can save money.
It is exciting to see projects such as the ones that Sarah Boyack mentioned, or Dundee City Council's sun city project, which is installing solar technology in about 700 houses over the next two years. Dundee can take advantage of being a particularly sunny city. It is estimated that half the homes in Dundee could benefit from solar technology. We often think that there is not a lot of sun in Scotland, but if we capture its potential, it can help us to heat our homes.
We need incentives to get renewable energy technologies off the ground, to get more people involved and to make renewable sources more affordable. We must ensure that commercial buildings, as well as homes, incorporate renewables technologies when they are built. That is key to making a huge difference in the future.
On local communities' role, smaller-scale, off-grid renewable energy production is full of potential. It can empower local communities, create jobs and give them their own income, as well as taking pressure off the national grid. We must remember that sector.
Housing is the big challenge facing Scotland when it comes to renewable energy and energy in general. The Swiss have adopted a target of cutting carbon emissions by 90 per cent by 2050, which would be a huge step that they will achieve through energy-efficient housing. In Scotland, we have a major problem in that respect. It is all very well to have energy-efficient design and to install energy-efficient equipment when we build new homes, but much of Scotland's housing stock is old and cold, and it will be difficult to do the same here. That is a big challenge for ministers.
The other barrier is reducing the cost of installing the technologies. We must do that, but we can do so only by increasing demand so that the price falls. The Government must take the lead. Government buildings will have to use renewable energy, as will Government-funded projects. That could make a huge impact on the demand for renewables technology.
As Sarah Boyack said, we need more installers. There are huge economic opportunities there for a new industry in Scotland that would create thousands of jobs the length and breadth of the country. To get people on board, we must ensure that householders have the maximum amount of information about energy use and about the types of energy that they can use in their homes. That means that every home in Scotland will have to have an energy rating that people understand and can relate to. They should be able to understand the amount of money that they could save in the long term if they switched to renewables in their homes.
There is much more to do, but I am glad that we are starting to work on this area in Scotland. The debate is welcome.
I welcome the debate, and I thank Sarah Boyack for bringing the issue to the chamber. I was not quite expecting all the excitement of earlier this afternoon and I have a further engagement at 6 o'clock, so if I have to leave early, I offer my apologies to Sarah Boyack, the minister and you, Presiding Officer.
I did not sign Sarah Boyack's motion because I was a little bit uncomfortable with the idea of the Executive setting targets for local authorities, but I agree with almost everything else in the motion. I am particularly attracted to the idea of
"micro and small-scale renewables technology",
not least because, as members know, I am something of a critic of the development of large-scale onshore wind farms. Developing micro-technology would be greatly preferable and would get us away from any of the problems associated with large projects. I will say more on that subject in a moment.
I point out that the London Climate Change Agency is addressing the development of micro-renewables, as well as pushing for large wind farms. We need the two operating together. Micro-renewables can create base-load; wind farms can provide an intermittent supply.
Mr Ruskell and I will have to agree to differ on that point. I am afraid that time will not allow me to elaborate to any great extent on the arguments on that subject, to which we can return on another occasion.
I agree with Sarah Boyack that micro and small-scale renewables offer opportunities to tackle both fuel poverty and the causes of climate change. The idea of amending building standards to include micro-renewables technology projects as permitted developments is interesting. Although I am no building expert, I would like to hear the minister's response on that.
I refer to some of the successful schemes that are being undertaken in my region of Mid Scotland and Fife. In May 2004, a small-scale wind turbine was designed and fitted on top of Collydean Primary School in Glenrothes. It was the first school in Scotland to have a purpose-built wind turbine and I congratulate all those involved who worked so hard to make it happen. Such schemes could be rolled out throughout Scotland. They are important, because they not only make a contribution to renewable energy but help to educate youngsters about the opportunities that green energy provides and to make them more aware of the environment.
Small-scale turbines do not have the disadvantages of visual or environmental impact that large wind farms have. Where I grew up in Inverness-shire, it was relatively common to see windmills on crofts and smallholdings not to provide electricity, because they pre-dated that technology in that part of the world, but to power water pumps to raise water from the well to feed the water supply to the house and steading. Sadly, few of those windmills still exist, which is a shame, because they were quite a feature of the landscape, but there is no reason why we cannot replace them with small-scale wind turbines that provide electricity for dwellings, with any surplus being sold back to the grid.
I offer another example of small-scale renewable energy in action. Recently I visited two small-scale hydro schemes just outside Aberfeldy. They do not involve damming up the river or creating reservoirs; the river flow generates electricity by flowing down water pipes underneath the river. One small scheme is capable of generating enough electricity to power a small town. Strictly speaking, that is not micro-generation, but it shows what can be done, and with low visual and environmental impact.
There are great opportunities throughout rural Scotland to develop small hydro schemes, which would bring tremendous economic benefit to landowners, farmers and communities. Funding mechanisms for renewable energy should be altered to help to promote such small-scale renewables technologies, because the opportunities for Scotland are tremendous.
Small-scale renewables technologies, such as the ones mentioned in the motion, are the way forward for Scotland. Compared with large-scale wind farms, they cause near to no damage to the local environment and their visual impact is virtually non-existent.
I thank Sarah Boyack for lodging the motion and believe that the Executive should consider developing these opportunities to the benefit of us all.
I congratulate Sarah Boyack on an excellent motion with a number of practical suggestions to encourage more use of the available means of meeting domestic energy needs more economically in both cash and carbon. A great deal of the debate on energy focuses on electricity generation, but it is vital to develop policies and incentives that reflect the use of all energy, not just electricity.
More than 80 per cent of household energy is used in heating and four fifths of it is non-electric, so there is great scope for home owners to save money and electricity. Solar cells can chop 30 per cent off electricity bills. Solar panels can save up to 70 per cent on water heating bills. Domestic wind turbines can reduce an electricity bill by 15 per cent. In new-build homes, I would like to see automatic fitting of a two-way electricity meter to cater for future opportunities to sell power into the grid as well as draw power from it. Although I acknowledge that there are potential technical problems with that, they are certainly not insuperable.
We have already used building regulations to ensure that new homes have insulation levels that make them 25 per cent more energy efficient than homes built to previous standards. To me, it is far more sensible to tackle fuel poverty through home improvement than to give people what is in effect money to burn.
More energy demand should be met locally and directly either in individual homes or through district heating or combined heat and power plants, which give 80 per cent efficiency, rather than the 30 per cent energy conversion efficiency of electricity.
One of Scotland's underutilised resources is wood fuel. The Woodland Trust estimates that Scotland could produce up to 4 million tonnes of fresh wood fuel a year, which would save 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 and 20,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide emissions.
As the motion says, there is a huge opportunity to tackle fuel poverty and climate change through micro and small-scale renewables technology; we have only to grasp it. Many people and organisations are doing so, but change is not happening at the rate that it needs to. People are wary of change and we need encouragement and incentives if we are to get change moving and to build the skills pool that will support and accelerate such change.
I endorse the suggestions in Sarah Boyack's motion.
I congratulate Sarah Boyack on securing this debate on a subject that is dear to my heart. The motion, which was lodged shortly after I announced that I intended to introduce a member's bill to promote micro-power, has been warmly welcomed by me and my colleagues in the Scottish Green Party.
As we have heard, Sarah Boyack has been thinking of introducing a member's bill for some time and, shortly after my proposal was launched in September, she announced that she would lodge a proposal for a bill on the subject. The fact that two MSPs from different parties have proposed similar legislation is significant and shows how important and relevant micro-power is. I am keen to work with Sarah Boyack on our proposals. It seems that only a technicality prevents two members from lodging the same proposal for a bill and I am investigating how that technicality can be removed so that we could show real consensus among parties by taking forward a bill together. After all, the aim of the Scottish Parliament was to seek more co-operative ways of working.
Micro-power offers an alternative to obtaining energy from large-scale, centralised power stations that are fired by coal, oil or gas and to building any more nuclear reactors. Micro-power has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to prevent more radioactive waste from being produced. It is also more efficient than conventional sources of energy because it reduces the losses that occur when energy is transmitted over large distances. Further, it would offer greater security of energy supply, because we would not be reliant on a few huge power stations that might go offline. That is a particular risk for nuclear power stations of similar design, some of which have had to be taken offline at the same time for safety reasons.
The potential for micro-power in Scotland is huge because almost every household and small business could become a small powerhouse. Although it is not envisaged that micro-power could totally replace the need for some centralised generation of energy—at least in the short term—it could reduce the need for polluting, inefficient and insecure centralised generation. Key to the effective use of micro-power is improving properties' insulation. That is why I welcome the Executive's commitment to set a target for achieving a 20 per cent improvement in energy efficiency on 2000 levels by 2010. Patrick Harvie will make proposals on exactly that at stage 3 of the Housing (Scotland) Bill tomorrow, and I would welcome the minister's confirmation that they would bring us in line with England and Wales.
Micro-power has already been installed in households and small businesses across Scotland and in other countries, playing no small part in permanently moving people out of fuel poverty. The Dundee sun city project is an extremely good example of partnership working.
I certainly support the call for the measures in Sarah Boyack's motion to be adopted, as they are all measures that I am consulting on for inclusion in my green power bill. It would be wonderful if the minister would give a commitment that the Executive will consider the measures that are outlined in the motion before either Sarah Boyack or I have to go to the length of pursuing a member's bill.
If micro-power is to realise its potential to improve efficiency, help to reduce climate change impacts and provide security of energy supply, Government action will be needed to reduce the barriers that affect it. I will be interested to hear the minister's response to the debate.
Sarah Boyack has been working on renewable energy for some time and announced in June her intention to introduce a member's bill on the subject. I am supportive of all the work that she has done since then.
Earlier today, we heard the Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform, Tom McCabe, announce rate relief for offshore wind farms, which will bring us into line with England and Wales. We were all very happy about that announcement. He went on to say that there will be a consultation next year and, in his answers to questions, he made it clear that that consultation will address non-domestic or industrial concerns. However, it is also important that the consultation address micro and small-scale renewables technology such as Sarah Boyack talked about. For example, the consultation should address what other incentives would be useful in relation to existing housing and new housing.
Personal recycling should be a lot easier than it is, although we all do the best we can. I do not want to digress too much, but although I try my hardest with recycling, I do not think that I necessarily achieve the peaks that I should achieve. I know that more support is needed.
Sarah Boyack's motion mentions the Energy Saving Trust's proposal for a flat-rate reduction on council tax, and other measures that could be considered. I am sure that the minister who is sitting here with us today, Allan Wilson, will be communicating—and has communicated already—with the Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform about the importance of including incentives and support for householders in the consultation paper that will be published next year.
I know that Allan Wilson has visited Fintry in my constituency to see what is happening there. A community group was set up to consider how it could work with a developer—West Coast Energy Ltd—to own a turbine. There are 15 wind turbines in the field—it is relatively small—and Fintry will own one of them. The process has not been easy; many discussions were needed along the way, including discussions with RSPB Scotland when hen harriers were discovered on the site, but the community group has worked very well. It is now moving on to take a more holistic approach to micro and small-scale renewables technologies so that it can go that one step further. It is important that the Executive should also take an holistic approach, although I am sure that it does so through its sustainable development strategy and its cross-departmental working. We must consider all the different ways in which we can support such ventures.
Housing is obviously important, so we must consider how we can give housing associations more support. There is huge interest in the subject; for example, I saw lots of information in my local supermarket recently about how we could make progress by having turbines for our own houses. There really is massive interest in the matter, and we must capitalise on it.
I congratulate Sarah Boyack on securing the debate. Micro and small-scale renewables are part of the overall blend that we in Scotland must have a continuing debate about so that we can make best use of our fantastic and infinite resources.
The Scottish National Party led a debate on energy two weeks ago. We see good prospects in exporting energy from clean renewables from Scotland to England. As we said then, we must first decide what can be produced here so that local and national needs are met first. We have to ensure that we bring energy from micro-renewables and the micro-heat process into the frame at an early stage. The kinds of incentives that are needed to do that take second place.
In the Shetlands on Unst—the most northerly island in Scotland—PURE Energy Ltd is working on hydrogen cell technology. It is also engaged in changing people's behaviour; that change is most important. The project has involved the creation of an energy audit for the people on Unst in respect of how they use their cars, how they heat and save energy in their homes and how they work. Unst has a small population, so it may eventually be possible for the island to be totally powered by renewables. The island of Stronsay in the Orkneys is seeking to do the same thing through a combination of hydrogen cell power and small windmills.
If those communities can conduct an energy audit that changes people's behaviour, every community from the north to the south of Scotland and from the cities to the furthest clachan in the countryside must do the same. Within the process of encouraging use of many forms of heat and power generation, we must get people on board in areas that they recognise—in wards, parishes or whatever. That part of the process will kick-start change. There is plenty of information about individual places. Different communities have capacities to create different kinds of energy. Some have great capacity and some have much less.
In the cities, surely it is as possible as it is in Westray in the Orkneys or in the west of Lewis for people to recycle cooking oil. A vast amount of cooking oil is used in the cities compared with a small community such as Kirkwall. That suggests to me that, for such activity to take place, it must be organised on the basis of an energy audit. Unless we have such audits, all the great ideas that have been discussed will not be brought to fruition as quickly as they should be and the micro and small-scale renewables projects that we all want will stall, because the Government does not see them as part of an overall energy strategy that includes having every community do an energy audit now.
I thank Sarah Boyack for lodging the motion for debate, which is about personal responsibility. By and large, we use electricity in the same way as we use water or air. We always expect it to be there and to get instant energy as soon as we stick a plug into a socket. We must personalise our energy consumption and our understanding of our energy consumption and generation. Micro-renewables offer us the opportunity to do that.
Enterprise issues are also involved. Richard Lochhead referred to the opportunity to sell electricity back to the grid, which would give individuals the chance to make money. We live in the age of the internet and eBay, and part of the strength and power of the internet is the fact that it provides a network of millions of users, which has a correlation with the electricity grid: if we have a decentralised energy system with millions of generators that feed into a grid, we will create a powerful system that can meet much of our electricity requirement.
The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets believes, for example, that micro-combined heat and power in our homes, micro-wind turbines and even solar power could meet some of our key baseload demand. How we meet that will be the big question as we move towards phasing out nuclear and coal energy. Alongside ambitious energy efficiency measures and some of the larger-scale onshore and offshore renewable energies, micro-renewables can allow us to start to formulate a strong energy strategy and to meet some of our energy demand.
The Executive's green jobs strategy says:
"Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises."
We need targets, which are important. We also need mechanisms. I have previously mentioned the London Climate Change Agency. It is a mechanism that contributes towards achieving a target. It is a municipal company that is installing micro-renewables and which is thinking through innovative and enterprising solutions to London's vast energy demands.
We need to think the same way in Scotland. For example, Perth and Kinross Council is desperate to drive the economic regeneration of highland Perthshire. Part of that relates to the biomass industry, but the first step in developing a strong biomass industry is to ensure that our public buildings, such as Breadalbane Academy, have wood-fuelled heating systems. If we do that, we will create demand for such fuel and start to bring down the capital cost of installations so that we can all start using them in homes and offices. John Swinney and I have questioned the minister on the Breadalbane Academy issue—we also questioned him on the matter in his previous post. We must find the right mechanisms through public-private partnership schemes for schools to ensure that we maximise the opportunities for Breadalbane Academy and Perthshire and for other communities throughout Scotland that are desperate to develop the biomass industry and to take other such opportunities. The Deputy First Minister recently met Perth and Kinross Council to discuss the issue, but time is running out. We need a commitment to put in place an enabling mechanism that will ensure that we capitalise on small opportunities that could turn into great enterprises.
Finally, I will just say a word about Tony Blair's vision of nuclear power.
That is not strictly relevant.
Our energy strategy is relevant. A centralised system of nuclear power with huge public subsidy is not the way forward; a decentralised system of micro-power can create more jobs and enterprise and drive economic growth. That is why we should reject Blair's nuclear option and go for real job creation in Scotland.
I thank Sarah Boyack for giving us the opportunity to debate the issue. We are at a point when we must make a huge step change by deciding to use small household renewables together with energy efficiency measures to address climate change and fuel poverty and, for some of us, to salve our consciences. Too much of the debate on renewables has been about the size of wind farms and the impact of pylons. We must recognise the role that individual households, groups of households and small businesses can play and their need for affordable energy.
The lack of information is a great drawback. For the past year, I have been trying to work out what the best kind of renewable energy device for my house would be, but I have come up against many dead ends. Firms have gone out of business or I have been told that I should wait five years to buy a device, because then it will be a tenth of the price.
We need to step forward, but there is a gaping hole under us when we try to do that. Individuals need encouragement to make a change. The impetus could come from the increasing cost of oil and gas together with the grants that are already available to switch from conventional systems to renewables. However, if we wait for individual householders or builders to decide on the basis of financial benefit, we may wait a long time, because people's innate conservatism and the inertia principle will prevent anything much from happening.
That is why Sarah Boyack's proposals are necessary. We must make household micro-renewables the norm, by making it as easy to install them as it is to install a satellite television dish and by giving further financial incentives such as reductions in council tax.
Does the member agree that it would be helpful if the Executive persuaded Westminster that any materials that are used in providing micro-renewables should be zero rated for VAT?
That would be excellent.
We need to make micro-renewables part of all new developments. Sarah Boyack noted some good examples of where that has happened. We have a huge opportunity to do more in the next few years, given that we plan to build thousands of new houses. We must react quickly, because we cannot let the opportunity slip by.
The Executive's central heating scheme for pensioners is excellent, but I ask it to consider whether, at least in rural areas, micro-renewables could be used as an alternative to the oil option, which is becoming expensive, particularly in the islands, where oil prices are exacerbated by transport costs. The option in rural areas of oil or nothing for pensioners who want central heating seems to be building up trouble for the future.
I think that we are wandering a wee bit from the topic again.
I beg your pardon, Presiding Officer.
The Executive has a chance to make a difference by investing in micro-renewables in that scheme.
Support and encouragement for micro-renewables will lead to other benefits. There is currently a chicken-and-egg situation. The market for micro-renewables is not yet big enough to tempt businesses to invest and small wind turbines are still too expensive, compared with conventional means of generation, for householders to buy. Five years from now, those devices will be affordable, because the higher the volume of production, the cheaper the item. We will get to where we want to be through the use of measures such as those that Sarah Boyack proposes in her motion and her member's bill. The market for devices will grow to the benefit of the suppliers and householders will generate their own energy and possibly feed some of that into the grid. If we combine renewables with energy efficiency, we can make a real contribution to reducing carbon emissions.
When we go home and turn on a light switch, we expect the light to come on. Mark Ruskell is right to say that we take it for granted that there will always be energy. I utterly support the development of small-scale renewables technology, but I do not think that anyone would seriously suggest that such technology can meet the world's energy needs. However, we should seek to encourage the development of the technology in all practical and reasonable ways.
No member has mentioned the final two or three lines of Sarah Boyack's motion, which refer to a reduction in the council tax and other fiscal measures. Those proposals are worth considering, although local authorities need to know how much money is coming in, which they would not if an unspecified number of houses had an opt-out clause.
Will the member take an intervention?
I do not have enough time—I have only three minutes.
A stick is applied at the moment, but a carrot approach is also worth considering. I want to discuss the first approach, of which I have an example from the real world. Kingussie community council wants to restore a small hydro scheme that used to operate, but it has found that the Scottish Environment Protection Agency would impose charges under the water framework rules that may make the scheme non-viable. We should focus on today's stick and not tomorrow's possible carrot, worthy though the carrot no doubt is. We need to have a serious look at how SEPA is causing problems for, and adding costs to, such schemes.
Secondly, I want to extol and promote the solid work of the Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers Federation. This may seem to be an unduly concrete point to make in a debate in which many worthy ideological contributions have been made, but it is the plumbers who install the systems—the solar power and the ground pumps. They know the problems. One problem is that the Energy Saving Trust will not give a grant to anyone unless the plumber has already provided two installations—nobody receives a grant for the first two installations. Is that bonkers or what? SNIPEF has promoted solar ground source heat pumps and biomass boiler technology and I am sure that the minister will listen to its recommendations, which are well worth considering.
That every house should have its own renewable energy supply is an attractive idea. There would then be a fantastic world, because large companies would not have the power that they currently have, although I would argue that that power is not necessarily malign—others may take a different view. The development of the technology—whether micro, macro, global or local—is absolutely essential, but it is not happening. I hope that we all agree that companies such as Wavegen in my constituency should be encouraged and supported in that respect.
I, too, congratulate Sarah Boyack on bringing the debate to the chamber. I have known her for many more years than either of us would probably care to remember. Her interest in, and commitment to, the subject goes back way beyond her joining me in the Parliament to her time in the Edinburgh district Labour Party and beyond.
The debate has been very interesting. The broad consensus in the chamber on micro-renewables is to be welcomed, even if we disagree on macro-energy generation. The obvious place to debate that is in the context of the forthcoming UK energy review. I think that ascribing motives or opinions to the Prime Minister in advance of that debate is a fairly futile exercise.
Certainly, as the Executive has made clear, we have a commitment to renewable energy and to improving energy efficiency. As members well know, not only have we set ambitious renewables targets, but we are spending money on targeting energy conservation in the public and domestic sectors across Scotland. We are also working to bring about a culture change by raising awareness of energy use more generally, as a number of members mentioned.
Clearly, micro and small-scale renewables have an important role to play in ensuring that we meet all our energy needs. "Think globally, act locally" is the key tenet of the sustainable development movement and it is one to which we subscribe. We can all make a difference locally in our communities and we should all be encouraged to do so.
Our Scottish community and householder renewables initiative provides advice and grant support for communities and individuals to install small-scale renewables. I think that everyone agrees that the initiative has been remarkably successful since it started in 2002. So far, it has allocated more than £5 million to around 700 projects. For example, in addition to the project that Sarah Boyack mentioned at Slateford Green, the SCHRI has supported 17 housing association projects, including Partick Housing Association's new development and Berwickshire Housing Association's new build at Whitsome.
A review of the SCHRI was completed recently. We are now looking at the ways in which the scheme can continue to deliver best value to householders and communities. That is an important aspect of the way in which we will take forward our commitment to micro-renewable generation.
May I rather wearily ask the minister about Breadalbane Academy in the context of PPP schools and biomass? Will the revised SCHRI deal with the problem of the high capital cost of installation in those private finance initiative projects?
I think that Mark Ruskell would probably agree with me that the problem of creating a market for micro-renewables or biomass plant is not solely related to PPP projects—indeed, I do not think that he is suggesting that for one minute. He has a specific interest in the outcome of the review of the SCHRI in that regard. As many members have said, we need to create a market for micro-renewables or biomass generation more generally. Our most important task is to create that virtuous circle. We have to create a market in a market economy; it is not possible to do so through a process of continuous subsidy. Public subsidy has a role to play in kick-starting the market, but ultimately we are looking to create market conditions in which micro-renewables are as common as satellite dishes, as Maureen Macmillan said. Of course, satellite dishes are not subsidised from the public purse; the growth in their use was created by market demand. That is where we want to get to with micro-renewable generation. Mark Ruskell will just have to wait for the announcement on the SCHRI to see how that funding applies to the situation in Perth.
We have been following closely the work that colleagues elsewhere in the UK are doing on micro-renewable generation. I am thinking in particular of another old friend and colleague of mine, Mark Lazarowicz, and his bill at Westminster—Sarah Boyack mentioned him, too. Clearly, it is important that we take the right steps in driving forward micro-renewable generation in Scotland. The Executive is considering the issues, many of which were helpfully raised by members in the debate.
We are also looking at the promotion of micro-renewables as part of the current review of our national planning policy guidelines on renewable energy development. We are preparing an annex to the current planning advice note on renewable energy technologies to support the growing interest in micro-renewables. Sarah Boyack has a particular interest and expertise in the issue, given her background in planning. A review of the energy standards in Scottish building regulations is also under way. It is likely that future regulations will make the inclusion of building-integrated micro-renewables more attractive to developers.
On the important issue of affordability and addressing fuel poverty, we have invested more than £200 million in the central heating programme and the warm deal. As Sylvia Jackson, Sarah Boyack and other members mentioned, central heating systems have been put into more than 56,000 homes and insulation has been provided for more than 218,000 homes. Fuel poverty has more than halved since 1996, from 35 per cent of the population to 13 per cent, but there is more still to be done.
Making homes more expensive is not part of that process. We must ensure that our social and economic policies are joined up, so that the problems facing those whose health or general well-being may be at risk from cold and damp housing can be addressed. Micro-renewables have a part to play in that, as do thermal insulation standards.
Will the minister look specifically at the situation in the islands, where oil-fired central heating that has been installed for old people is now becoming too expensive, because of the transport costs of the oil? Will he consider whether new central heating systems could use micro-renewables instead?
Do that very quickly, minister, as it is not strictly relevant.
The rise in the price of oil and in the related price of gas creates the market conditions that we now see, and we will incentivise a drive for renewables.
Energy efficiency is also a key element of our climate change programme, not only contributing to a reduction in carbon emissions, but helping to tackle fuel poverty, improve business profitability and reduce the cost of delivering public services. As we announced last year, we are developing the first energy efficiency strategy for Scotland, which we expect to publish in the spring. That will cover all Executive-funded initiatives and strategies that have a significant impact on energy efficiency; it will produce a more joined-up approach and get the supply and demand sides of the equation into correct balance.
I welcome members' contributions to today's important debate. I look forward to working with Sarah Boyack and other members in realising the huge potential that micro and small-scale renewables technology brings to all our communities and in introducing legislation to that effect.
Meeting closed at 18:17.