Chamber and committees

The nature of the technologiesand areas of research for ITI Energy will be an operational matter for the instituteitself.

The independent study publishedalongside our consultation on amendments to the Renewables Obligation Scotland (ROS)projected that generators will take advantage of the extended timescale now available,leading to additional CO₂ savings of 8 million tonnes by 2016. If howeverbiomass burn does not increase as a consequence of these changes to the legislation,then emissions savings arising from the ROS will remain unchanged.

The Renewables Obligation Scotland(ROS) is our chief mechanism to promote renewable energy and thus help to reduceCO₂ emissions. The recent amending order extended the deadline for stationswishing to co-fire fossil fuels with biomass. An independent study published duringthe consultation process projected additional carbon savings of 8 million tonnesacross Great Britain by 2016 arising from the changes now made.

Assistance is available underour Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative.  The grant is for30% of the capital costs of the system up to £4,000.

This is not possible topredict. However, we are supporting the installation of wood fuel heatingsystems through the Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative.  Sofar, 17 projects have received capital assistance and a further eight havereceived feasibility funding.  

The regulation of theelectricity sector, including ensuring security of electricity supply, is areserved matter.

The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the Department of Trade and Industry on awide range of energy-related issues. In particular, we are represented on theDTI-Ofgem Joint Energy Security of Supply (JESS) Working Group which monitorsthe security of the United Kingdom’s gas and electricity supplies.

The “Do a Little, Change aLot” campaign is intended to support a range of energy efficiency, wastereduction and recycling initiatives by raising awareness and signposting tosources of advice and assistance such as the Energy Saving Trust. No specifictargets for energy reduction have been set for the campaign.

I expect to announce the launchof this consultation within the next two months.

The Executive made acommitment in the partnership agreement to improving energy efficiency in thepublic sector. The Executive has just announced £20 million in new funding toset up energy efficiency funds on a sustainable basis across all localauthorities, health boards, and Scottish Water. Under this initiative savingsachieved from energy efficiency will be reinvested to deliver further energyefficiency measures. Over five years we estimate these funds could deliver areduction in energy consumption of up to 20% across these bodies – equating toa £70 million saving in public sector energy bills and a reduction in carbonemissions of 500,000 tonnes over five years.

Jim Wallace announced the ScottishClimate Change Programme, which includes energy efficiency measures and is alsocontributing to greenhouse gas emission reductions in the UK in linewith our commitment to make an equitable contribution to the UK Kyoto target.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-6831 on 23 March 2004.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.