Main navigation

Daily news

Remote islands get 62k to cut carbon

28 August 2008

A project on two remote Scottish islands to help people make reductions in their emissions and save money has received £62,000 pounds.

Scottish environment minister Richard Lochead was in the island of Barra to announce the funding for the communities on Barra and neighbouring Vatersay.

The money comes from the £18.8 million Climate Challenge Fund set up by the Scottish government as part of plans to cut national emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. Westminster has only pledged to cut emissions by 2060, though the Committee on Climate Change is pressuring for an 80 per cent target for the whole UK as well.

Among the projects to receive funding will be a plan to build a community-owned wind turbine, which would generate 900kW of energy.

The funds will also be used to improve farming on the islands so that the 1,150 people living on the southernmost inhabited land masses in the Outer Hebrides are not as dependent on food transported from the mainland.

Home energy efficiency measures will also be installed in households on the island. Insulation is one of the best ways of increasing energy efficiency, according to the Energy Saving Trust.