News archive - Week ending 29th February 2008

Plans for Scotland's First "Eco-town"

A property company is to unveil plans to create Scotland's first sustainable "eco-town" on a 1,200-acre site at Cardenden in Fife. Banks Developments wants to build up to 5,000 new homes, along with schools and sports facilities. Detailed proposals for the scheme are to be shown to MSPs at a launch in My Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh. The local community had a preview of the plans in October 2007.

The aim is to create a "zero-carbon" community but some critics have described the proposal as an example of "greenwashing" to push a housing development in through the back door. The houses would be a mix of terraced, semi-detached, detached and apartments, with 1,250 designated as "affordable homes". Also included are proposals to redevelop the existing town centre.
A formal application is expected to be submitted in the Autumn, however, the Council has already confirmed that the scheme does not fit in with Fife Council's planning policies. Bids have been submitted for up to 10 eco-town developments in England and a shortlist is expected to be announced shortly. No such plans have been put forward in Scotland but the Government is currently considering the responses received in relation to the Scottish Sustainable Communities Initiative (SSCI).

Green Housing at Ravenscraig

Developers building homes on the site of the former North Lanarkshire steelworks at Ravenscraig will have to comply with strict eco-friendly rules. About 3,500 houses are to be built in the area and all must gain a minimum EcoHomes standard of 'Very good' which could be achieved by providing environmentally friendly facilities such as recycling and renewable energy.

Jim Fitzsimons, Director of Ravenscraig Ltd, said: "Any house builder which cannot commit to delivering on the environmental requirements for Ravenscraig simply will not be part of the project. We are going beyond what the local authority can dictate, and will make key conditions legally binding through the sale of land."

Among the requirements prospective builders will need to meet are:

• Provide facilities to recycle or compost at least 25 per cent of household waste - rising to 35 per cent by 2010.
• Maximise energy efficiency techniques.
• Install combined heat and power boilers, preferably fuelled by renewable energy sources.
• Provide on-site renewable energy generation facilities capable of reducing carbon emissions by at least 10 per cent.
• Install water saving devices in every dwelling; Provide rainwater harvesting facilities in gardens.
• Only use timber from the Forest Stewardship Council and temperate sources.
• Only use low emission finishes, construction materials, carpets and furnishings to protect internal air quality.
• Insulation materials which are known to contribute to ozone depletion and can contribute to global warming will be banned.

Edinburgh University Unions Aim to be Carbon Neutral

Three Edinburgh university student unions have become carbon neutral with the help of the Scottish tree planting charity Global Trees. Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt and Queen Margaret universities took part in a tree planting session in Cashel, Loch Lomond to plant trees which will off-set the carbon they use in the unions.
Speaking about the initiative Edinburgh University student president Josh McKinlay said: "This is a great project. Along with reducing pollution and energy use, carbon offsetting does have a role to play in making organisations more sustainable and it is great to see students playing a part in this." The project will see a small forest grow on the shores of Loch Lomond that students will be able to visit for years to come.
Global Trees was set up in October 2006 by Peter Grant, who felt compelled to do something about climate change after being inspired by a Bill Clinton speech in Glasgow. The charity has now planted over 150,000 trees in Scotland and beyond.

Green Energy Centre for Scotland

A new Scottish European Green Energy Centre is to be established with its hub in Aberdeen. Speaking at the European Movement Energy Conference in Aberdeen, First Minister Alex Salmond said that its renewable potential and technical expertise meant that Scotland had something to offer Europe across every energy area. He went on to announce that the Government intends to develop a new Scottish European Green Energy Centre (SEGEC), which will become an EU agency within five years. It will draw upon the strengths of the Energy Technology Partnership and build on the broad network of European research and industry-wide partnerships already in place, using this base to develop new and strengthened links and deliver new projects.

The purpose of the SEGEC will be to develop networks and partnerships with research and deployment bodies for green energy in like minded countries designed to promote the development and deployment of green energy technologies. A development team from the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise Energy Team (based in Aberdeen), Scotland Europa and the Energy Technology Partnership will work over the coming months to establish the Centre and its work plan. As yet there has been no public commitment to timescales, targets or cash amounts
The development team will aim to establish SEGEC as a self-standing body led by a practitioner with experience in green energy development in Europe and containing a number of development and promotion staff. It will be managed by a board representing the various stakeholders and work in partnership with the newly established Energy Technology Partnership (ETP), which draws together the extensive experience and strengths in Scottish Universities with hubs in Glasgow (Strathclyde University), Edinburgh and Aberdeen. The intention is that SEGEC will be co-located with the Aberdeen hub of the ETP at the new Energy Technology Insitute, a joint venture between Aberdeen and Robert Gordon's University.

University Promotes Green Tourism
Glasgow Caledonian University?s new project, Kit-Out the Park, aims to make tourism firms with an interest in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs area more environmentally friendly. The scheme was launched last year to see if the tourist sector in Scotland could benefit from and improve its performance by drawing on the specialist knowledge and expertise within the university. However the focus has shifted and later this month the university will be hosting workshops for small and medium-sized firms in the industry to help them get up date with new environmental legislation and to see whether they have any scope to look at things like renewable energy.

As well as those providing accommodation, the project aims to talk to suppliers, traders and attraction operators. Kit-Out the Park, which stands for Knowledge, Innovation and Technology Out of University into Tourism, is a three-year project funded by the Scottish Government and the European Regional Development Fund. The aim is to improve businesses over five key areas; the environment, IT and communications, business process improvement, food technology and sustainable buildings and construction methods.

Councils Accussed of Thwarting Attempts Cut Climate Pollution

It is being claimed that Government plans cut climate pollution by increasing the use of renewable energy in new building developments are being held back because most local authorities are failing to follow government planning guidelines. A Friends of the Earth Scotland, survey has revealed that 60% of Scottish councils have no policy to encourage solar, wind and other clean technologies in new homes and offices, despite being asked a year ago by ministers to introduce one. In March 2007, Jack McConnell, launched Scottish Planning Policy 6 (SPP6), requiring all new developments to cut carbon emissions by at least 15%. Local authorities were told to oblige builders to incorporate renewable technologies in any developments with more than 500 square metres of floor space.

The apparent inaction has prompted attacks from environmentalists and the renewables industry but councils dismissed these criticisms as "far too simplistic". A spokesman for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) said, "It is not a question of councils not developing policy. Planning authorities use SPP6 as a material consideration when dealing with planning applications. There are issues with lack of guidance on the 15% increase in building energy efficiency and how it is dealt with in planning terms."

The survey claims that as many as 19 of Scotland's 32 councils have so far failed to respond to SPP6, including Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and Highland. Only eight councils are in the process of developing a policy; five councils, including Edinburgh, have gone as far as actually implementing one. This is despite that fact that all 32 councils last year signed a wide-ranging Climate Change Declaration with the government. This promised to "ensure that greenhouse gas reduction and climate change adaptation measures are clearly incorporated into our new and existing strategies, plans and programmes".