News archive - Week ending 7th September 2007

Award for Glasgow University's 'Green' Accommodation

The University of Glasgow has further enhanced its reputation for concern about the environment. The university, which was recently named the greenest academic institution in Scotland, has been credited with the Green Tourism Business Schemes (GTBS) bronze award for four of its student residences.

The accommodation halls were graded against more than 120 measures of best practice, covering everything from efficient lighting and heating, to nature conservation, use of produce, renewable energy and community support and involvement.

Martin Webb, Senior Grading Advisor with the Green Tourism Business Scheme said, "The university has made great strides in trying to reduce its environmental impact." The university has been working closely with Sanctuary Management who run three of the residences. Among the initiatives receiving praise were; having recycling facilities for guests and students, serving fair trade tea and coffee, using low energy lighting and the development of customer information packs aimed at encouraging guests to use local produce as well as to walk, cycle or use public transport rather than a car.

Climate Change Website

The Scottish Government has launched a new internet resource designed to help businesses and individuals prepare for the impact of climate change. Developed by the Scottish Climate Change Impacts Partnership (SCCIP), the website also aims to involve people in the fight against global warming and will offer regularly-updated information on climate trends.

The site (www.sccip.org.uk) is part of a larger initiative from the Scottish Executive which aims to significantly reduce CO2 emissions and promote a greater general awareness of environmental challenges among its citizens. The SCCIP project brings together the Scottish Government, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Natural Heritage, Sustainable Scotland Network and the UK Climate Impacts Programme. It was established to promote awareness and understanding of climate change impacts affecting Scotland while supporting organisations in meeting the challenges and opportunities these impacts present, to strengthen Scotland¿s adaptation response as a whole by providing strategic links between localised or individual activity engage with and seek to strengthen individual organisations resilience to a changing climate. The SCCIP is funded by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

Renewable Energy Milestone

The First Minister visited a wind farm to mark what has been called Green Energy Day in Scotland as, for the first time, Scotland¿s installed capacity of energy from green sources exceeds installed nuclear capacity. The nuclear capacity is 2,465 megawatts, but after the opening of the Crystal Rig wind farm near Dunbar renewable capacity has taken the lead at 2,530 megawatts.

Speaking at the Offshore Europe Oil and Gas Conference in Aberdeen, First Minister Alex Salmond further demonstrated his support for renewable energy by outlining a series of commitments that will help to build on the progress already made in giving Scotland a competitive edge in energy production. Among these was a promise to put climate change and Scotland's renewable potential at the heart of core economic decision making

Zero Carbon Houses

A Shetland partnership has pledged to build the isles' first houses with no carbon footprint by the end of next year. The "unplugged hydrogen houses", claimed to be the first in the world, will not be connected to the mains and will solely use wind, solar and renewable hydrogen technology for heating and electricity.

The plan is the result of co-operation between the Unst based PURE energy centre and the Hjaltland Housing Association (HHA). The housing will be built on a greenfield site in Eshaness, in Northmavine, overlooking the Drongs, one of Shetland's outstanding beauty spots. Initially two houses are to be built as a feasibility study to obtain valuable and reliable data to develop the next step.

The two 'super-efficient' houses are being designed by Nick Brett of Richard Gibson Architects. An application for planning consent has been lodged and Hjaltland Housing Association is confident that the first tenants will move in by November 2008. Over the next 10 years, PURE and HHA hope to become a market leader for a product, that is predicted to have a worldwide appeal.