CLEAR evidence that Scotland is leading the way in the UK in most forms of renewable energy has come with research showing that this country has more sites of onshore wind, hydro electric and tidal power generation than any other part of Britain.
A report compiled for leading radiator manufacturer Stelrad showed that Scotland excels in three of the most important category of renewables, with 65,710 clean energy production sites within Scotland, which equates to two renewable energy sites every square mile.
The report shows that Scotland produces the most hydro power with 763 sites, Scotland harnesses the most tidal energy with 17 sites and Scotland harnesses the most onshore wind with 3546 sites
Almost entirely because Scotland has far fewer sources of solar power, this country is not the leader for all sources of renewables, as England has in excess of 1.4 million installations of solar panels compared to Scotland’s 61,000.
READ MORE: Scotland sees largest rise in renewables capacity across UK as wind leads way
Though annoyingly classed as a ‘region’ in the results of the study, Stelrad stated: “As the best region for hydro, tidal and onshore wind energy production, Scotland has a lot to offer in the UK’s pledge to produce more green energy.”
Within Scotland, Aberdeenshire has the most renewable energy sites with 6523 followed by Highland with 5164 and Fife with 4684.
As the whole UK pushes towards a greener way of living, Stelrad said: “The effects of climate change are drastic, with a predicted 7.5 degrees rise in climate temperature over the next century which will devastate Earth’s ecosystem. Renewably sourced energy for our homes is crucial.”
The data unveiled by their study of each UK region’s capabilities for serving their population came from comparing the number of renewable energy sites to the number of households, detailing how many renewable energy sources were available per 1000 households in each region.
The South West came top with 53, East Midlands second with 45 and the east of England and Wales joint third with 42. Again due to the lack of solar power installations compared to elsewhere, Scotland came only eighth with 26 sites per 1,000 households with Northern Ireland last with just one per 1000 households.
Commenting on the research, Chris Harvey, Head of Marketing at Stelrad said: “Renewable energy is the way forward for our household energy and it’s fantastic to see such large numbers of renewable energy sites spread across the country.
Investing in innovative engineering and resources is crucial for delivering sustainable energy and this shouldn’t just be left to certain regions of the country – it has to be a national effort.
“At Stelrad, we’re committed to supporting sustainable energy development and heating design which embraces the future of energy production. This is the future for our energy production and central heating, and we support the Government’s aim of having all homes powered by renewable sources by 2030.”
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