Green energy triumph for Stirling Council
Stirling Council is the best performing local authority on mainland Scotland in the rollout of carbon-cutting small-scale renewables, according to a new report.
MCS, the national standards organisation for renewables, highlighted Stirling’s progress in this key green technology in their study, Renewing Britain: The Changing Landscape of Home-Grown Energy 2008 – 2021.
Using data it had collated over the past 14 years, MCS described Stirling as a‘forest’ of small-scale renewables and showed that the Stirling Council area:
■ Ranked the highest on the Scottish mainland, and the fourth across the whole of the UK, for small-scale renewable installations as a percentage of households (14.10 per cent).
■ Leads the way in Scotland and is second in the UK for the concentration of homes with solar panels (12.4 per cent)
■ Bucked the national trend for high installations of small-scale renewables in local authority areas with predominately rural populations.
The council’s chief executive Carol Beattie said:“Tackling climate change has been a top priority for Stirling Council for many years and it’s fantastic to see our commitment to the climate agenda recognised by the national standards body for renewables.
“Over the years we’ve made significant strides in cutting our carbon footprint through home-grown green energy projects like our Housing Service’s significant investment in solar panels.
“We are also now starting to see the benefits of our larger renewables projects, like our award winning District Heating Network at Forthside.
“The MCS report shows how far we have come, and the benefits the work we’ve committed to is having. However, the driving force behind this success is the belief that we all can, and must do more.
“The council has just launched a public consultation on the first draft of our Climate and Nature Emergency Plan, and I would urge our communities to give us their feedback to help Stirling continue to do all it can to fight climate change.”
The consultation on the first draft of the council’s Climate and Nature Emergency Plan is available on the Engage Stirling platform which will be hosting three live online events.
Officers from the council’s sustainable development team will deliver a presentation and those in attendance will be able to send them questions between 5-6pm on Thursday, April 8, Wednesday, April 14 and Tuesday, April 20. To take part visit the Engage Stirling platform and click on the link when the session is scheduled to start.