The city of Edinburgh is set to become a world-leader in the fight against climate change - a study commissioned by the City of Edinburgh Council, Greenpeace and WWF Scotland, has found that if the city's energy generation was 'decentralised', the city could slash carbon emissions, putting it on track to reach the government's 2050 CO2 reduction targets.
Decentralised energy isn't as complicated as it sounds - it simply means generating power close to where it's used. At the moment, Edinburgh - like most cities - is largely supplied by coal and gas stations, situated miles away from the city. These facilities waste a whopping two-thirds of the energy they generate - through the heat that escapes up through cooling towers, and through electricity loss during transmission over large distances on an out-dated national grid.
A move to decentralised energy would also increase energy security without relying on nuclear power. As well as producing radioactive waste that stays dangerous for tens of thousands of years, reliance on nuclear would also mean falling short of the 60% cut required in emissions.
Greenpeace's Chief Scientific Advisor, Dr Doug Parr, said, "This report shows that Scotland can reject the UK government's proposals to build new nuclear power stations and still win hands down on reducing emissions. Nuclear power remains dirty, dangerous and expensive. Scotland should not be conned into the nuclear option when decentralised energy is ready to go."
Councillor Ewan Aitken, Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council, said, "Scotland's capital city has a leading role to play in reducing our country's greenhouse gas emissions. Through switching to locally produced energy, Edinburgh can take its place in the vanguard of the fight against climate change."
The report, produced by energy experts PB Power, outlines how Edinburgh is ideally positioned for generating electricity closer to the city, and for using heat generated and to warm homes and offices.
Decentralised energy is already successful in Denmark, providing more than 50 percent of electricity supplies, while in the Netherlands over 40 percent is supplied through decentralised energy. Copenhagen's underground heat network pumps hot water from local decentralised power stations into people's homes and offices, alongside electricity. Here in the UK, Woking Council has already cut its own CO2 emissions by 77.4 per cent between 1991 and 2004 by decentralising its energy system.
Download the report: Powering Edinburgh Into the 21st Century
Read more about Decentralised Energy
Watch our film "What are we waiting for?" to find out more about some of these state-of-the-art decentralised energy projects around the world:
