Green Scotland

Scotland has always been very green in color, but now they are a global leader in the “Green” energy movement. Scotland has a plan that will have renewable energy sources producing 100% of Scotland’s total energy need by 2020 and possibly 185% by 2030. These are not lofty goals or pipe dreams. Scotland is using all of its natural advantages to follow through with this plan. They are currently ahead of their projected schedule, in 2012 over 40% of Scotland’s energy was produced by a renewable energy source.

The first question asked when these types of claims are made is “how?”
Scotland has the full support of its government and its people, which is the first factor that makes this plan possible. When a whole country works together to achieve a goal it becomes very attainable. This is probably the factor missing in the push for renewable energy in the US. The second factor that makes this goal attainable is having a realistic and sensible plan. Scotland plans to reduce their demand of energy as well as increase renewable energy production.

They will reduce demand by installing smart meters, which will switch unnecessary power usage off during peak times, and postpone the usage until low usage. This will greatly reduce the stress put on the grid during peak usage. In addition, many new government policies are in place to incentivize demand reduction. Some estimates predict the demand will drop by 14%.

The increased production will come predominately from the new and expanding wind, wave, and tidal programs. Currently wind is the only one of these sectors that provides a substantial amount of renewable energy, but over the next 15 years Scotland has plans to harness the massive amounts of energy available in the movement of the oceans. Along with introducing wave and tidal they will expand onshore wind and offshore wind production. Another major sector they plan to expand is microgeneration, which is small scale private energy production, farmers with harnessing wind power, solar panels on homes, etc. Last but not least the already flourishing hydro program will continue to grow.

Graph of renewable energy production estimates (from "The Power of Scotland")
 http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/sites/files/possv6final.pdf

Hydro electric is one of Scotland’s main energy sources, with tall mountains, large inland lochs, and high rainfall, hydro power is viable, and highly productive. We Visited the Pitlochry dam and hydro power station to get a first hand look at renewable energy production. The site is not one of the biggest hydro sites in Scotland, but it is in a very lovely setting, making the visit both educational and pleasant. It was very cool to see green energy production in progress. First we walked across the dam, looking at the infrastructure of the site. You could peak into the housing area of the turbines and generator, and we saw the tops of the two generators at this location. There was also a retired turbine on display, which was a bit smaller than I expected. Another important aspect of this dam is the fish ladder, which allows fish to bypass the dam, lessening the environmental impact the dam has.

Top of Pitlochry dam (photo by author)

A view inside the power station (photo by author)

Retired Turbine (photo by author)

View of the dam from down stream (photo by author)

I think the steps Scotland is taking to reduce their energy consumption and carbon emissions are things the whole world needs to take as an example. I only hear about how more renewable energy can be produced, when part of the problem is the amount of energy we use in the first place. Sustainability is much more attainable when we are using less energy. I hope we see plans similar to Scotland’s being proposed and accepted in many countries in the years to come.