More cash needed for green homes

WWF Scotland says the Government funding program for increasing home energy efficiency in Scotland is a step in the right direction but needs to expand rapidly in order to see the best results.

Director of the Scotland branch of the WWF, Dr. Richard Dixon, said that they see the measures towards becoming more energy efficient as positive and welcomed, but stated the Government will need to seek out an additional £15 million in funds in order to expand the scheme so that every home can benefit from the improvements across Scotland.

The current Scottish Government Plans allocate £15 million for free energy audits, cavity insulation, advice, and discounted loft insulation for 96,000 homes in ten Scottish council areas.

Dixon continued to say that the homes across Scotland are responsible for about a third of all of Scotland’s total CO2 emissions so a massive scheme is needed to reduce CO2 according to the standards passed in the Scottish Climate Change Bill.

He went on to say that WWF research shows that putting the new scheme’s practices into place will help also improve the quality and efficiency of homes throughout Scotland. Thus, the only thing left is the financial funding to do so.

Scotland is not the only area to launch such an initiative, as the Boris Johnson the Mayor of London announced a few days ago that they will launch a multi-million pound investment project titled the ‘Green London Fund’ to help increase the energy efficiency measures throughout the city.
The Mayor has earmarked £4 million for the fund but is looking to gain funds from charities, the private sector, and the European Union.