Energy is essential to every day living, especially in an increasingly sophisticated society with consumer demand for bigger and better houses with their inherent heating requirements, white goods, televisions, computers, hi-fis, and all the other paraphernalia of every day living. Given the severe climate and remote location of the north of Scotland, the importance of energy for heating and transport is heightened. There is much talk about renewable energy, so what is it? It can be defined as "energy which is obtained from naturally occurring currents of energy or from energy which can be regenerated by naturally occurring energy currents on the time scale of a human life" (Twidell and Weir, 1997). It is generally accepted that new sustainable methods of generating power must be developed as stocks of fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil) are finite and are being rapidly depleted.

The Climate Change Programme is a comprehensive strategy, defined by the government, to reduce harmful CO₂ emissions across the whole of the UK economy, including transport, industry, service and domestic sectors. Measures to encourage energy efficiency through technology play a major part of the strategy. The UK government’s target, as per the Kyoto Protocol, is to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to 12.5% below 1990 levels over the period 2008 to 2012. The Scottish Executive announced an even more ambitious target - to reduce greenhouse gas emissions via the use of renewable energy generation to 18% by 2010.

To encourage the development of diverse methods of electricity generation from renewable sources, the UK Government has created a market in Renewables Obligations Certificates (ROCs) and Scottish Renewable Obligations Certificates (SROCs). Under the legislation, all licensed electricity suppliers are obliged to supply a specified proportion of their electricity supplies to their customers from renewable sources of energy (Energy Report, 2000). In this way, wind farms have become the focus for modern renewables as the technology behind wind turbines is sufficiently advanced so as to make wind farms commercially viable. However, wind energy generation is unpredictable and cannot match the electricity grid demand profile.

The wind resource in Caithness seemingly makes the county an ideal location for the development of windfarms. Discussions about the visual impact of wind farms are common place and objections have been raised against some of the developments on various grounds; that they may adversely affect the tourist industry and house prices, that they are noisy or that they may affect birds. Most other renewable energies have developed at a slower rate so do not dominate the market.

Hydro

Hydropower schemes are well known to Scottish residents and are those which extract energy from water flowing down slopes in rivers or water stored in reservoirs. The natural flow of water in rivers has been used for generations to drive machinery such as flour mills, but nowadays the term "hydropower" is usually used in relation to generation of electricity from water.

Marine

Energy from the sea is relatively predictable particularly when compared to wind power. There has been a lot of research into tidal energy with several large scale devices being trialled. It is still not commercially viable but could be in five years’ time. Wave energy has recently been successfully brought to market by the European Marine Energy Company (EMEC) in Orkney in the form of Pelamis, and it is proposed that a unit to harness tidal energy be installed in one of the Churchill Barriers.

Solar

There are three forms of solar energy:

Biomass

Biomass is the direct combustion of materials such as timber. Wood fuel can be harvested from forests, coppicing young trees back to ground level so that new shoots grow to replace the wood removed, thereby providing sustainable wood supplies. Charcoal was also produced by foresters as a high grade of fuel. These methods continue today, but their modern applications are part of the expanding future of biomass within world energy supplies. Biomass also includes the use of animal and plant waste products to generate electricity which has the added advantage of reducing the pressure on landfill.

Geothermal systems use the earth’s temperature to produce electricity and/or heat via ground source heat pumps.

Other technologies relating to transport uses are biogas and biofuels. Biogas is decomposed organic material which produces a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide with small amounts of other gases. The mixture is the eventual product which is formed after any available oxygen has been utilised. One of the most common fuel sources for producing biogas is animal dung. Some examples of fuel sources for liquid biofuels are sugar and starch crops, and vegetable oil. Liquid biofuels can be used for vehicles; in fact bioethanol was used to fuel motor cars almost as early as vehicles with petrol engines were introduced.

If you would like to learn more about local renewable energy projects and the work of the Caithness Renewable Energy Forum (CREF), come along to one of our monthly meetings. The group was formed in April 2004, led by the Environmental Research Institute in Thurso and the Area Development Manager of the Highland Council. The Forum promotes interest and economic activity in renewable energy and consists of individuals, organisations and commercial bodies interested in this growing sector.

The primary aim is to promote renewable energy, and the objectives, as listed in the constitution are:

1. to promote research and growth in renewable energy technologies.
2. to promote the development of a wide portfolio of competitive skills and skills development in renewable technologies.
3. to increase the proportion of renewable energy in the local building stock, both current and proposed.
4. to increase market demand for and raise the level of awareness of renewable energy and the opportunity for careers and training in this locality.
5. to promote self sufficiency in renewable energies, energy efficiency and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.
6. to promote the practical export of surplus energy, skills and technology.
7. to support renewable energy schemes whilst ensuring that the relevant environmental, social, economic and visual issues, if any, have been addressed.

Tina Irving

Secretary,

Caithness Renewable Energy Forum