Green vision for community benefit from clean energy
For immediate release 25 April 2011
The Scottish Greens today launched their national energy policy for Scotland on the eve of Tuesday's 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, and asked for public support to bring about an end to risky nuclear and dirty coal power. The Greens have put Scotland's energy choices at the heart of any post-election negotiations, and will not support any administration in the next Parliament which plans new nuclear or coal plants, or to extend the life of existing nuclear facilities.
Instead, Greens want to go faster and further than any other party in delivering renewable energy: for Scotland to go beyond 100% renewable electricity for domestic demand by 2020 using the full mix of renewables, including wave and tidal, and to export the surplus to our neighbours, drawing on renewable heat and making a rapid transition away from an oil-dependent transport system. The party also proposes empowering Scottish Water and local authorities to develop renewable capacity in the public sector and to reduce their dependence on central funding. Greens will support community-level clean energy projects as well as those promoted by social enterprises, both of which can help break our reliance on the big energy companies. In the 2010 Scottish Budget Greens secured