Scottish homeowners are leading the UK in the number turning to green energy generators to light and heat their homes.
More than 50,000 households have installed renewable heating or energy technologies during the past two years, saving an estimated 34,562 tonnes of annual carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere.
The surge in green energy generators began at the start of the pandemic and has been boosted by the growing energy crisis across Europe and the rising cost of fuel.
Homes have been fitted out with a raft of technologies, including small-scale wind turbines, heat pumps and biomass generators, with solar panels proving most popular
Data from a new report by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) - the standards organisation for small-scale domestic renewable energy - reveals Scotland led the UK in domestic renewable installations in 2020 and 2021.
The report, which recorded certified installations between March 2020 and December 2021, found that approximately 1.3 per cent of all homes in Scotland installed renewable heating or energy technologies.
In total 31,310 certified installations were recorded during this period. Seven of the top 10 areas across the UK with the highest proportion of households installing renewable technologies, were in Scotland.
This has been followed up with fresh data for this year, with 23,820 certified installations since January. This represents almost another 1 in 1,000 of the homes in Scotland installing home renewable technologies this year.
Scotland was particularly notable for solar PV installations during this time, with 70% of the top 10 UK installation areas being Scottish. At the top of the list was Aberdeenshire, where approximately one in 41 homes are benefitting from generating their own solar energy.
At a regional level, the Orkney Islands tops the UK league table with some form of MCS certified small-scale installation since 2008.
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According to the Orkney Renewable Energy Forum, one of the main drivers for renewable heating and power in Orkney is the cost of energy.
Ian Rippin, CEO of MCS, said: ‘The Low Carbon Landscapes report spans a period of incredible upheaval for everyone in the UK.
“In March 2020, we entered the first lockdown of the global pandemic. The lockdown forced us all to stay at home, placing huge pressure on businesses’ ability to install renewables. The year began with an average of 4,000 – 5,000 installations per month. By April 2020 that had fallen to well below 2,000.
‘However, the onset of the energy crisis in late 2021 combined with more homeowners wanting to embrace the benefits of greener ways to heat or power their homes, means the deployment of small-scale renewables continues to thrive, and the technologies are on their way to becoming the ‘new normal’.
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He added: “Scotland is a great example of this and somewhere we can learn lessons from. By embracing renewable technology, the country saved 34,562 tonnes of annual carbon emissions across all installations during this period.
“That’s the equivalent of the emissions from over 110,000 one-way flights from London to New York City.’
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