Patrick Harvie: We can't afford to miss out on renewable energy

IN HIS recent article, "Expensive energy is here to stay, let's warm to it", Michael Kelly says he knows the mind of the Greens, and that we welcome price hikes by the power companies. Nothing could be further from the truth.

True, the market is sending clear price signals, mostly based on the escalating cost of imported gas. But rising costs will have a much more serious impact on those on lower incomes, and they won't encourage shifts in behaviour until the alternatives are better supported.

A shift to renewables will mean a substantial short-term increase in investment, but alternatives like carbon capture technology or nuclear won't give us a free ride – they, too, would require huge investment.

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In the longer term, though, relying on Scotland's own wind, wave and tidal resources will certainly be cheaper than continued dependence on diminishing supplies of fossil or nuclear fuel – even without considering the much higher capital cost of nuclear power. That calculation also leaves out the employment and economic opportunities that come from moving quickly into this growing market.

That's one Green way to cut bills for the long term – but the other route is support for energy efficiency. A Scotland-wide programme to insulate every home would pay for itself, region by region, in just 18 months, cutting household bills as well as emissions. Those benefits should be available for everyone, not just home-owners who are well off enough to pay for the work themselves.

Mr Kelly also suggests that Scotland should ignore climate change because of the limited size of our national carbon footprint. By this logic, everyone on the planet is directly responsible for a tiny proportion of global emissions, so no-one needs to act.

It may be happening far too slowly, but other countries are acting on climate change. In 30 years' time we can be one of the countries that moved early and reaped the benefits, or we can be struggling to pay vast sums for the last trickle of gas and the last kilo of decent uranium. I know where I want to see Scotland stand.

Patrick Harvie is a Green MSP

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