Scottish Businesses Looking to Benefit From Biomass Project

More than 26 business in Scotland are looking to benefit from a £1.6 million investment by the Scottish government. These small businesses, such as offices and hotels, will now have biomass heating systems, as well as district heating systems installed as part of the initiative.

The total amount of funds that are available for the project sits at £3.3 million, after extra money from the European Union was allocated. The energy minister, Jim Mather, said that almost half of the energy used in Scotland goes towards heating, as well as hot water. Thus, using biomass for heating should help Scotland lower their energy consumption. He went on to say that Scotland must lead the fight against climate change. Their ambition is to become the green energy capital of Europe, and to do that they need a viable renewable heat sector.

Almost 7MW of renewable energy will be produced by the initiative. The closing date for companies to be a beneficiary of this program is set for September 4^th 2009. The Scottish government and Forestry Commission Scotland are going to be jointly responsible for the running of this new Scottish Biomass Heat Scheme.

Scotland believes that Europe can be run off renewable resources, but places have to set up to make the change. Scotland hopes to set up and set an example for other countries all across Europe. They want to prove that the use of renewable energy is possible and that it will help the environment. However, the Scottish government did say that the environment can not be saved by one place making a change. This is something that has to catch on everywhere.