The city is looking to use the energy from the ground in order to help power homes and communities
The British Geological Survey (BGS) has identified significant potential in Glasgow to harness heat contained in the ground.
Work is now under way by officers at Glasgow City Council and the BGS to help identify which parts of the city would offer the best prospects of supplying this kind of energy.
If it is successful, this new source has the potential to help Glasgow meet government targets to ensure 11% of heat demand comes from renewable sources by 2020. It will also contribute to the city’s ambition, set out through the Sustainable Glasgow partnership, to become one of Europe’s most sustainable cities within the next 10 years.
Councillor Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council and chair of Sustainable Glasgow, said: “I am committed to ensuring that everyone in Glasgow has access to affordable warmth. The council is investigating all avenues to allow us to harness energy from sustainable sources and make it cheaper to heat homes in our city.
“Through the new local development plan we are looking to see how we can grow our city in the future and obviously sustainable issues form a major part of how we can grow our city.
“I look forward to hearing how the potential for ground source heat in our city can be realised. We want developers and local communities to come forward in the future with projects which could use this new source of heating and help ensure that everyone in Glasgow is able to benefit from the new green energy revolution.”
The proposals to harness heat from the shallow depths of the earth form part of the Local Development Plan Main Issues Report and will help to set out Glasgow’s vision for the coming years and give guidance on what is and is not acceptable to be built or developed in the city.
The Main Issues Report states: “Should ground source heat prove an attractive proposition, the Council will bring forward new policy to ensure its potential is utilised, and to address any issues relating to design, environmental impacts, etc. This is likely to be in the form of supplementary guidance.”
Ground source heat could also be used as an element within a District Heating Scheme – a method of distributing heat to a wider community or area.
At the start of November, Cube Housing Association was given planning permission for a district heating system to provide hot water heating to around 1900 homes in the Wyndford area.
The new energy system will be powered by one gas fired Combined Heat and Power unit and three gas fired boilers. The plans stated that the system could also be extended in the future to use renewable energy sources.
The new local development plan will feed into the Future Glasgow project, which is the long-term initiative to develop a vision for what the city aspires to be in 2061. It will also feed into other relevant city-wide strategies which look at related development and environmental issues such as the Glasgow Opens Space Strategy.
The consultation for the local development plan has just closed. The comments received during the consultation will help city planners to understand what should be included in the new plan which will be published at the end of 2012.
There is a statutory duty to keep development plans up to date and to review the Local Development Plan at least every five years.
To find out more about the values and issues which were raised in the consultation, which closed on the 12 December, 2011, you can visit developmentplan
The city is committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 30 per cent within 10 years and building a greener and more sustainable future for Glaswegians. The unparalleled strategic approach taken by Glasgow will help to create jobs and boost the economy, tackle social issues including fuel poverty and regenerate the city.