Climate expert: Not seeking cheap energy should be crime - 15/04/2009
A leading climate change expert has called for people not seeking low prices from energy suppliers to be subject to criminal charges, reports the Scotsman.
Dr Richard Dixon, director of World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) Scotland, compared a lack of domestic energy efficiency with drink-driving in terms of its anti-social impact.
He called for homeowners to be threatened with criminal prosecution if they fail to install energy-efficient measures such as cavity wall insulation, arguing that it could prompt more people to take energy-saving practices more seriously.
Dr Dixon told the paper: "I think it should be a crime to be wasting energy. It's clearly a moral crime against the climate and I think we should be having a discussion about whether it should become an actual crime."
Around 750,000 Scottish homes have yet to be insulated despite having cavity walls, while the Scotsman found that many homeowners are still unsure about where to seek advice on how to be more energy-efficient.
Millions of energy-saving light bulbs have been sent out to consumers by energy companies in recent months.
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