Details of Lochgilphead

Why did we choose Lochgilphead?

The first reason why we chose Lochgilphead, as a case study is the area has obviously great potential as far as renewable resources are concerned and is not being exploited at the moment as we found out form the Argyll and Bute Council’s Energy Strategy.

We also felt the town was a reasonable size of its population (i.e. not too small, not too big). And finally the demand information was available.

Introduction to the Area

Population Statistics

The Argyll and Bute Council provided the 1991 Census Fact sheet to us. It allowed us to get an idea of the population in Lochgilphead and the kind of activity within the village.

The age profile of the residents of Lochgilphead is as follow:

We can notice that about 54% of the population is 35 years old or over. Almost 90% of the population is Scottish and nearly half own a car.

The economic activity of the residents of Lochgilphead is as follow:

	Male	Female	Total	Percentage
Employees FT	468	303	771	65.3
Employees PT	21	174	195	16.5
Self Employed	86	24	110	9.3
Govt Scheme	19	7	26	2.2
Unemployed	51	28	79	6.7
Econ inactive	275	501	776	-
Total	920	1037	1957	-

The economically active people represent 93.3% of the population in Lochgilphead, which is a very large majority of the people living in the village.

The housing characteristic in the village is as follow:

Household Characteristics
	Total	Percentage
1 single adult	92	10.3
> 2 adult, no children	364	40.9
> 2 adults, + children	250	28.1
Single Parents	26	2.9
Lone Pensioner	157	17.7
> 2 pensioners	140	15.7

Types of Accommodation
	Total	Percentage
Detached	215	22.7
Semi-detached	178	18.8
Terrace	308	32.6
Flat (purpose building)	193	20.4
Flat (conversion)	53	5.6
Not self contained	0	0.0
Non permanent accommodation	2	0.2

The total number of households with residents is 904. There are 145 households without central heating, 2 with no inside WC and 3 without a bathroom. In addition there are 39 vacant accommodations, 6 second homes and 1 holiday accommodation.

Maps

Settlement Map

Ordnance Survey Map

Current Energy Supply

Scottish Hydro-Electric and Southern Electric provide the electricity in Lochgilphead by means of the Sloy/Awe Hydro Electric Scheme.

According to the Council, more than 95% of the houses in the village only use electricity as power and mean of heat using hot brick storage, as the village is under the Economy 7 plan, which encourages people to use electricity when it is the cheapest, that is to say early in the morning between 00h00 and 07h00.

Argyll & Bute Energy Strategy

Argyll and Bute is an area where there is an abundance of energy generated from renewable sources. However the physical and demographic characteristics of the area generate direct or indirect energy related problems such as cost of living, transportation costs, a greater potential for health risks due to cold and dampness, a lack of energy efficiency information for householders and businesses.

Already, Argyll and Bute has recorded substantial potential savings in residential, industrial, and Council buildings. But most of all it has been identified that local renewable energy generation for local consumption could produce cheap and sustainable energy giving business an economic advantage and everyone else within Argyll and Bute affordable energy.

The challenge is to get people to think about energy issues and by advising and assisting in order to enable them to become more energy efficient or to capitalise on their local renewable energy resources.

The Council’s Approach:

The Council’s approach towards energy issues has been focused by its will to improve the quality of life and opportunities for the people of Argyll and Bute.

Aim:

To promote affordable, sustainable energy generation and management within Argyll and Bute.

Objectives:

Energy Management:

To ensure the people of Argyll and Bute have the necessary information, advice and assistance to enable them to take necessary actions to reduce energy consumption and to promote energy efficiency.

Renewable Energy Promotion:

To promote the local generation and consumption of renewable energy within Argyll and Bute.

Energy Costs:

To ensure access to the people of Argyll and Bute to competitive priced energy sources.

In order to do so the Council has launched a series of energy awareness programs for households, schools and businesses but also renewable energy programs to study the effects of local generation and consumption of renewable energy and finally affordable energy program in order to move towards similar costs to anywhere else in the UK.