Wasting energy is an "anti-social act" that should be viewed in the same way as drink-driving, a leading environmentalist said today.
Wasting energy is an "anti-social act" that should be viewed in the same way as drink-driving, a leading environmentalist said today.
Dr Richard Dixon, director of WWF Scotland, said there is a "rump of people" who will not take action in their homes to help prevent climate change.
But he said that a third of all carbon dioxide emissions in Scotland came from buildings, and called on ministers to penalise those who waste energy.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Morning Extra programme Dr Dixon said: "We should be viewing this as an anti-social act to be wasting energy needlessly.
"Even if you can afford it and you think it's your right to waste energy in any way you like, we should start to think of that as anti-social and the Government should start to crack down on that."
He argued that with all political parties pledging to tackle global warming, and with a Climate Change Bill going through Holyrood, society had stated that the problem must be confronted.
"Therefore it is anti-social for people to not take part in that, just as it is anti-social for people to drink drive or to smoke in pubs where smoking is now banned," Dr Dixon said.
"These are anti-social things and I want the same sort of attitude to wasting energy needlessly.
"I'm certainly not talking about the police turning up on your door and carting you away to jail."
The Government should take a "more directive approach", he continued.
"There's actually a rump of people who are quite well off but just can't be bothered. Saving £180 a year off their energy bill by doing cavity wall insulation doesn't really attract them.
"It's those kind of people I'd really like to try to get to and say 'you're being anti-social, we're just going to come and do this and we're going to recover the money from you'."
People can "make a big difference to the climate" by introducing energy-saving measures in their homes, he said.
"The housing estate in Scotland produces about a third of the CO2 emissions we are concerned about. But we're not doing enough and we're not doing it fast enough," Dr Dixon added.
However he said that even with advice and grants to encourage people to install better home insulation, there will be people who "still don't do the right thing".
And he added: "I'm suggesting Government needs to start thinking about how do you deal with that last bit, because to tackle climate change we need to make every home in Scotland energy efficient, we need every lightbulb to be an energy-efficient lightbulb at some point."
Labour climate change spokesman Des McNulty said he disagreed with Dr Dixon's suggestion that householders who did not improve energy efficiency should be treated as criminals.
Instead what is needed is more action from the Scottish Government, he said.
"Householders in Scotland have not been given the advice or the financial support that they require to make their homes more energy efficient," Mr McNulty said.
"The Scottish Government should have been talking to the energy companies and local authorities to progress this.
"There is a huge gap between the rhetoric of the SNP on climate change and their action in government."
Mr McNulty said it had been disclosed last week that the Government's energy efficiency plan was delayed until the end of 2009, adding: "Timetables are slipping and there is a lamentable absence of practical steps on measures to tackle climate change from the SNP government.
"We need the Scottish Government to take its responsibilities seriously. The world is waking up to the scale and the urgency of the challenge on emissions reduction but there is no sign of the SNP taking the measures necessary to deliver the reductions needed."
