The Scottish Government

Information Released in Response to an FOI Request

Note: If you have difficulty accessing the documents on this page and would like copies in a different format, please e-mail foi@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

HEAT MAP of SCOTLAND

While this is information held by the Scottish Government, it has been commissioned by the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland (FREDS) and does not necessarily represent the views of the Scottish Government. It represents only a snapshot of heat use and is a draft document. The heat map is the joint intellectual property of the Energy Saving Trust and the Scottish Government. It was produced for FREDS to use in its report Scotland's Renewable Heat Strategy: Recommendations to Scottish Ministers, which was published in 2008.

The map, produced by AEA Technology and presented to FREDS on 17 May 2007, contains a graphical view of the 1km grid of carbon dioxide emissions data adjusted to represent a proxy for heat use. The company explains "AEA took information on CO2 emissions across the UK from the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI). This includes mapping of CO2 emissions at 1km resolution across the UK. This data set has been manipulated to map heat use. This forms the basis of the heat map." The Scottish Government is not responsible for any errors or omissions in the data, the use of which is at your own risk. Also available is AEA Technology's report on the heat map which explains how to use it. Please note that the information is provided as-is and the Scottish Government is unable to provide technical support or answer queries about using the heat map or the associated software.

An image of the draft heat map with base data shown is reproduced below. A larger, full-scale image of the map suitable for printing is also available. The map was produced using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software and additional data was overlayed for FREDS; the GIS data file (or "published map file") is available and may be viewed using software currently available free of charge from Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI) via http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcreader/download.html. The data overlayed for FREDS included the locations of:

• public buildings such as Schools, Colleges, Universities and Hospitals
• buildings awarded grants under the Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative (SCHRI)
• sawmills
• biomass installers and fuel suppliers
• large industrial heat demands (where there may be the capacity to use waste heat)

To enable the file to be reduced to a reasonable size, the following data (which is published on standard Ordnance Survey maps) was removed:

• road network
• lochs and waterways
• towns and cities
• forestry commission land

Information supplied to the Government as commercially confidential has been deemed exempt from publication. This applies to data on the location of forestry, some of which is in the private sector. Forestry data has been removed from the file. Any queries regarding forestry should be addressed to Forestry Commission Scotland.

Key to abbreviations used:

• GWh: gigawatt hours
• GWh/km ²: gigawatt hours per square kilometre