Islay Wave bus powered by renewable energy

Electric vehicles are extremely quiet and produce no tailpipe pollution. Where the electricity is generated from renewable energy, as with the Islay Wavebus, their use creates no carbon emissions at all. Unlike fuel cell vehicles, which are still at the prototype stage, electric vehicles are available as production models from most major car makers. Citroen and Peugot provide electric options on many of their models. Ford recently launched the think! Electric city car, whilst Toyota and Honda have developed new electric/petrol hybrids with the Prius and Insight models. The Toyota Prius is a market leader and had reached global sales of 55,000 by the end of 2001 which doubled the number of electric vehicles in the world. New air pollution legislation in California requires that 15% of all new buses are zero emission. In London green vehicles will be exempt from congestion charging, which will increase demand for electric cars and vans.

Islay wave bus logo

Local communities, businesses and individuals working together to establish Islay as a model community for renewable and environmentally positive energy projects.

How will this be achieved?

Islay has already made substantial advances in this direction. In 1994 ETSU, the UK Government's executive agency for energy technologies, carried out a comprehensive study into energy use and resources on Islay. The research was instigated initially by the distilleries, and many of the subsequent recommendations were implemented by communities, government agencies and Scottish Hydro-Electric. The home insulation initiative, for example, installed insulation in over one third of Islay's homes. Scottish Hydro-Electric are also investigating energy storage projects, such as batteries, flywheels and pumped storage.