Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES)
East Dunbartonshire Council’s Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) is a locally-led place based approach to decarbonising heat in buildings and improving their energy efficiency in line with statutory duties under the Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (Scotland) Order 2022.
The final Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) & Delivery Plan were approved by Council in December 2024.
The strategy and delivery plan can be found in the documents section at the bottom of this page.
LHEES are primarily driven by Scotland’s statutory targets for greenhouse gas emissions reduction and fuel poverty:
- Net zero emissions by 2045; and
- In 2040, as far as reasonably possible, no household in Scotland is in fuel poverty.
The LHEES therefore provides a detailed baseline analysis of East Dunbartonshire’s building stock, potential technological opportunities for strategic heat decarbonisation and strategic opportunities for prioritised energy efficiency measures. Buildings account for a large proportion of both corporate and area-wide emissions, making decarbonisation of heat and buildings paramount to achieving the Council’s targets of reaching net zero by 2036 for scopes 1 and 2 emissions (direct emissions from Council operations such as gas for heating and indirect emissions such as purchased electricity, respectively) and by 2045 for scope 3 (remaining emissions) and area-wide emissions.
However, delivery of many of the opportunities that are identified in the LHEES will be subject to one or more of the following criteria being met: additional funding being secured, more detailed feasibility work being undertaken, the lower costs of generating electricity using renewable energy being passed on to users and any increase in cost from electrifying heat being offset by improved energy efficiency.
The Delivery Plan has been developed in partnership with a wide-range of stakeholders and provides a strong basis for action for local communities, government, investors, developers and wider stakeholders, pinpointing areas for targeted intervention and early, low-regrets measures. Following Council approval of the LHEES, our focus will now be on implementing the Delivery Plan in collaboration with internal and external partners. The Strategy and Delivery Plan will be reviewed and updated on a five-year basis.
The LHEES was accompanied by the Council’s Heat Network Zones Review Statement which outlines the scale of opportunity for developing heat networks in East Dunbartonshire. Funding bids to explore commercial viability of these potential heat networks are being developed in line with actions set out in the LHEES Delivery Plan.