Epilogue: Scotland Moving Forward

Abstract

Finally, we return to the beginning. Our discussion of the future prospects of renewable and low carbon energy in Scotland ends, as it began all these years ago, with the country facing the prospect of a referendum on independence, but now those prospects look decidedly different. North Sea oil prices have fallen‚ and the dream of carbon capture and storage has died, but with the people of England and Wales having voted to leave the European Union the mood of the nation has changed again, and the dream of independence is more alive than ever. Uncertain times and a plethora of risks lie ahead but, as these collected essays illustrate, now the greatest risk to Scotland’s renewable energy future lies not with cutting ties to the rest of the UK, but cutting ties with the renewable energy powerhouses of the European Union. We live in interesting times.