Consultant says community revenue from fracking could boost homes efficiency and renewable energy

A research paper from a county company says that community cash from a shale gas industry could be used to boost green energy efforts on the Fylde.Remsol boss Lee Petts, who is a member of the North West Energy Task Force which backs fracking locally, said money from shale gas should be used to to install whole-home renewable energy and energy efficiency measures in local properties.He said: 'Until now, there hasn't really been a great deal of discussion about just how the one per cent of revenues could be spent. 'With our policy paper, (A Blueprint For Shale Gas Benefits ) we wanted to show that it's possible for substantial numbers of local people to benefit directly from hosting shale gas in their communities.'Opponents of shale gas regularly say that it will reduce investment in renewables, and lead to increased emissions but, as our paper shows, it's possible to use the industry's community benefit payments to actually boost renewables deployment and create climate change benefits.'Ken Cronin, chief executive of industry body the United Kingdom Onshore Oil and Gas said: 'We believe strongly that the UK needs to have a balanced home-grown energy mix including renewables, nuclear and gas and oil. This paper illustrates a novel way of doing so.'