A scheme to heat homes with waste products from North Sea oil platforms and domestic waste is under way.

Two hundred people in the Shetland town of Lerwick have been connected to a new �14m waste-to-energy plant and district heating scheme.

It could mean domestic heating bills being cut by as much as a third.

Waste from offshore platforms along with domestic rubbish from Shetland and Orkney is burnt at a new incinerator in Lerwick.

Insulated pipes are being laid throughout the town to distribute the hot water to homes and businesses.

Cost drawback

In participating homes, a heat exhanger is taking the place of conventional boilers.

It heats up radiators and provides all the hot water necessary.

The main drawback, though, is the capital cost of conversion.

If a water central heating system is already in place, then all that is needed is to swap the boiler for a heat exchanger.

But if an electric heating system is in place, pipes and radiators have to be installed.

There are other reasons why the scheme has not taken off in other parts of Scotland

Inger Brisson, of Edinburgh University, says it has as much to do with attitudes in Scotland as the cost.

She said: "Energy efficiency has not really ever been on the agenda in this country, unlike, for example, Scandinavian countries, where district heating is widespread."

However, a lack of government incentives to develop energy conservation schemes in other parts of Scotland has not deterred the people of Shetland.