Scottish ministers' team of top economic advisers say a loans scheme, repayable over several years, is needed to entice people into making energy efficiency moves.

The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) met at Glasgow University yesterday, its third gathering since starting work last September. It warned First Minister Alex Salmond and Enterprise Secretary John Swinney that they need to resolve the tension between their economic growth targets and their aim of reducing carbon emissions.

Sir George Mathewson, the former Royal Bank of Scotland chairman who chairs the council, said that the First Minister was told he should commission an immediate independent assessment of the cost of various "options for reducing the up-front capital cost of energy efficiency measures, perhaps through systems that allow consumers to pay back the capital costs over a number of years".