Solar panels can reduce the affects of global warming

More than 25% of homes in the UK are being offered the green renovation under government plans to slash fuel bills and cut global warming pollution.

The scheme is being compared to the 10-year programme that converted homes in Britain to gas central heating in the 1960s 1970s. Seven million homes will be given a refit to improve insulation, and households will be encouraged to install renewable and low-carbon heating systems such as solar panels and wood-burning boilers.

A report by Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute in 2007 found that carbon dioxide emissions had risen 5% since 1997, and will rise by 23% by 2050 if nothing is done. It is thought the Department of Energy and Climate Change will commit to cutting a third of greenhouse gas emissions from houses by 2020.