Sixty-four families across the country have slashed their energy use and carbon emissions by a quarter as part of a year long energy efficiency challenge which has just finished recently.

The findings, from the British Gas Green Streets programme, show that if every household in the country followed suit they could cut an average of £200 a year from their energy bills. They also show how the UK can beat the Government target to cut carbon emissions by saving 35 million tonnes of CO2 - the annual carbon emissions of three coal-fired power stations.

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Green Lane in Cookridge, Leeds is unveiled as the greenest street in the challenge, having cut its energy use by nearly 35% in the past year. Elsewhere, individual households have slashed their energy use by as much as 70%.

Green Streets was a year-long social experiment in energy saving, monitored and analysed by the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr), which releases its final report on the challenge today recommending how to encourage similar energy savings for families across the UK.

British Gas gave households on eight streets in eight UK cities a budget of £30,000 per street to spend on energy efficiency measures. Residents were also given tips from British Gas energy experts on how to save energy through simple changes of behaviour such as turning off lights when not in a room and not leaving the television on standby. These small changes in lifestyle led to big drops in energy use.

By reducing their CO2 emissions and energy use the most, the residents of Green Lane, Leeds have scooped a £50,000 prize to spend on making a community building of their choice more energy efficient.

(CD/JM)