ONE Southampton street is living up to its name by battling to become the greenest road in Britain.

Green Lane in Butlocks Heath near Netley, is one of eight UK streets chosen to take part in a national energy saving competition in the fight to tackle climate change.

As part of the British Gas Green Streets campaign, Green Lane will be allocated £30,000 to spend on energy saving equipment from light bulbs and insulation to new boilers and solar panels. Residents will have one year to effectively reduce their energy consumption in a unique challenge which could provide a blueprint for the way the nation manages its energy consumption in the future.

To win the challenge, Green Lane must drive down its CO2 emissions more than the seven other streets taking part.

If it succeeds it will be awarded £50,000 worth of energy saving equipment to invest in a local community project.

Speaking at a public meeting last night the eight Green Lane families taking part said they would use the prize to help local schools go green.

They also decided how to spend the initial £30,000 to reduce their CO2 emissions over the twelve-month period.

Helping them divide the budget were British Gas energy expert David Franks and the company's Green Ambassador' Sam Winshipp. Both of these energy gurus will be on hand for Green Lane residents to offer advice and support throughout the challenge.

After some debate, a range of energy-saving products were chosen from a menu of options.

Final choices included a solar panel for one home, new boilers for five households, wall insulation for four families and loft insulation for six homes.

If Green Lane is to have any chance of winning, it must beat the energy saving efforts of "green streets" in Manchester, Leeds, London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Plymouth.

It is already in a good position - an energy audit revealed the Southampton street is currently the most energy efficient of the eight contenders.

Behind the social experiment is an important message.

As a result of poor insulation, £1 in every £3 spent heating homes in the UK is wasted.

Unless something is done to address the issue, Britain risks falling short of government targets for reducing CO2 emissions.

While building regulations require all new build homes to be carbon neutral by 2016 that doesn't take into account the majority of homes which are not new builds.

In fact, experts estimate that by 2050 less than one in four homes will be classified as new - that is, built since 2007.

Organisers hope the Green Streets campaign will demonstrate just what can be achieved by households up and down the country in existing homes.

A spokesperson for British Gas said: "While strict standards on new builds are needed, most of the energy being consumed is in the ageing homes we live in today.

"It is making changes in these properties that will give us the biggest carbon emission reductions.

"I am confident that the Green Streets campaign will show that simple changes can be made to adapt existing homes to help address this problem."

Find out more about Green Streets at www.britishgas.co.uk/greenstreets.