It has been reported in The Guardian that over eighty different social housing projects will receive funding and two years to implement a carbon cutting strategy.

Making the UK's social housing stock greener has been bolstered today with a £17m government plan to trial low carbon housing technology in schemes across the country, increasing social housing jobs and decreasing carbon footprints.

Richard Miller of the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) who are part-funding the strategy, comments: ''We have to tackle the existing housing stock. Two-thirds of the houses we'll be living in 2050 have already been built and we need to make these radically more efficient.''

Approximately 27 per cent of carbon emissions are generated from housing and the government hopes that by using well-known green technologies such as solar panels, this figure will decrease.

The eighty seven selected social housing projects will receive around £150,000 each to help cut carbon emissions by 80 per cent before 2050. The projects will be carefully overseen by the Energy Saving Trust, who will collate data on temperatures, humidity and carbon emissions from selected houses.

In Eltham, London, the Hyde Property Group will retrofit its properties with internal insulation and an intelligent heating system that pays attention to resident's life patterns, only turning on heat and water when necessary.

Alex Stuart of the EST said of the scheme: ''This project will provide a real insight into what is actually achievable today with existing and new-to-market technologies. It will enhance understanding of what technologies and measures work best in combination and whether savings are cumulative or whether there is a point of diminishing returns.''

Stuart continued, saying ''This is real testing in real life, in real people's homes. How can we help to improve the UK housing stock to be as energy efficient as possible, making it habitable, livable and affordable?''