The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, London

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown launched a subtle dig at opposition leader David Cameron on Thursday as he revealed he had chosen a rival carbon-free power technology for his home.

Cameron, the fresh-faced leader of the Conservatives who has worked hard to reshape his party's image as an eco-friendly one, was given the go-ahead last year to install a wind turbine in his up-market west London home. By contrast, Brown told The Times that he had solar panels put on his constituency home in Fife, Scotland-an area not known for bright, sunny days-in 2005 "very quietly t rather than ostentatiously", a reference to Cameron's headline-making wind turbine. "We have been operating with solar power for some time," Brown said, when asked what he had personally done to reduce his carbon emissions. "The irony is my initial instinct was to have wind turbines. We are in a hill in an exposed area but I was persuaded by people who know about these things that even in that area-surrounded by massive winds and storms-solar power was a better way of generating electricity."