The roof of a Norwich library could be covered in 40 solar panels to slash carbon dioxide emissions by almost five tonnes a year.

Norfolk County Council are hoping to put four rows of panels on Costessey Library on Breckland Road.

The panels should be able to power all the library's energy needs as part of a drive by the county council to reduce its carbon footprint.

They could also make money by selling energy produced by the panels and not used by the library into the National Grid.

Property consultants NPS, who are handling the council's planning application, said: 'Careful consideration has been given to the scale, siting and appearance of the PV panels.

'Although the development will be clearly visible from the surrounding area, the introduction of PV panels on a building with a prominent position close to a range of other community focused facilities will seek to increase public awareness of this form of green development, whilst at the same time creating electricity.'

The library will also sign up to the Government's feed-in tariff scheme, which was introduced in April 2010 to encourage people to generate electricity from renewable sources.

But a question mark hangs over how much money the Government will pay for feed-in tarrifs.

Ministers are looking to cut the amount of subsidies given out.

Costessey parish councillor Dianna Bates said the council supported the application when they looked at it at their meeting on Tuesday night. 'We couldn't see any problems with it,' she said. 'We didn't see it was going to cause any disruption or that it would obstruct anything in anyway at all.'

The panels will be put at an angle on the south-facing roof to increase their exposure to the sun.

It is hoped the 10 kW panels will produce 7,984 kW of energy a year.

The county council is also planning to fit panels to fire stations at Great Yarmouth, King's Lynn, North Earlham, Sprowston and the fire headquarters at Hethersett as well as ten libraries.

•Do you have a story about the environment for the Evening News? Contact reporter Tom Bristow on 01603772313 or email tom.bristow@archant.co.uk