New technology is the key to the meeting the coalition's pledge to lead the "greenest government ever", David Cameron has said. The prime minister was announcing the publication of an online league table which will be updated daily, to allow the public to see which departments were cutting energy use the most.

Urging all his departments to compete to achieve the biggest cut in energy use, the prime minister highlighted an initiative at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The DCMS is already using IT virtualisation technology to reduce the number of network servers it uses, Downing Street said. The prime minister's spokesman also pointed to work at the Department for Energy and Climate Chance (DECC), testing ceiling tiles that store heat during the day as part of its green technology project

"I made a commitment that, over the next 12 months, central government departments would reduce their emissions by 10%," Cameron said. "We have made a start, but clearly we can all do more to show leadership on this vital issue. So today is a clear challenge to cabinet ministers and an opportunity for the public to hold us to account."

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said he hoped his actions would encourage town halls to also cut energy waste - but planned to use more basic methods. He said he would order civil servants in his department to work in colder offices and walk upstairs, so that heating can be turned down and lifts switched off during "quiet periods". Pickles said: "I can't expect councils to cut waste if we don't get our own house in order."

The cenergy saving ompetition will be run during the month of October, comparing emissions at each ministerial headquarters with September's total. The league table - which will show data from 18 government departments - is based on an application called Govspark originally devised by a 16-year-old, Isabell Long.

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