While alternative energy campaigners are pleased with the new law making solar panels compulsory for buildings in Marburg, Germany, some residents are talking about "environmental dictatorship".

The new law, the first to be passed in the country, requires any newly constructed buildings, as well as existing buildings that are expanded or altered, to include solar panels as part of the heating system.

"The local government shouldn't have the right to force the installation of solar panels on people." Dr Hermann Uchtmann, a Christian Democrat member of Marburg town council, said. "It should be voluntary because a lot of Marburg residents were installing solar panels themselves before this bill. ... Read full article