Achieve an eco-friendly home

Top ten tips:

1. Brush up on energy saving
   Eliminate draughts and wasted heat by installing a cheap, easy-to-fix brush or PVC seal on your exterior doors. Letterboxes and keyholes should be covered too.
2. Draught dodgers
   Draughts also get in through gaps in floorboards and skirting boards, which also allow heat to escape in the winter months. Filling them with newspaper, beading or sealant will help you stop throwing heat (and your money!) away.
3. A bright idea & buy an energy saving light bulb
   Trade your ordinary light bulbs for energy saving ones. Costing from just £3.50, energy saving light bulbs last 12 times longer and for each bulb you fit, you could save up to £9 on your annual electricity bill or £100 over the bulb's lifetime.
4. Treat your tank & give it a jacket
   An insulating jacket for a hot water tank only costs a few pounds and pays for itself within months. Fit one that's at least 75mm (3") thick and you could save around £20 a year. If every UK household fitted a jacket on their tank tomorrow, we'd save over £95 million of energy every year!
5. Lofty ambitions
   Insulating your loft is one of the simplest ways to save energy and you can even install it yourself. Insulate you loft today and in a year you could between £180 and £220.
6. Look for cavities
   Around 33% of the heat lost in your home is through the walls, so insulating them can be the most cost-effective way to save energy in the home - you could save £130 to £160 on your annual heating bills! Cavity wall insulation will also keep you cool in the summer and warm in winter. It's straightforward, inexpensive and hassle-free. If we all had our cavity walls filled tomorrow, together we'd save over £962 million of energy every year.
7. Boilers - it may not be broke but it might still need fixing!
   If your boiler is over 15 years old it's probably time to replace it. By law, new boilers must now be of the high-efficiency condensing type. They can help you save up to a third on your heating bills and even more if you upgrade to modern controls.
8. Look for the logo
   When replacing appliances, look for ones displaying the energy saving recommended logo. Energy saving appliances use less energy and could save you up to £45 a year.
9. See double...and cut heat loss by 50%
   Double-glazing cuts heat loss through windows by 50% and could cut your heating bill by £80 to £100.
10. Take our online home energy check
    Still not sure which are your home's weak spots? Why not complete the Energy Saving Trust's online home energy check? If you'd prefer to speak to someone you can call a local energy efficiency advisor on 0800 512 012.

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