Small Steps - In the Home

1. The sun is the most readily available source of heat there is - and the cheapest! So make the most of it by opening internal doors of any rooms which get more sun than others and let the warm air travel through your home. In cold weather keep curtains wide open during the day but make sure they are drawn at dusk to stop heat escaping through the windows. It could save you 4% on your heating bill.
2. Try turning your heating thermostat down by 1°C - it will save up to 10% of your annual heating bill and 300kg of CO2.
3. In cold weather put central heating on a timer and set it to run only when the house is occupied, saving £50 a year and 300kg CO2
4. Keep furniture away from radiators, if possible: the foam in an upholstered chair is a very effective heat insulator!
5. Draught-proofing windows, doors and loft hatch and save £20 a year.
• Make sure that you don't draught-proof your airbricks though, otherwise your gas appliances won't be properly ventilated!
6. Insulating your loft saves £180 a year and 125kg CO2. Current guidelines recommend that loft insulation of at least 270mm (11inches) deep is used.
• Did you know that a poorly insulated loft accounts for 25% of the heat lost from your home!
7. You also don't need to have your domestic water heated to a scalding temperature either, for most people setting the thermostat to 60°C/140°F is quite adequate. Setting your hot water cylinder thermostat to this lower temperature can reduce your water heating bill by 4%.
8. Add extra insulation to your hot water cylinder. Current guidelines recommend that a tank jacket should be at least 75mm (3 inches) thick.
9. Fit and use thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) to help control room temperature. TRVs monitor and respond to the temperature in each room, ensuring that no rooms are over or under-heated.
10. Switching off lights when you leave a room unoccupied and replacing light bulbs with energy saving equivalents (which use up to 80% less energy and can last 8 to 11 times longer) could save £7 a year per bulb and 40kg of CO2.
11. Insulate your walls with cavity wall insulation: If your property is built after 1930, you probably have cavity walls and you can easily get these insulated by a professional installer.
12. Hang out washing on sunny days instead using of the tumble drier could save £136 a year and 113kg of CO2.
13. Don't leave TVs, DVDs or videos on standby and save £37 a year and 13kg CO2.
• Did you know that 1 million tonnes of CO2 (and up to £255million) is wasted every year by leaving electrical products on standby?
14. Switch off PC screens when they're not being used and unplug all electrical chargers once they have been used.
15. When replacing appliances, consider its energy efficiency rating (as detailed on the energy efficiency label) and always choose products that are energy efficient rating A, A+ or A ++.
• Did you know that an appliance with a poor energy efficiency rating can use up to 4 to 5 times the cost of electricity in its lifetime? For Example if the appliance cost £200, it could use £900 of electricity!
16. Replace your old boiler with an ultra-efficient condensing boiler which will save you up to 20% from your fuel bills compared to older boilers.
17. When cooking choose the right pan size for the food and the cooker, cut food into smaller pieces and put lids on pans as the food will then cook a lot quicker.
18. If you are defrosting food, or just warming things up, then microwave ovens are ideal as they use much less electricity than conventional ovens.
19. Regularly defrost your freezer and try to keep it packed full, even if this is with scrunched up paper to avoid wasting energy.
20. Check the seals on your fridge/freezer to ensure that no warm air is getting in; the seals should be tight enough to hold a piece of paper securely when closed.
21. Try to have full loads when using the washing machine and use the lower 30°C wash. With today's washing powders this temperature is more than adequate to clean clothes and will save you up to three quarters of the cost of the hottest cycle.
22. Avoid using tumble driers and radiators to dry your clothes; on nice sunny days clothes can be dried outside.
23. Fill your kettle with as much water as you need, rather than to the top saving £11 a year and 48kg of CO2.

Small Steps - For Transportation

If you use a car:

1. Check your tyre pressure - under inflated tyres by 10% an add 1% to fuel consumption.
2. Change gear in the car when you reach 2500rpm in petrol cars and 2000rpm in diesel cars to be most fuel efficient.
   Did you know that:
• Speeding at 85mph uses approx 25% more fuel than 70mph.
• The most efficient speed is 60-65mph.
• Air conditioning can use 20-25% more fuel at lower speeds, although driving at high speeds with the windows wide open creates turbulence that also increases fuel consumption.
3. Remove roof and cycle racks when not in use and they require the vehicle to use more fuel to move.
4. Try car sharing once a week
5. Plan journeys well to avoid getting lost and using additional fuel - check a road map before you start out on the journey.
6. Use your bike or walk short distances - to the shops or work when possible. A two mile round trip saves 24kg of CO2.

Bigger Steps - Not Quite So Easy

1. If your house is built before 1930, you probably won't have a suitable cavity for cavity wall insulation, but you can get the same effect by installing external or internal wall insulation. The costs are between £45-65 per square metre for external cladding or render, and £25-£40 per square metre for internal wall insulation. These forms of insulation can reduce your fuel bills by up to 25%.
• Internal wall insulation is ideal if you are considering redecorating, or if you want to insulate one particularly cold area such as a bathroom.
• External wall insulation is ideal if you want to minimise internal disruption, but may require planning permission in conservation areas.
2. Replacing old single-glazed windows with double (or triple) glazed low-emissivity glass (such as EnergiKare or Planitherm) could reduce heat loss from your home by 10%. Contact the Fenestration Self-Assessment Scheme (FENSA) for more information and registered installers.