Energy Efficiency Audits:

Give your house an energy-efficiency audit.

Answer a quick questionnaire on the Energy Saving Trust’s site.

1.  This has easy steps and can help you to search for grants. For a bigger plunge into eco-living, calculate your carbon footprint. For £49.95, you may want an energy monitor that makes you realise how much electricity each appliance uses.

2.  Switch to energy-saving bulbs, they cost £3.75, but last eight times longer than ordinary bulbs. The Energy Saving Trust says that replacing an old 100W bulb with a 20W green bulb should save you £7 a year: not much, until you add up the number of bulbs in your house.

3.  Insulate the easy way, Installing the recommended 270mm of loft insulation alone can save you £110 a year. It costs an average of £250 if you lay it yourself, and you should get your money back within a couple of years. If your house was built after 1920, a third of heating is lost through the walls. Cavity wall insulation can save you £90 a year: and costs about £500 for a three-bedroom semi.

4.  Draught-proof those gaps, another easy DIY task is blocking the cold air that passes around doors and windows. You can use self-adhesive foam strips, rubber strips, brush strips, which are useful on patio doors, and silicone rubber sealant, great for irregular gaps.

5.  Gauzy curtains and carpeted floor are back, which will help to retain heat. If you must have bare wood, timber floors can be insulated by laying mineral wool under the floorboards.

6.  Double glazing can cut heat loss by half, but fitting it is best left to the professionals. The most efficient windows carry the Energy Saving Recommended logo. Companies such as the Original Box Sash Windows Company (boxsash.com) can do this, but you may need new timber sliding sashes even if they are in perfect working order.

7.  About 40 per cent of water used daily in the home goes down the pan. A low flow toilet reduces this, and recycling systems for rainwater can cut mains water usage by half, according to Freerain.co.uk . However, the cost for a three-bed semi is about £2,245 plus VAT, fitting it a further £2,500. A garden water butt costs from £20 at Homebase.

8.  Trap the sun. Solar panels will heat up your water, but photovoltaic (PV) panels can convert the sun’s energy directly into electricity. Solar water heating systems cost from £3,200 to £4,500 to install, although DIY kits are available online from about £2,500 (see Solartwin.com). PV systems can cost between £7,500 and £24,000 to install.