Reduce your eco footprint

Turn your central heating thermostat down

A great way of cutting your heating bills is to turn the thermostat on your central heating down by just one degree. Sounds insignificant doesn't it, but we could be cutting household bills by up to £40 a year and pumping around 300kg less of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Just turning it down by 1 degree it could save you up to 10% of your heating bill.

Only boil as much water as you need

If everybody only boiled as much water as they needed when making hot drinks, the UK would save enough electricity to power two thirds of all its street lighting.

Close your curtains at dusk

Drawing your curtains when the sun goes down will cut heat loss from windows and save money.

Forget standby

Switch off electrical appliances such as TV's, videos and PC monitors rather than leaving them on standby.

Wash your laundry at 30C

Washing clothes at a lower temperature than normal, say 30 degrees instead of 40 will result in lower electricity bills.

Upgrade your boiler

With new central heating boilers being more energy efficient, it's worth replacing yours if it's more than 15 years old. By law, new boilers must be of the highly efficient condensing type, which can help you save up to a third on your heating bills.

Buy energy efficient appliances

When its time to replace household appliances, consider their energy efficiency rating and look for the Energy Efficiency Recommended Logo, as a guide to help you choose the most suitable product.

Draughtproof windows and doors

Draughts could be costing you as much as £20 a year and are the cheapest way of saving money, requiring only basic equipment and DIY skills to install.

Insulate your immersion

Insulating your hot water tank is another cheap and easy way to save money. If it's not already got a foam outer layer good insulating jackets cost around £10 and reduce heat loss by as much as 75%, saving you around an extra £15 a year.

Put aluminum foil behind any radiators fitted to outside walls

You can buy specially designed reflective panels from most DIY stores, but strong kitchen foil will do a similar job of reducing heat loss on exterior walls for a fraction of the cost.

Think solar

Solar panels are worth considering if you're on a real mission to cut fuel bills. Although still expensive they are coming down in price and will generate electricity for your home. Recommended if you're re-roofing your home.

Some facts

• A forest approximately three and a half times the size of Greater London would need to be planted to absorb the CO2 emitted annually from UK housing.
• If every household in the UK installed three energy saving light bulbs, electricity equivalent to the output of a typical power station would be saved each year.
• If every household in the UK replaced their old fridge freezer with an Energy Efficiency Recommended one, electricity equivalent to the output of two typical power stations would be saved each year.

- Check who would be the cheapest provider for you?