This information sheet has been designed to show that you don't have to spend a lot of money to make energy savings in your home. It gives tips and ideas for things that can be carried out quite simply and economically, and which will continue saving you energy and money in the future and help our environment by reducing harmful emissions.

• Heating

•  Turn down your room thermostat by 1°C and it could save you 10% on your fuel bill. But don't skimp on heat if you are elderly or if your health is at risk.

•  Make sure your heating system is not set to come ‘ON' too early. Setting it to come ‘ON' about 30 minutes before you get up would normally be adequate.

•  Similarly, the heat left in your heating system at the end of the day can still be used. Setting your heating to go ‘OFF' about 30 minutes before you go to bed could save you money without affecting your comfort in any way.

•  It is usually more efficient to use a lower home heating setting for a longer time. This is cheaper and more comfortable than running heating for short bursts at high temperatures.

• If you don't have double glazing, consider the use of low cost secondary glazing, such as plastic sheet (e.g. Polycell) or “cling-film” type. These are not normally permanent, but do cut down heat loss through the glass, and can help eliminate draughts. You can fit them for winter and remove them for the rest of the year if you wish.

• Use gas fires or individual room heaters when there is no need to heat the whole house. Fires and heaters are normally designed to keep the individual room at a comfortable temperature.

• Don't open doors or windows to cool down a room which is too warm - turn down the heating thermostat instead. This is heat that has to be paid for, so it is better to use only that which is needed rather than using it to no effect.

•  Putting reflective foil behind radiators reflects valuable heat back into the room where you need it, rather than heating the wall behind the radiator. This is even more cost effective when the radiator is sited on an uninsulated external wall.

•  Don't overheat unused rooms - use only minimal heat. But make sure you keep the fabric of the building warm enough to prevent condensation problems occurring.

•  Draw the curtains at dusk. Make sure curtains don't cover radiators as the heat will escape through the window rather than heating the room. Thick, lined curtains also help retain heat.

• Don't put furniture in front of radiators and heaters - heat is not cheap and should be used for heating people, not three piece suites!

• Fill in gaps between floors and skirting boards using modern sealants which will ensure draught-free rooms. Also make sure your loft hatch fits snugly - don't forget that warm air rises and will find a way out if it can.

• Cooking

•  Only boil what water you need in the kettle (there's no point in boiling water which is going to go cold before you make your next cuppa!)

• Put a lid on saucepans when cooking - you will be able to turn the hotplate down a little and it will also cut down moisture in the air, which could possibly lead to condensation problems.

• Once a saucepan is boiling, you can turn down the heat a little to keep it just boiling (vigorous boiling is no hotter than gentle boiling and food will still cook in the same time using less energy).

•  Defrost fridges and freezers regularly and make sure to keep the fridge door shut. Keep freezers fairly full (even using empty boxes to fill spaces when gaps appear on the shelves). Having items in the freezer helps maintain low temperatures so the freezer doesn't have to work as hard to keep cool.

• Don't put hot food in the fridge - let it cool first, then you won't be warming up the fridge, and the fridge won't then be using energy to cool itself down again.

• Electricity

• Switch off lights in rooms that are not in use. A normal 100 watt bulb uses one unit of electricity every 10 hours. A unit of electricity is one kilowatt-hour (kWh), which is enough to run a one-bar electric fire for an hour!

• Use lower wattage, energy saving light bulbs where feasible - most use only 20% of the energy that ordinary bulbs use.

• Turn televisions and videos etc. fully to ‘OFF' rather than leaving them on ‘STANDBY'. A television could use up to €17 a year of electricity just by being left on ‘STANDBY'.

• Hot water

• Fix dripping hot taps promptly. By leaving a hot tap dripping you could be wasting €'s per year, for the sake of a small rubber washer.

•Put plugs in basins and sinks etc. Running hot water to waste is expensive.

• Set hot water thermostats to 60°C maximum. There is no point overheating water to the point where you have to cool it down before you can use it!

• Use a shower instead of a bath. A shower typically uses only 20% of the hot water that a bath uses, so you could have 5 refreshing showers for the price of one bath!

•Use low temperature and half-load settings where possible on automatic washers and dishwashers. Low-temperature programmes give the same washing results when used with a low-temperature washing powder but use far less energy. Half-load settings use less water, so less energy is needed to heat the wash.