Happy housewarming!

1. Use kitchen appliances correctly: Choosing a lower temperature wash on your washing machine will help save energy, so too will using the delay timer on your appliances so you can take advantage of cheap overnight electricity. When it comes to cooking, microwave ovens and pressure cookers use less energy than conventional ones. Defrosting your fridge regularly will also help save energy and extend its operating life.

2. Be more label conscious:

When buying a new washing machine, fridge freezer, dishwasher or oven, look for brands with the European Union energy label, which shows how much energy an appliance uses on a scale of A to G, with A being the most energy efficient. It's your guarantee that the product will save energy, cost less to run and help the environment.

3. Insulate your hot water tank: One of the easiest ways you can save energy is to cover your hot water tank with an insulating jacket. It costs only 15 and pays for itself within a few months.

Fit one that's at least 75mm thick and you could save up to 40 a year.

4. Switch off and unplug: It's become almost a civic duty to switch TVs off standby, shut down our computers and unplug phone chargers but yet most of us forget to do it. All lights and appliances should be switched off when not in use as even those on standby use electricity. Besides, it's not only more energy efficient but also safer.

5. Buy an energy ef"cient boiler: A condensing boiler is the most energy efficient boiler you can buy as it wastes far less energy than conventional types by converting around 90% to 95% of the fuel it uses into heat. A condensing boiler costs about 500 more than a standard boiler and will repay the additional costs in less than two years. For more information visit www. rvr. ie.

6. Turn down the temperature: Do you really need to have the heat on at full blast in all the rooms in your house? To save energy and money, turn the heat on in only the rooms that you use. Or keep the heat at a low temperature and if it gets cold, put on a jumper. If you haven't got thermostatic valves fitted to your radiator, get it done. That way you can control heat in each room separately. One quick-fix, affordable energy saving solution is to fit tinfoil behind any radiators on external walls . . . this will help reflect heat back into the room.

7. Have showers instead of baths: Baths use twice as much water as a shower and therefore consume more energy. Decreasing the thermostat by one degree can also save up to 10% on the energy consumed.

Another idea is to fit a spray tap. It delivers as little as a cup of water for every half bucket that an ordinary tap delivers but still allows you to wash in the same way.

8. Buy an energy monitoring device: If you don't know how much energy you are using, you can't tell how much you are saving. The Electrisave, distributed in Ireland by Energy Liberators of Limerick for 115 (087 237 5153;
www. energyliberators. com), is a wireless system that monitors all electricity being used in the home. It consists of two components: a wireless sensor that clamps onto the positive cable of your electricity meter and a portable display monitor that shows you how much electricity you are using and how much it's costing you.

An alarm even sounds when you're using more than 1 an hour so you know to start switching off appliances.

9. Turn on to energy saving lighting: Incandescent 60watt light bulbs may be cheap to buy at less than 1 but they're extremely inefficient; only 5% of the energy they use is converted to light, the rest is lost as heat. Halogen lights are in the middle of the energyefficient scale, while compact fluorescents are the most energy efficient, using 80% electricity. Compact fluorescent lights may be more expensive at around 8 but they last up to eight years longer than an ordinary light bulb.

10. Block draughts: It's the simplest of energy saving solutions and the most obvious and it works.

Draught-proof letterboxes, use draught excluders on doors, close the curtains in winter months and fill in gaps in floorboards and under skirting boards with newspapers, beading or sealant to keep the heat in.