1. Home insulation
It’s the middle of summer, and the last thing you’ll want to be thinking about is insulating your home. However, saving energy at home requires forward planning, especially if you have a hectic day-to-day schedule.

There are obvious things that you can do, such as making sure you’re using insulated curtains, have working draft excluders and ensuring windows are properly sealed. More serious insulation jobs include installing attic and wall insulation and getting your central heating system and boiler serviced regularly so that it performs efficiently.

There are grants available for certain types of insulation work. You can find out more about these from Warm Front, a government led initiative providing financial assistance for certain groups of people enabling them to pay for some home insulation work.

2. Switch off appliances
One of the simplest ways of saving energy at home is to ensure that all your appliances are fully switched off when you’re not using them. This involves switching off and unplugging anything that’s not in use. Everybody knows that TVs and DVD recorders that are left on standby use unnecessary electricity, but ask yourself whether you actually follow this advice – if not, then get into the habit of switching things off, especially at night.

3. Switch off lights
It’s summer, it stays light until late into the evening and even on the gloomiest of days there’s usually enough light in your home to move around safely. Where you do need to use the lights, get into the habit of turning them off when they’re not in use – especially when you’re not in the room, no matter how short a period of time this might be. Electric lighting is designed for our convenience, but this works both ways – it’s just as convenient to turn them off as it is to leave them on.

4. Cook wisely
Use pots and pans that are the right size for the type and quantity of food that you’re cooking. If you use gas, never let the flames lick up the sides of your pans. This will not only help you save energy at home, but can prevent you from potentially ruining your pans. Finally, and this also applies to the use of your kettle, only heat enough liquid or water in your cooking or when making a hot drink as you actually need – it’s pointless boiling more water than necessary and then letting it cool down.

5. Temperature controls
Save energy at home by only heating your house to 18 – 21°C when necessary – set your thermostat accordingly. Similarly, when washing your clothes, use temperatures below 40°C or use the washing machine’s economy programme settings.