There are a number of free, easy steps you can take to reduce your carbon footprint, lower your household bills and help combat global warming. Of course, these are no replacement for energy-saving devices, but they should at least help you start on your path towards energy efficiency:

If you’re leaving a room for more than few minutes, turn off the lights. Many people think that bulbs need a lot of energy to turn on, so it’s better to leave them on all the time, this isn’t true. You can reduce your electricity and heating bills significantly by turning the lights off when they’re not being used.

Turn your thermostat down. A drop of just 1C can reduce your heating bills by up to 10%, and you probably won’t even notice the temprature difference.

Set the thermostat on your HOT water cylinder to 60C. Any hotter and you run the risk of scalding yourself, and it uses significantly less energy too.

When it’s cold outside, close your curtains, you’ll keep the heat trapped indoors. When it’s warm outside, open your windows and let the sun and outside air warm your home.

Don’t leave your appliances on stand-by, this can add up to 6% on your electrical bill. Turn appliances off at the wall when you’re not using them.

If it’s a nice day and you have a garden, dry your clothes on a line outside instead of using a tumble drier. You can save a significant amount of money off your energy bill.

Don’t leave the tap running when you’re brushing your teeth. You can save around five litres of water each time.

Take a shower rather than running a bath. Showers use a fraction of the water required to fill a bath and require less energy for heating.

Defrost your fridge and freezer regularly. Frosted freezers are a lot less efficient, and use a lot more energy to stay cool.

If you’re not at home, turn off your heating. If you fit a timer to your boiler, you can set it to come on and off automatically throughout the day as and when you need it.