When cooking you can often use the residual heat to to save energy if you switch your cooker off just before you finish cooking. However, you still need to make sure that your food is properly cooked through.

Carbon monoxide is a silent killer. Every year in the UK it kills around 50 people and sends 4000 to A&E for emergency treatment. Make sure you get all your combustion appliances properly serviced and fit an alarm. Good quality alarms are available from most DIY suppliers and take minutes to fit. It could save your life!

When was the last time you switched energy supplier. Regularly changing to the right tariff can save you money by reducing your energy costs. If you rent a property and pay the energy bills yourself the law says you should be able to choose your own energy supplier.

Properly used, dishwashers use less water and energy than washing dishes by hand. However, make sure you only wash full loads and don’t pre-rinse everything in the sink first unless it really needs it.

A dripping tap can waste at least 5,500 litres of water a year. If this is hot water you’re also wasting the energy used to heat it. Get leaking taps fixed promptly.

Electric storage hot water units use energy all the time they are switched on. Consider fitting them with time switches so they are only working when they are needed.

Think before your print. Reducing the amount of material you print has a long list of benefits including saving paper, chemicals and electricity. More and more offices and industries are going paper free, so think about how you can reduce any printing you do.

Still using tungsten, halogen or fluorescent bulbs? Changing to LED lighting can save energy and money.

Insulate hot water pipes along their full length. Don’t waste the energy you have used to heat your hot water.

Make sure your computers are programmed to shut down and save power when not in use. Most operating systems have built in power settings and the capability of being switched on or off remotely if required. If you need them on for network upgrades and backups, commit to running these on a specific schedule and build this into you power settings. You’ll be surprised how much energy you can save.