But a green home is just as important for our health and our well-being; it’s warmer, more comfortable and has a lower carbon footprint which is great news for the environment.

It’s good for the old bank balance too. The Government backed Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) means that homeowners who install solar panels on their roofs could make as much as £880 a year through income generated and savings. This income is tax free, inflation linked and guaranteed by the UK Government for 25 years.

Properly-installed insulation will have the single biggest impact on the energy efficiency of your home. Insulating walls and loft spaces makes your home warmer in the winter, AND cooler in the summer.  And it can reduce your heating costs by 30 - 40% alone! Good news when you consider that the amount of heat lost annually through walls and roofs in the UK is enough to heat 3,000,000 homes a year.

No-one wants to go through a winter like the last couple we’ve experienced in a freezing cold house.  Having an efficient, high performance heating system will make you more comfortable, use less energy and cost you less money. But to maximise the efficiency of your heating system it is important that the boiler, heating controls and programmer all work together properly.

If your windows are old or single glazed you could be losing a staggering 20% of heat through them. Modern double and triple glazed windows will put a stop to that, saving you money and reducing noise levels at the same time. Effficient glazing will also add to the value of your home.

What’s a little light bulb going to cost? Well, more than you think. Lighting accounts for an average of 10-15% of a home’s electricity bill. Replace your lights with low energy alternatives and you will reduce energy usage by up to 90%.

And nowadays you can stop worrying about stumbling over the dog in the dark as you wait for the lights to warm up to a disappointingly dull glow. With advances in LED technology the quality of low energy lights has improved so dramatically that it can be very difficult to tell the difference between them and traditional tungsten bulbs. OK, they are still a bit more expensive to buy but they are much cheaper to run, and with the right choice, they’ll last a very long time.