Plotting the path to green home improvement

With the recent announcement of a government green home loan, there have been questions raised against its practicalities.

From concerns over paying off the loan or making it harder to get a sale when debts are accrued against the house for the next home owner to pay off, along with comments from certain organisations that say a focus on micro-generation technology is not the most practical or affordable way to move forward and kick-start the domestic energy-saving revolution. But what are the green home improvements that will save you the most money without you needing a loan in the first place?

Edited by Sophie Griffiths.

From loft insulation and low-flow showers to solar panels and wind turbines, there are plenty of options for improving the energy efficiency of your home, but how can you find the ones that offer the best financial and carbon savings? 

Guardian writer James Randerson said his four-bedroom Victorian terrace in east London is "colander-like" when it comes to leaking energy, with an annual fuel bill approaching £1,500 - approximately £400 higher than the national average.
To determine where best to stop waste and cut emissions, he used a custom energy survey from Parity Projects.

This factored in room dimensions, window size, building orientation, the number of appliances on standby, as well as everyday energy use based on issues such as the number of meals cooked and how often the dishwasher is loaded, to produce three bands of possible upgrades.

Mr Randerson said that these upgrades are divided into "no brainers", which would pay for themselves within two years; those requiring "some consideration" that would cover the initial investment in five to ten years and "green halo" improvements that would take more than a decade to repay their upfront costs.

A list of 11 "no brainers" like switching to low-energy light bulbs, draught-proofing windows and doors and adding 300mm of loft insulation would cost £920 and save £632 annually by cutting energy consumption by a third. It would also reduce annual CO2 output by 3.52 tonnes, he noted.

The second possible tier of green home improvements had eight possible measures, including adding double glazing throughout, floor insulation, heat recovery extractor fans for the kitchen and bathroom and solar panels on roof.

They would require upfront investment of £13,000 and offer annual savings of £750 a year.
Options featured in the "green halo" package included adding 100mm of polyisocyanurate, or PIR, insulation to all external walls. This would cost £5,900 and, while cutting energy consumption by 59 per cent, would clock up the savings at around £150 a year.

"The message is that with energy efficiency, the lowest-hanging fruit is the sweetest," Mr Randerson said.

So before you splash out on an expensive loan for a solar panel, you may want to check that you're not wasting money needlessly on the smaller changes that could save you more before you move.