Earthly advice for a greener life

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Q: How can insulation reduce my carbon footprint? A: Improving your home's insulation will reduce the amount of heat lost from your home and therefore reduce the amount of energy required to heat it, both saving money and reducing your carbon footprint.. Cavity wall insulation If you're not sure whether you have cavity wall insulation, check for the bore holes in the outside walls of the house.  Normally a couple of feet up the wall in the mortar, at regular intervals. If you don't have it get it, grants are normally available from your council. and it can cost you as little as £150, which you will more than make back on reduced heating cots. You can normally get a free survey to check suitability.  Obviously you will need cavity walls, so if you have an older solid wall house you won't be able to have it installed.  You can however get insulating wall board which can be put on your external walls and plastered over, only losing a few inches of floor space around the external walls. Loft insulation Check the loft and if you don;t have any get it, if you don't have much get more.  If you can't get into your loft for any reason, when it snows see if the snow of your roof melts more quickly than other houses.   You should really have 12inches of loft insulation, however this is not always possible if you have loft boarding.  In this case you can get loft insulation designed to fit between the rafters  under the floor boards, or even to fit to the roof itself.  You can even get recycled plastic loft insulation rather than the fibre type, see www.eco-wool.co.uk.  Again you can get council grants to have this work done and should be no more than £150. Double glazing Probably the most expensive energy saver, but double glazing on both doors and windows will dramatically reduce the heat loss from your home.  Double glazed doors are also much better sealed than traditional wooden doors and will prevent heat loss as well as cold drafts coming in.