Improving insulation in your home or buying solar panels are great ways to reduce your carbon footprint and save money on energy bills.

It’s also a sound investment that increases the value of your property, as a recent case study from the NetZero Isle of Man team shows.

Like many homeowners, our case study couple faced challenges of upgrading a property built 50-plus years ago when energy saving wasn’t a priority.

Here are the top five key points they addressed to enhance their bungalow:

· Adding internal insulation to walls and ceilings using a material similar to heavy wallpaper, but by applying the adhesive paste to the surface instead of the material. It can also be used for floors. This can be an effective and cost-effective solution for all types of properties.

· Using layers of insulation which keeps rooms warm in the same way as layers of clothing keep us warm in the winter.

· Under floor insulation fitted between the floorboards and the carpet underlay.

· They installed a modern, energy efficient, all-electric heating system with fully programmable electric radiators.

Bearing in mind the gradual transition towards renewable sources of energy, more and more homeowners are seeing the long-term advantages of switching away from oil and gas for heating, and to electricity.

· Solar power: Believer it or not, the Isle of Man has more sunshine than many parts of the British Isles, so our case study couple chose solar-voltaic panels which are easy to maintain once they are installed. In fact, the only part that may need replacing during the lifespan of the panels is the device which converts Direct Current (DC) generated by the panels to Alternating Current (AC) that’s used in the home.

This is just a snapshot to give you some ideas if you’re thinking of making your home more energy efficient.

Click here to read the full case study on the Isle of Man Government’s netzero.im site – or here to watch a video about it.

Isle of Man Government offers a range of funding and support to help home owners save energy and money – you can learn more here.