There are many ways to make your home more energy efficient. Some are easy and inexpensive and others are more costly but are a worthwhile investment that benifit both the environment and your pocketbook. Here's a few easy changes for you to reduce your energy consumption.

1. On a hot, breasy day, shut off the air conditioner and open all the windows in the house. Some homes are designed so that the air flow through the windows is enough to keep indoor temperatures liveable. This may not be desireable on the hottest, most humid days of summer, but on milder, breezier days it might be just right. You'll never know til you try! If we all turned off the air conditioning when it wasn't necessary, we'd make a huge dent in energy demand during the summer months.
2. Insulate your hot water tank and any exposed hot water pipes to reduce heat transfer to the air.  This inexpensive, do-it-yourself project will pay for itself in savings within a year.
3. Make sure radiators and heating/cooling vents aren't blocked or buried under rugs or furniture.  If these  are clear, it will be that much easier for the air to find its way to you.
4. My father will be happy that I've finally caught on to this one... turn off the lights when you're not using them! (Thanks, dad.) It can make a huge difference.  Not only lights but any electrical device uses up precious energy even when you're not in the room. Most people are pretty good at this, but are you actually conscious of it all the time?  Examine for yourself.
5. Purchase a programmable thermostat. Set it to keep your home cozy when you're at home and let the furnace or air conditioner take a break while you're at work or sleeping. If you can't afford a programmable thermostat, buy some Post-it notes to remind you to turn down the temperature before you leave for work and go to bed!
6. Purchase compact fluorescent light bulbs (you know, the spirally ones...) and never go back to incandescent. 
7. Maximise your air conditioner's performance by patching any cracks around windows and doors with weather striping. If you live in an older home with old windows that aren't very insulated, add another layer of insulation using shrink wrap and double-sided tape to seal the window frame. 
8. Use your (shower)head. Install faucet aerators and high efficiency showerheads in your home. This is a do-it-yourself job, very easy.  These devices reduce the amount of water flowing out of taps and showerheads but the added air actually makes the pressure feel greater.  You can save between 3700 and 30,000 litres of water every year! And you'll save money with reduced water heating costs.

We're sure you've said you'll do these things a hundred times, so here's a suggestion on follow-through. (Important in golf, important in life.) Sometimes the difference between wanting to change one's ways and actually changing them is as simple as adopting a more reliable reminder system than one's own memory. Good intentions are great but sometimes they only last until they've found a way out of our brains.  Reminders can be as simple as Post-it notes or as high-tech as an Outlook scheduling program. The important thing is to put a system in place to remind ourselves and our families to do the little things that will benifit our well-being and our environment. It takes a while to alter day-to-day habits and the best way to make sure habits stick, is to put a reliable reminder system in place.