Following today’s announcement that homes with zero carbon emissions will be exempt from stamp duty, homeowners across the country are likely to be reaching for the loft insulation and draft excluders.

But how can householders create a truly carbon-neutral home? Gordon Brown is yet to define exactly how homes will qualify as "carbon-neutral". The Treasury loosely defines it a home that, is not a "net recipient of energy from the National Grid" over the course of a year - in other words, a household that produces as much energy as it consumes.

This means not only cutting energy consumption through heating, water heating, lighting, ventilation and appliances, according to Zoltan Xavody of the Energy Saving Trust, but also using zero carbon fuels (such as solar panels to heat water, or woodchip boilers) and exporting green energy to the National Grid.

Simple measures will help homeowners reduce their energy consumption. These include turning down the heating and hot water thermostats; good insulation; using the economy programme on dishwashers and washing machines and avoiding unnecessary use of electricity by turning off lights and not leaving appliances on standby. Replacing light bulbs with energy saving ones that will last up to 12 times longer than ordinary light bulbs can reduce lighting costs by up to £100 over the lifetime of the bulb, according the Energy Saving Trust.

Recouping the cost of some of these measures can be slow, figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors suggest. Insulating a roof can cost from £525 for a terraced house to £3,130 for a detached house, saving between £140 and £170 a year – taking more than 20 years to recoup the financial outlay. Replacing a free-standing boiler is even more expensive: at £3,910 it would take more than 43 years to recoup the full cost.

Micro generation technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, and ground source heat pumps (that take heat from the ground) are more costly explaining why fewer than 100,000 properties in the UK have some form of micro generation system. For more sophisticated measures such as these, homeowners will in the main be dependent on developers incorporating them into new houses and flats for them.

Find out more

Ways in which householders can cut their carbon dioxide emissions are listed on the Energy Saving Trust and the National Energy Foundation

Calculate your carbon footprint , click on the "What size is your footprint?" panel

For building green from scratch, check out the Low Carbon Buildings Programme , Construction Resources, Eco Construction and the Carbon Trust.

The Low Carbon Buildings Programme can also provide information on grants to install microgeneration technologies.

Things to do now

Heating:

• Turn down the thermostat by 1C and put on an extra jumper
• Fit draught excluders to doors and windows
• Insulate, insulate, insulate. Walls, floors, lofts, water tanks and pipe. Loft insulation should be at least 270mm

  Water:

• Turn down the hot water temperature. If you need to add cold, then it is too hot. 60C should be sufficient
• Take a shower rather than a bath, but bear in mind that a five-minute power shower uses the same amount of energy as running a full bath

  Electrical Appliances:

• Do not leave machines on stand-by; an average of eight appliances in every UK household are left on stand-by

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• Pre-Budget Report 2008

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