How green are their houses? 10 share their eco secrets

Insulation, insulation, insulation is one new mantra for the new green era. But there are lots of ways of making your home eco-friendly, Catherine Foleydiscovers

SIMON PRATT

The director of the Avoca shops and cafés lives in a Georgian house in Dún Laoghaire

"FOR THE last couple of years we have been composting a lot of our food waste and as much garden waste as possible too. We have three large 'tumble' composters so that, while one is being filled, the others are maturing. The 'tumble' mechanism means they compost faster as they are easy to aerate. They are also sealed which stops them attracting vermin. We have segregated bins for all our recyclables and shred our mail which goes into compost.

"Since taking over Mount Usher gardens, which has been run along strictly organic lines for 27 years, I have employed organic practices in my garden at home too. I have stopped using chemicals and slug pellets. Instead I squash the poor greenfly by hand and drown the unfortunate slugs in cheap beer."

"We've introduced other eco-friendly measures at home: as light bulbs blow, my wife, Fiona, and I have been replacing them with CFL varieties with particular focus on the lights that we leave on a lot. Levi, our six-year-old son, is really good at turning off lights and taps which I think is a great change from the days when my parents were, always, having to remind us as kids.

"We have also been experimenting with a no detergent product for our washing machine (available from Avoca!) which gives 150 washes and so far seems to work well. We bought carbon credits online for our last holiday to ease the guilt a bit.

"I'm embarrassed to say I have a car with a big engine. When it's replaced it will be by something with a smaller engine but I can't help wondering if continuing to drive this car is preferable to the huge environmental damage done in the production of a new car."

PAUL FAHY

The artistic director of the Galway Arts Festival (July 14th-27th) lives in a newish two-storey house about three miles from Galway city centre

"I HAD really good insulation put in, especially in the attic, and I have triple glazing all over the house to save energy. So the house is very cosy. I would be a bit green conscious. I do travel a lot and I'm sure my carbon footprint from airlines is quite high, so I do try and make up for it in other ways. I've great recycling in the house with separate bags for plastics, cans, bottles and, in general, the refuse system in Galway - with the three-bin system - is very good."

CIARAN CUFFE

The Green Party's TD for Dún Laoghaire is an architect

"THE OLD mantra used to be 'location, location, location'. Now, it's 'insulation, insulation, insulation'. Weather stripping around the doors and windows is a huge help, even in an old three-storey Georgian house. It can dramatically reduce the heat loss. We've put back the shutters and once the sun goes down we shut those and close the curtains.

"It's a listed building so getting double glazing can be difficult but, between the shutters and the curtains, they keep the heat in.

"When we did up the building seven years ago we put a huge amount of insulation into the attic, and under the floorboards. There was an old stone wall that we plastered to make sure that heat didn't escape.

"Our small 15m town garden is in full use too. We grow a lot of our own fruit and vegetables. We have raspberries, strawberries, plums, apples and pears, three different types of potato, and five different types of lettuce. It's the good life.

"Recently, we've installed a smart meter, which tells you how much electricity you are using at any given time, such as when you put the kettle on. You can see the numbers jump off the scale. It concentrates the mind on reducing your consumption. My partner is great at concentrating my mind on this issue. We also have thermostat valves on the radiators, which turn themselves off when the room hits the right temperature. That can really save you money."

OLIVE BRAIDEN

The chair of the Arts Council lives in Ballyvaughan, Co Clare

"RENOVATING our house a few years ago gave my husband and I the chance to incorporate some eco-friendly features into the design. We were able to incorporate some devices that fit better into the environment. We considered geothermal heating, and started exploring that, but in the specific geological conditions in the Burren, there's great difficulty being able to bore down as deep as you need to go. We did put in three solar panels on the roof that are terrific. That gives us enough hot water for all our requirements and it switches, once there's enough water, to power our underfloor heating. We have a back-up system for times like Christmas when the whole family is there in case there's not enough. It turns out that even on a dull day there's still great heat to the panels and there's always boiling water. Building the solar panels was a deliberate decision because we really believe in saving the planet in any way we can. I think it's very important."

PAUL FLYNN

The head chef and owner of the Tannery Restaurant Townhouse, Dungarvan, Co Waterford, lives in a modern houses four miles outside Dungarvan

"SLOPS, BOTH at home and in the restaurant, are now kept in a bucket and taken away to feed pigs on a farm nearby. The parents of our manager, Petra Buest, keep pigs so every night she takes steaming buckets away with her. It reduces the waste. We started doing that about six months ago.

"Petra's parents are very practical about the pigs. They are definitely going to be dinner, they are not pets, they are going to end up on a plate at some stage.

"Lately I've taken to using my wife's moped rather than driving my own Jeep and this is saving money. Living about four miles outside town it costs €3.50 to fill the bike compared to €88 to fill the Jeep. The moped sounds like a very loud sewing machine. It's great for going in and out to work and zipping around town.

"We are also putting solar panels into the new cookery school that I'm currently building. You'd be mad not to. We are going to significantly cut down on oil usage by having solar power - you have to pay attention to your energy bills."

GARRETT O'HAGAN

The owner of Haus, the Dublin store that specialises in designer furniture, is refurbishing a late 1970s semi

"I'VE TRIED to choose and use the most environmentally sound products and processes throughout. We are learning along the way. You are researching as much as you are building. Our aim is to try and understand whether something is good or bad.

"The biggest issue is trying to create an envelope inside the house. We had to take a 10 to 15-year perspective. It's not enough to put rolls of insulation in your attic to comply with new regulations. There's a lot more to properly insulating a house than simply rolling out rock-wool.

"In general there is a tendency to want to get in and decorate but if you want to do it once and do it well, more effort has to go into the selection of materials. You have to ask - do I like this wood enough to live with it for 20 years?

"Taking the time to choose suitable materials, such as organic paint or floorboards that use natural oils and wax, rather than polyurethane sealers, is all part of the process. From my perspective that is how it is going to be in the future."

PETER MACCANN

General manager, Merrion Hotel, D2

"WE BUILT a new house in Rathgar two years ago and put in the best spec insulation throughout. We don't have to have the heating on for long periods of time; the house retains heat very well. All the double walls were filled with insulation and there's double glazing throughout.

"It has made a huge difference to our heating bills. We used to be in a smaller house with poor insulation. You could see the heating going out the windows but with small kids you had to keep it heated to a reasonable level. Now our gas and electricity bills are down by 40 per cent."

SARAH WEBB

The author lives in Dún Laoghaire

"OUR THREE children, ranging in age from 14 to two, love their wormery. It takes pretty much all of our raw food waste and produces fantastic compost and a worm goo for the roses. It's like a layered compost bin. At school, the kids take reusable bottles for their drinks and I try to use lunch boxes rather than plastic bags. We're getting a new bathroom put in, and it's going to be fitted with three solar panels."