What’s the secret to energy-saving house?

A REPORT on a 4,000 sq ft energy-saving house’ in Co Wicklow (Irish Examiner, January 1) said it cost only €220 annually for heating and hot water.

I find this hard to believe. Our cottage is only 1,100 sq ft.

The external walls are two-feet thick with small, double-glazed windows and external doors (admittedly, more draughty than they ought to be), a fully insulated roof space, an oil-fired Aga for cooking and hot water, an oil-fired boiler for central heating, plus a wood/turf/coal-burning stove in the living room. Annual costs for 2006 were: paraffin, €1,843; coal/turf, €266; electricity (lights only, with OAP allowance), €263; Aga and central-heating boiler maintenance, €300. Total: €2,672.