Energy use in the domestic sector of Cyprus accounts for 35% of the total energy consumption. This needs to be reduced in future to meet climate change impact and fossil fuel imports. This study investigates the impact of a series of passive measures on energy consumption, namely insulation, glazing, thermal mass and orientation and prioritises their energy savings. The impact on heating and cooling energy of a range of measures is tested using a thermal simulation program (TAS), which predicts the energy consumption of two base-case dwellings, an apartment and a detached dwelling. Cost-effective prioritisation is determined from the energy savings and cost of each measure and its cost. The findings of this study suggest that fabric insulation can lead to significant energy savings, but the addition of measures above one another leads only to marginal improvements. All measures examined lead to a reduction of the overall energy consumption but the application of wall insulation and thermal mass leads to an increase of air-conditioning and dehumidification energy. Prioritisation of measures for the apartment suggests that double-glazing is the first option, 25 mm of wall insulation is the second, and 60 cm of wall thermal mass is the last option. For the detached dwelling case, prioritisation suggests that simple double-glazing should be the first option, 25 mm of wall insulation should be the second, followed by 25 mm of roof insulation and finally by 40 cm of wall thermal mass. Change of orientation can play only a minor role in the energy consumption of the detached dwelling and a slightly more significant role in the case of the apartment. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.