Winter is Coming: IDT Energy Says Its Time to Get Ready

Here we are watching the days shorten, leaves fall, sun loose some of its warm luster and taking our winter things out of mothballs. IDT Energy is getting ready for winter by sending you some simple but practical and effective ideas to save money and energy while staying toasty warm all winter.

1. If you have a forced-air HVAC heating system then it most likely has a simple filter in the ducts near the furnace. It is important to change this filter every few months to maintain efficient and clean operation. When your furnace is working overtime during the winter this bit of maintenance can become an extremely important to lower your energy bill. The filters are inexpensive and pay for themselves in energy savings in no time.

2. Does your home leak some of the warm air that you spent so much money to heat? Seal up those leaks in your walls and windows, even small ones, with weather-stripping, caulk and other insulating materials, and you will find not only is your house warmer, but your energy bill is also lower.

3. Maybe it’s time for a new furnace? If it’s as old as or older than your teenage children it might save you lots of money to replace it with a new “Energy Star” furnace. The sooner you begin saving on your energy bill, the sooner your new furnace will pay for itself and start saving you lots of money.

4. Ready to change your light bulbs? We use more artificial light in the winter. The more efficient the bulbs you use, the less energy you use and the more money you save. Consider switching to compact fluorescent bulbs for the most efficient artificial lighting solution.

Winter in New York Savings Ideas from IDT Energy

New York in the winter can be fun and exciting. It can also be cold, and a challenge to stay warm within a budget. IDT Energy has some simple tips to keep you warm and cozy, and your pockets full.

1. Put a layer of shrink wrap, plastic film, over your windows. Fast, cheap and effective, adding this extra thermal layer helps keep the warm air in and the cold air out. The tools and supplies you need to do this yourself are easily available at most hardware stores, and the application can be done yourself. Covering your window in plastic creates an air pocket which insulates but at the same time allows the sun to shine in.

2. Because we feel colder in the winter there is a tendency to use more hot water. Our hot showers are a tad longer; we wash hands more often with hot water just to warm up. To balance out this extra hot water use it is a good idea to adjust the setting on the hot water heater. You might be able to lower the temperature even 20 degrees and maintain a high comfort level. Why not leave the temperature at this level during the summer as well? Expect your bill to heat hot water to go down about 10%.

3. If you have a southern exposure, take advantage of all the free solar energy right outside your windows. Pull open the drapes and let the ultimate heat source warm up your cold bones.

IDT Energy Presents: Stay Warm in Winter Without Busting the Bank

Everyone loves winter in New York, but it can be a challenge to your budget to keep warm all winter. IDT Energy has some easy to implement energy saving ideas to get you and your bank account comfortable through the winter.

1. Because most homes are heated with appliances that are fuel-fired, the greatest cost comes at start-up and shut-down. A programmable thermostat helps you maintain constant temperatures or gradual increase and decrease of temperatures. Set to cooler temperatures at night, and begin heating even before you wake up. You will be warmer during the day and save money too. For the most efficient heating, get a programmable thermostat.

2. Set your thermostat to a lower temperature. You won’t feel the difference of just a few degrees, but you will notice it in your monthly fuel bill, which will be substantially lower. Each degree Fahrenheit that you lower the thermostat you can expect a 3% savings on your energy bill. A comfortable daytime temperature for your thermostat is 68 degrees, and about 5-8 degrees less at night during sleep. When spring comes around again you’ll be glad for the money you saved.

3. Did you know that warm air rises and cold air sinks? You can use this principle to circulate the warm air that is stuck to your ceiling down to ground level, by reversing the direction on your ceiling fans. Most fans have a switch to reverse the direction it spins. In the summer make sure the lower part of the paddle goes first around the fan to draw the air up. In the winter flip the switch to push the warm air down.

Save Money and Energy with the Energy Star

At IDT Energy we are trying to help you to save what is precious, the earth and your money.
Energy is something we pay dearly for, and when you save it, you save money.

Looking for the Energy Star on appliances and light bulbs can help you save.

It’s a simple thing to switch your light bulbs to compact flourescent bulbs, with little cost involved.

At a maximum price of between four and nine dollars, changing light bulbs is not a big investment.
In no time at all the CFLs will have paid for themselves.

They continue to save you money for as long as they last, which should be much longer than incandescent bulbs.

More Tips to Save More From IDT Energy

Here are some great tips to help you save some money, while using less of the earth’s limited resources.

• Turn off your computers when not in use for an extended amount of time, like at night when you go to sleep.

• Enable “power management” mode on all computers, and be aware that laptops can use up to 90% less energy than desktops.

• Did you know that about 90% of the energy used in a clothes washer goes to heating the water? Wash in cold water whenever possible.

• Keep your clothes dryer running at its most efficient. Clean the lint filter after each use and purchase a dryer with a moisture sensor which automatically turns off the dryer when the clothes are dry.

• A well insulated house can save lots of energy. Check for leaks, fill in cracks and gaps, and add insulation to save up to 20% on the cost of heating and/or cooling your home.

IDT Energy encourages you to try any or all of these simple tips to start saving now.

Google Plug-Ins Get Great Mileage

As a supplier of electricity, IDT Energy is interested in the latest trends in the development of improved electric car technology. Here is an interesting item from something Google.org has been up to lately.

Google.org is the organizational arm of Google.com. As such they are committed to improving the world in many different ways. One of those ways is a Google.org initiative to reduce CO2 emissions, reduce the use of oil, encouraging greater use of plug-in electric cars in order to stabilize the electric grid.

In Mountain View, California, Google headquarters, there is a fleet of demonstration vehicles to run experiments with and compile data on how well these cars can do.

During a recent experiment Google asked some of their employees to drive these cars for seven weeks and see how they did. They observed an average of 93 mpg for all trips, and 115 mpg for trips just in the city. Remarkable!

Oil Prices Determine Renewable Energy's Attractiveness

IDT Energy has been scanning the news for information about the developing renewable energy industry. What we’ve found a few factors influencing the shape of the industry today.

1. Energy Prices: The higher oil and natural gas cost, the more attractive renewable energy becomes. The opposite is also true. Lower prices for oil and gas make renewable energy less attractive.

2. Availability of Credit: When loans are hard to get people cannot install various types of energy technology. Even if it will save money in the long term, if people don’t have the cash to install, for instance, a solar system in their home, if the bank won’t lend them the money, it won’t get installed.

3. Federal Tax Credit: There is a tax credit of 30% on the installation of renewable energy projects for commercial and residential use. The $2000 cap was removed for residential systems, and the incentive was extended to utilities. The credit, originally enacted in 2005 has been extended until 2016.

4. Election of President Obama: Setting a goal of 25% of U.S. electricity to come from renewable sources by the year 2025 and calling for $150 billion in invests over 10 years in clean energy and infrastructure, it is clear that for this administration green energy is a priority.

IDT Energy Says "ReDuce, ReUse, ReCycle!"

Looking for some great new ways to teach your kids about the importance of recycling? Check out the web site of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Kids Pages. Here you will find some fun ways to learn about our environment, to take responsibility and to take practical steps to help our planet.

You can learn exactly what “waste” is and how to “reduce, reuse and recycle.”

1. Reduce: Buy less and use less! In the United States this is an especially “large” problem. Learn ways to help solve it.

2. Reuse: Either reuse something instead of throwing it away, or give it to someone who can use it. It is good to remember that “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

3. Recycle: When you bring materials that can be reused to special places where they are remade into either the same item or a different item, you are recycling. Did you know that plastic soda bottles can be remade into T-shirts? Cool. A lot better than filling up a big hole in the ground!

Here Comes the Sun

IDT Energy‘s green program offers its customers the ability to choose renewable sources of energy as part of the source of their electrical production. Among the more popular types of renewable energy is solar energy.

Ultimately almost all types of renewable energy are derived from the sun. Secondary solar energy sources such as wind power, wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass in addition to primary solar energy resources like light and heat make up just about all of the Earth’s renewable energy resources.

At the moment we use only a tiny fraction of the potential energy from the sun, but we are beginning to develop ever more advanced technological methods of harnessing the sun’s energy.

Timely Tips from IDT to Help You Save (the Planet)

Just a few small changes in our everyday activities can enormously help our environment. In our never ending campaign to help bring a better world to our customers and others IDT Energy in New York has collected a few easy to do suggestions for making our world a better place to live.

1. Adjust your thermostat. Just a slight increase in temperature in the summer and decrease in the winter, let’s say about two degrees Fahrenheit, can make a big difference. Not only do you save on the cost of electricity but over a year you will have saved lots of energy, too.

2. Adjust the temperature in your fridge. The recommended temperature to store food is 37 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 5 degrees in the freezer. Keeping the refrigerator’s thermostat set to maintain these temperatures will help lengthen the life of your fridge as well as saving you money and energy.

3. In nice weather let the sun shine in. Turn off lights during the day and use natural light and save. When it’s hot outside you can use curtains and blinds to block out the hot sun and keep your cooling bill down. Switching to CFL bulbs (compact fluorescent light) saves electricity and reduces the amount of heat produced by ordinary incandescent bulbs.

4. Clean more efficiently. Shorter shower can save lots of water. A ten minute shower uses about 50 gallons of water. By just taking five minutes less you can save about 25 gallons of water. Be careful to only use your dishwasher and clothes washer when full to get maximum efficiency of water use. And cold water washes using cold water detergents also saves energy, as does air drying your clothes and dishes whenever possible.

5. Rechargeable batteries can also save you lots of money and they are much more energy efficient.

IDT Energy believes that people helping people help the environment is a worthy goal and we are glad to be here to help you.

IDT Energy Helps You to Save

IDT Energy is committed to improving awareness of the effects energy use has on the planet. As an ESCO IDT Energy empowers its customers so that they can make informed choices about how much they spend on their energy as well as where their energy comes from: whether it is from traditional sources such as coal or other fossil fuel, or to begin to make the move to renewable energy sources, such as wind or sun.
But people don’t always have to leave this movement to the big guys like public utilities. Each individual can make a difference. Here are some tiny ways each of us can help improve the quality of life here on planet earth.

1. Turn off your car’s engine. When you let your car’s engine idle it emits 6-7 grams of pollutants into the air each minute, and you’re not even getting anywhere! And you’re also wasting precious gasoline. You can drive a full mile on the amount of gas wasted by idling for just two minutes.

2. Eat less meat. Raising livestock, processing, packaging and shipping of meat products has been estimated to cause 18% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. By just eating one less meat meal per week the Environmental Defense Fund estimates that there would be the equivalent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions as if we took off one-half million cars from the roads.

3. Use less electricity. It takes about two cars worth of fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions to power the average house. Reduce your electric bill whenever possible; by turning of lights when not in use, unplugging appliances when not needed such as cell phone chargers and other appliances which continue to use energy even when not in use, as long as they are still plugged in. A power strip lets you turn off and “unplug” several appliances at the same time.

4. Pay bills on-line and save on paper consumption. You’ll also save money on postage and it will be even easier to keep track of your bills and payment history.

More tips next time.

IDT Energy New York asks: What is renewable energy?

As its name indicates, renewable energy is energy that is always available and cannot be “used up” as other sources of energy which are limited in quantity and will one day be exhausted. There is no way to “finish” energy received from the sun, wind or other energy sources based on the natural processes of the earth’s ecosystem.

Also known as “green energy” and “clean energy” , renewable energy tends to be much less polluting, eliminating the unwanted production of carbon dioxide and other harmful gasses which contribute to the dangerous “greenhouse effect” that scientists and environmentalists are so concerned about.

IDT Energy New York: Wind Power Blowing Our Way

Wind, caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere over the earth’s surface, is a form of kinetic energy. A wind turbine, the modern version of the ancient and beloved windmill, converts this kinetic energy into mechanical energy. If the conversion process stops there and the mechanical energy is used to grind grains or pump water, this apparatus is usually referred to as a windmill. If we take the process to the next step and convert the mechanical energy into electricity, we then refer to this machine as a wind turbine, wind generator, wind power unit (WPU), wind energy converter (WEC) or even an aerogenerator.

Today wind only produces about 1.5% of the world’s supply of electricity. However the use of wind power doubled between 2005 and 2008, and is particularly popular in several European countries including about 20% of all electric production in Denmark.
Substantial growth of wind power is being predicted for the next five years, and we hope this renewable and clean form of energy will help IDT Energy make New York and the world a cleaner, more energy conserving place.

IDT Energy Tips for Vacation Savings

I promised you some great tips to save this summer on your electricity bill while you are away on vacation. IDT Energy encourages you to follow some of these ideas and wishes you a great vacation. dont forget to write!

Make sure to turn off your heat pump or air conditioner before you leave, as long as there is nothing in your home that might be damaged by higher than usual temperatures. Just raising the thermostat might not prevent the unit from turning on from time to time.
Put your pool pump on a timer. Otherwise your pump will run 24 hours a day while you are away.
Your water heater is a large draw on the electricity you use. Even while you are away the heater will turn on periodically to maintain the temperature the thermostat is set to. Completely turn off the water heater at the fuse box or breaker panel and you will be able to save lots of electricity. When you come home be sure to turn on the hot water faucet to make sure there is water in the heater before you turn it on.
For shorter trips of just a few days, consider raising the thermostat in your refrigerator. For longer trips of at least four weeks you might want to clean out your refrigerator completely and turn it off. Be sure to prop open the door while your away to prevent mildew from forming inside the turned-off fridge.

Get Ready to Save this Summer

IDT Energy wants you to save money this summer. Vacation time is coming and it’s time to think about how you can save on your electricity bill even while you are away from home. “What?” You must be thinking, of course I use less electricity when I’m not home- I won’t be there using it!” But this is not entirely true. Many appliances stay on, even when you are not at home. And some may work even harder without you there to maintain them properly and insure that they are properly adjusted to suit changing temperatures and other fluctuating conditions. Next time I will post some tips on how to save on your electric bill while you are away.

IDT Energy Lights up Your Life!

Tips for saving money and energy when it comes to lighting:

• Use compact fluorescent bulbs, which use only a fourth of the amount of electricity as regular bulbs. You can save 10 dollars or more per bulb in long-term electricity costs.
• Let the light shine through - dirty lights and fixtures can hamper efficiency by as much as 20%.
• Darken your doorstep – say goodbye to outdoor decorative lights. You’ll feel good knowing that by turning off eight gas lamps that had been burning year round, you can save as much natural gas as it takes to heat an average-size home during an entire winter.
• Want to reduce the 11% of your electricity bill that goes towards lighting? Use timers to monitor your lighting use and only use bright lights where and when you need them.

IDT Energy reminds you that every little bit helps when it comes to saving money on utilities in New York!

10 Green Websites You Should Be Reading

Lighter Footstep has compiled a list of relative newbies to the green blogging space and highlighted blogs they felt worthy of mention (full article here).

What I like about this article: it focuses on up-and comers, not the heavy hitters.

What I don’t like about this article: the IDT Energy Blog is not on it! A glaring omission, in my opinion.

Here is the list, with my two cents inserted where necessary:

1. Daily Fuel Economy Tip: Tips that help you increase your gas mileage and save money at the pump.

2. Eco-Chick: “The blogteam at Eco-chick includes a model who has a degree in entomology, an alternative health freak who’s used herself as a guinea pig, a science nerd, a news junkie and a Barcelona-based expat; the site is run and hosted by an anarchist webmaster.” Intriguing, if a bit tricky to navigate.

3. Ecorazzi: According to Lighter Footsteps, it’s “People magazine for the Green set — without all the wasted trees.” Fun way to combine love of gossip with civic responsibility.

4. Frugal for Life All about the money – clearly still finding its way.

5. Green Options Kind of overwhelming, but seems like it is all there.

6. Jetson Green – For green building.

7. Maria Energia Love the title. Covers a business angle.

8. No Impact Man Too gimmicky. Begging to be made into reality show.

9. The Sietch Blog: solid content.

10. Vegetarian Meal Plans Works if that’s your thing…

Rolling Stone Stops Short of Recycled Paper

Rolling Stone Magazine

Rolling Stone magazine will do their green issue on June 28th, but there may a disparity between content and form.

According to the New York Times:

“Rolling Stone will be printed on what it calls ‘carbon neutral paper,’ because it is made through a process that the magazine claims adds no carbon dioxide to the atmosphere… What neither an editor’s note in Rolling Stone nor a press release sent by the magazine mentions, however, is that the new paper has no recycled content.”

IDT Energy asks why not?
“Eric Bates, deputy managing editor of Rolling Stone, said, ‘We think recycled paper is great.’ But, he added, ‘we’re publishing some of the world’s greatest photographers and artists,’ and the print quality on recycled paper does not do them justice. ‘What we’re trying to do is what we can do. We can’t put out the magazine we put out on recycled paper.’ “

Then of course there are quotes from authorities saying there is no difference in quality if one prints on recycled paper. I think that is in the eye of the beholder. Carbon neutral paper works for me.