Welcome to the IDT Energy Blog

What do you think of this idea (from the Wall Street Journal):

Buy your electricity on a prepaid basis and monitor your use.

Advantage: You will probably use less electricity once you are aware of how much you spend.

Disadvantage: Your electricity could be shut off when you don’t expect it if you fall behind on payments.

Is this a good idea for helping people monitor their spending, or too fraught with potential problems? Let us know.

The secret? Using a potato! Quite clever, although there should have been some sort of recipe for what to do with the half of potato that you don’t use when removing the bulb.

Check it out.

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

1. 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.

2. Let the light shine through - dirty lights and fixtures can hamper efficiency by as much as 20%.

3. 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.

4. 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.

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.”

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.

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…

According to Ecorazzi, Jennifer Aniston’s decision to promote Smartwater, billed as a sports drink because of its infused electrolytes, puts her on the other end of the green spectrum.

Their claim is that bottled water is not a necessity in most parts of the developed world and is antithetical to environmental values. They say:

“We’ve been so brainwashed into believing that bottled water is better for us that we completely view any other alternative as a detriment to our health. Never mind the fact that tap water is more stringently monitored and more tightly regulated than bottled water. Never mind that of the 8 billion gallons consumed by Americans in 2006, only 15% of the bottles were recycled.”

That is one way to see it – but the condemnation seems a bit harsh. If Smartwater actually helps improve sports performance, then Jennifer Aniston is getting behind something in fact is not comparable to either tap water or bottled water.

Let’s give her a little breathing room, shall we?

ABC News quotes NASA administrator Michael Griffin:

“I have no doubt that a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with. To assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of Earth’s climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that we need to take steps to make sure that it doesn’t change. I guess I would ask which human beings — where and when — are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that’s a rather arrogant position for people to take.”

The masses are mad!!! Should Griffin, as a public representative of NASA, be keeping his opinions to himself, or is it legitimate for him to express his take on global warming, even if it flies in the face of NASA’s official line?

Thanks to Gizmodo for the latest on Sony’s eco-friendly odo line, which includes:

Spin N’ Snap camera
Push POWER Play viewer
Crank N’ Capture video cams
Pull N’ Play headphones
Solar array Juice Boxes (equivalent of batteries)

How do they work?

“The Spin N’ Snap is probably the most intuitive—you twirl it around your fingers (well, you turn the hole, so hopefully you can twirl it, otherwise it might be tedious) to charge it and then use the same holes as the viewfinder. The others work similarly: You turn the crank on the video camera, tug the cords on the headphones and roll the viewer along a table to charge it up.”

Reminds me of children’s toys – not in a bad way, of course.

According to the AP:

“European light-bulb makers said Tuesday they want to phase out the standard incandescent light bulb in eight years, replacing it with more eco-friendly, energy-efficient lamps.

The switch could lead to significant reductions in carbon dioxide emissions from domestic lighting, and savings of $9.4 billion for European consumers, said the European manufacturers. The group includes General Electric Co., Havells Sylvania, and Philips.”

It’s interesting that the proposal comes from industry insiders and not as a concerted governmental effort. The article mentions that the proposal has huge environmental gains for everyone, and results in financial savings for consumers, but fails to mention what business benefits the manufacturers enjoy. These are businesses, after all…

How cool is this? A tree house which uses the trees themselves as an integral part of the structure (full story here):

“It’s not really built, it’s grown over five years, with its supporting trees trained to grow in the right direction with scaffolding holding it in place. Its creators, architects Mitchell Joachim and Javier Arbona, teamed up with environmental engineer Lara Greden to figure out how to grow vines, roots and trees to create a framework for a house that’s perfectly normal inside.
After the shell of the house is grown in the right shape, the walls are filled in with mud and plaster, and then the insides of the house are constructed using conventional building materials. The only sticking point so far is the windows, and the designers are now experimenting with transparent plastic materials made of soy they hope will expand as the house’s supporting trees grow.”

You can really get a sense of the project when you watch the video.