Welcome to the IDT Energy Blog

We all have the same thought at some point — Eco-friendly is nice, but can we REALLY live in a truly energy saving, eco-friendly, recyclable home?

 CNN has this video on a woman in Oregon who built her own home:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2007/07/17/sharify.tiny.house.affl

Now, you should feel the need to question — great, so what?

Answer:  If she can do it for 85 square feet you can for even bigger.

Solar Electricity — It really works:   Try it for yourself. 

Plan and buy here:

http://www.idtenergystore.com/Outdoor-Solar-Panels/c52/index.html

Energy saving lighting, buy here:

http://www.idtenergystore.com/Light-Bulbs/c50/index.html

Michael R. Bloomberg wants to clear the air (from the article):“Mr. Bloomberg said that his administration was committed to removing ‘disease-causing soot’ from the city’s air by planting trees, using cleaner fuels and imposing fees, similar to those used in parts of London and Singapore, on drivers entering Midtown and downtown Manhattan.He mentioned, as he did in his Earth Day speech on Sunday, that in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Harlem, children are hospitalized for asthma, which is aggravated by dirty air, at nearly four times the national average.”This approach, in my opinion, is much more compelling than trying to fight pollution because of a distant doomsday. We all like immediate gratification and results. If the number of children hospitalized for asthma goes down in the next year or two, I think people would be more inclined to join Bloomberg’s efforts. 

Check out Jetson Green for tips on how to make sure you are getting the most, environmentally speaking, from your landscaping efforts: http://jetsongreen.typepad.com/jetson_green/2007/03/green_building_.html. 

Some highlights:

1. The writer is a big fan of composting, pointing out “You can use organic waste from your home to return needed nutrients to the soil. Things like fruit peels, grass clipping, leaves, etc. are great materials to recycle and mix into garden soil. Composting has many benefits, including: (1) Reducing municipal waste, (2) Improving soil moisture retention, (3) Boosting plants’ immune systems, and (4) Reducing the need for chemical fertilizers.”

The IDT Energy Store happens to carry a garden composter – details here: http://www.idtenergystore.com/product_info.php?cPath=37&products_id=56&osCsid=f69cc1c4404f543251ab1c850f19da61. 

2. Use solar powered landscaping lights.

3. Buy an energy efficient lawn mover.

Plus other concrete suggestions for keeping your lawn green. 

This story on a champion leaf raking grandmother may encourage you to abandon your power leaf blower completely: http://www.burbia.com/node/574

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/12/movies/12vill.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin 

The New York Times points out a new trend in big budget films where “the real victim is the environment, and, whatever the plot variations, the enemy is all of us.” The article questions whether people will squirm at the idea of humanity as the bad guy, but acknowledges that it is a natural progression for this idea to seep into “popcorn movies.” 

At the risk of dating myself, does anyone else remember The Lorax? It used to make me cry as child and I made my own children sit through it countless times. Maybe it will enjoy a resurgence of popularity as the environment goes Hollywood. 

For those of you who consult Consumer Report before you buy your breakfast cereal, you can’t miss this exclusive excerpt from Consumer Reports’ ”Complete Guide to Reducing Energy Costs”: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/news/september-2006/20-free-ways-to-save-energy-9-06/overview/20-free-ways-to-save-energy_ov.htm. 

The tips cover both suggestions that don’t cost any money as well as ideas which require an initial payout of some sort. 

Hysterical! Some people have too much time and money on their hands, as evidenced by the wacky iPod accessories/add-ons that are out there. Is there really a large market for the $40 iFish, that amplifies your iPod and flops around on the floor in time to the music? And how exactly does the iPod dock for the bathroom that also dispenses toilet paper work? 

This energy saver for the iPod sounds neat: “Ah, but that $100 sun-powered battery charger from Solio.com — that’s a winner. When you want to be off the grid but remain in tune, the charger gives you one hour of play time for each hour it soaks in the sun. It also provides eight to 10 hours of battery storage on top of your regular charge.” 

Full story here: http://www.timesunion.com/ASPStories/Story.asp?StoryID=566119&Category=LIFE&LinkFrom=RSS

http://lighterfootstep.com/whos-the-greenest-celeb.html 

Fun game from Lighter Footstep where you need to identify where stars fall on the green spectrum. The comments on each star’s picture is a clever take on that celebrity. 

I have been lax on covering celebrity news lately, but here are a few choice tidbits (thanks, Ecorazzi): 

*Leo’s 11^th Hour – Move over Al Gorehttp://www.ecorazzi.com/?p=1810 

*Rachel McAdams’ Green Leaningshttp://www.ecorazzi.com/?p=1791 

*Sting’s Eco-Friendly Guitarhttp://www.ecorazzi.com/?p=1832 

*Keira Knightley’s “I’m Not a Plastic Bag” Pursehttp://www.ecorazzi.com/?p=1781 

http://www.freshstartblog.com/blog/?p=20 Personal Finance Blog offers tips on how to make your home energy efficient. Obviously focus here is on saving money. 

What tops the list and makes it into the opening paragraph? “Get a home energy audit once every other year.” 

Attention New Yorkers: Trust IDT Energy’s experience and technology for your home energy audit. Go to http://www.idtenergy.com/homeaudit/ for more information. If you live in England, home energy audits won’t be optional – check out this article about how homeowners who do not comply with new green legislation will be penalized. Beware of eco-snoops. 

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23388855-details/Warning+to+homeowners+as+the+green+vision+is+unveiled/article.do 

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=38&story_id=32882 No not from the phones being thrown on their heads from twenty story high windows – Germans fear “Elektrosmog.” In fact, “A whopping 55 per cent said they believe cell phones emit harmful levels of electromagnetic and low-level microwave radiation…just 38 per cent believe Germany faces any imminent terrorist threat.”  We all know the age old debate (ok, years old) about how much we should be doing to minimize the effects of climate change. What are the Germans doing to combat their fear of Elektosmog? Surprisingly, not very much: “Ironically, the survey findings coincide with figures from the telecommunications industry showing that there are now more than 90 million mobiles in Germany, compared to 82 million human beings.A quarter of those human beings - presumably infants and inmates and invalids - still have no mobile. That means the vast majority of Germans have at least one mobile phone if not two or more.” Evidently, extended cell phone use can do something which makes cell membranes explode, but no one seems that worried.

With Bill McKibben’s “Step it Up” program getting airplay from the New York Times, this groundswell movement is set to explode (full story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/science/14mckibben.html?n=Top%2fNews%2fScience%2fTopics%2fGlobal%20Warming). What to expect across the country on April 14th? Some examples:“Skiers in Wyoming plan to descend a shrinking glacier. New Yorkers plan to form an unbroken human line (dress code: blue shirts) along what might be the new southern shoreline of Manhattan. A group of Dominican sisters and a Wisconsin environmental group are organizing a conference on Sisinawa Mound overlooking the Mississippi River.” 

Step It Up Rally Bar Mitzvahs are also on the agenda. Here is an angle that I have not heard addressed before: 

“Van Jones, director the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, Calif., is one of relatively few black community organizers to find common cause with those calling for drastic cuts in emissions from the country’s tailpipes and smokestacks. Such changes could make poor peoples’ electrical bills go up. But Mr. Jones says climate change will hit the poor first and harder than any increase in their electricity.”  Calling Al Gore “climate change’s American Idol“ made me laugh. Watch this space for Step It Up coverage.