IDT Energy Savings

What is a cool roof? It’s a roof which can make your entire house more energy efficient by reflecting back the heat of the sun rather than absorbing the heat and transferring it into your home. As a result your roof stays cooler and you need less energy from your air conditioning system to keep cool.

Consider installing a cool roof and:

•    Reduce air pollution and smog in your city. Using less electricity creates less of a burden on power plants.
•    Preserve your roof so it lasts longer.
•    Save money on your electricity bill.
•    Minimize the effects of “heat islands” in suburbs, towns and cities.

An initial registration statement has been filed by Genie Energy, which is a completely owned subsidiary of IDT Energy. The  filing of the statement, which includes a document of description,  is in preparation for the awaited spin-off of Genie and the announcement to the stockholders of IDT Corporation.

It is possible to view the filed statements through the website of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Howard Jonas, CEO and Chairman of IDT Energy explained the decision of his company to create Genie:

“The spin-off of Genie is one of the key strategic moves we announced last year to enable stockholders to realize the inherent value in IDT’s businesses.”

In the heat of the summer, it’s hard to believe the weather is ever going to cool down. But, indeed, it will, and it will be time to start to budget for those colder months. There are many ways to save costs on the fall energy bills, whether you use IDT Energy or another energy supplier. Here are some tips that should help you to think about those colder months.

1. Set your thermostat at 68 degrees or lower when you are home, and put it even lower when you’re out or in bed.  Believe it or not, for every degree that you lower your thermostat, you’ll be saving 2% off of your heating bill.
2. Weatherize your home before the cold weather hits. Caulk and weather-strip all the doors and windows. Make sure your windows have locks on them as well, to make them tighter and more draft resistant.
3. Insulate your attic, or increase the insulation you already have.  Do this for the basement and outside walls as well.

When the summer starts heating up, it’s very tempting to just crank up the air-conditioner irrespective of the bills you will thereafter receive.  But when you get the bill, you may reconsider – by which time it will be too late since you will have already used all that extra electricity.  That is why IDT Energy has some great saving tips that will ensure you stay cool but don’t break the bank.  One way is to set the thermostat a little warmer for the night times. According to figures from the Department of Energy, doing this can render a 10 percent saving on heating and cooling bills with a mere thermostat change of 10 to 15 percent for eight out of each 24 hours.  This doesn’t even have to be at all complicated either since these days there are various programmable thermostats available which facilitate the process.  Another way of saving money on the bill from air-conditioning usage, is by regularly changing the filters.  An estimated 5 to 15 percent can be saved by doing this.  As well, it will improve the air-conditioning quality and there will be way less noise.

When you next go outside of your house, take a look at the air-conditioning unit from there too.  It’s important to regularly wash its coils and ensure there is nothing that blocks the air follow.  Coil cleaning can result in a 2-4 percent capacity improvement which again will result in substantial financial savings.

IDT Energy has many tips on how to make substantial savings in the summer when it seems like your home electricity is always in use.  You can indeed remain cool without over-spending. You just need to work out sensible ways of doing this.

The kitchen is one of the busiest rooms in the house, with lots of energy saving devices, meaning that they save humans energy. But in order to save you energy the appliances take the energy from the environment.

IDT Energy presents some ways to reduce to a minimum the amount of energy needed to run your kitchen:

1. Fill your dishwasher to capacity before running. Research has shown that a dishwasher used this way can save 37% of the water needed if the dishes were washed by hand. So you can use the dishwasher guilt-free.
2. There is a way to wash dishes using even less water than the dishwasher; fill one sink with soapy water and the adjacent sink with rinse water, and do not let the water run out of the faucet. Then you will use a whopping 50% of the water used by the dishwasher.
3. Use your microwave to defrost or warm up small amounts of food instead of the stove. This can save up to 50% of the energy that the stove would use. The microwave also heats up the kitchen less, a plus in the summer.
4. Close the fridge door right away. Decide what you want from the fridge before you open the door, take it out, and close the door. Test the tightness of the door by closing it on a one dollar bill. If the dollar pulls out easily, then the door is probably not tight enough, and cold air may be leaking out. Get it checked.
5. Old refrigerators are big energy wasters. Consider replacing your old fridge with a new energy efficient model. Look for the Energy Star.

Watch this informative and clear video for some simple ideas on what you can do now to begin saving energy at home and at the office.

Saving energy is a hot topic today, and while many people are aware of the importance, they find it hard or inconvenient to really take the time to change their energy-using habits. Many energy companies, such as IDT Energy, would be glad to help you reduce energy use and costs in your home.

One great way to minimize energy use in your home is to just make sure that everyone is aware of the issue. There are many simple things that you and your children can do to save energy and lower your electric bill at the same time.

loseyourexcuse.gov is a great website that helps you do just that. Their site lists 10 easy, simple rules that you can print out and tape on the fridge. You can also just discuss the ‘energy action plan‘ with the members of your household one night at dinner.

The list includes simple reminders like:

“1. Turn off the lights,

2. Use energy saving light bulbs,

3. Shut off computers, and

4. Use “smart” power strips.”

ESCOs Help Consumers Save

ESCO stands for “Energy Service Company.” When the power supply utility companies in New York were deregulated, ESCOs, including IDT Energy, came into being. Competition was introduced into an area which was essentially populated with monopolies which had government protection as well as regulation.

With deregulation came the competition which allowed prices, and services to bring in customers, hopefully encouraging the quality of services provided as well as helping to keep costs competitive.

Under this system energy service is divided into two parts, the supply of energy and its delivery. IDT Energy offers a “Switch and Save” program which allows consumers to choose IDT Energy as their supplier, while their local utility, such as Con Edison, remains in charge of power delivery.

Consumers are not compelled to switch to an ESCO, but in many cases, as when switching to IDT Energy, it is possible to save money on the monthly bill for electricity and natural gas.

IDT Energy believes that it is possible for families to enjoy substantial savings on their
energy bill by incorporating just a few simple ideas into their household energy use.

Take a look at this video to learn about some of these easy to implement energy
saving ideas from IDT Energy.

IDT Energy believes that saving energy can become a family project which teaches appreciation of our precious natural resources, educates about where our energy comes from, and gets the family united to achieve a worthwhile goal.

So where to begin? Begin with a plan.

1.    Turn off lights when not in use.
2.    Use the new energy saving light bulbs called CFLs.
3.    Turn off computers.
4.    Use power strips to make turning off lots of equipment easy.
5.    Shut off entertainment systems and other devices when not in use.
6.    Whenever possible use natural light, heating and cooling.
7.    Unplug the phone’s battery charger when not in use.
8.    Try to purchase Energy Star appliances whenever possible.
9.    Understand digital programmable thermostats and use them.
10.    Think about home improvements which will help make your home more energy efficient, like insulation, calking, roof repair and more; and then go do them.

IDT Energy suggests that you  get a check list to hang on your refrigerator as a reminder to you and your family to always try to save energy.