IDT Energy World

Certainly, we all want to have safe homes. Many people are surprised to learn about the many ways that they are taking their safety for granted in the house. IDT Energy offers safety tips to ensure that you are keeping yourself, and your child, safe in the house.

Make sure that electrical outlets aren’t overloaded with too many plugs and that all electric cords in the home are in good condition. Check that no electric cords are run under rugs or furniture legs – furthermore, they shouldn’t be run near hot appliances.

Further hints include checking that your electric appliances are used away from water and that people carry appliances in the house by the handle and not by the cord.

One creative way to save on your energy bill each month is by upgrading your wall insulation.  This is a little known idea, but one that creates a huge list of benefits for energy savings and more.  IDT Energy will explore and explain the many benefits with you here.

Certainly, wall insulation helps your home to stay warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.  This means that you’ll be able to use less heat and air while maintaining a comfortable temperature in the home; and this leads to energy bill savings at the end of the year.

In addition to these benefits, there are many other benefits to upgrading your wall insulation.  Well-insulated walls can minimize drafts and make your home quieter by blocking out noises.  Properly installed insulation helps to seal the home from air leakage while also improving the fire safety of the home.  Should you experience a power outage, well insulated walls actually help your home to remain comfortable and habitable for longer.  If you have water pipes running inside the walls of the house, the extra insulation can reduce the risk of freeze problems.

Certainly, paying for extra wall insulation costs money.  In general, however, the benefits are well worth the cost, and you should be able to re-cooperate your cost with your

There is a huge range of opportunity in the home to reduce your monthly electric bill.  Every little bit counts, and there are many simple tips that will help you to save.  Many people don’t think about these items, or realize how a small change of this sort can make a big difference in the bill, whether you are using IDT Energy or another energy service company.

One great suggestion is to install programmable thermostats.  Programmable thermostats allow you to dictate when the furnace will be turned on and off.  You don’t have to remember to turn the thermostat off at night, and then to turn it back on in the morning.  With the programmable thermostat, you won’t have to worry that you forgot to turn the temperature down when everyone is at work, thus wasting money heating an empty house.

Rather, the programmable unit ensures that you program the heat to keep you comfortable when you are around the house – and to help you to save when you don’t need the heat or air turned up.  The unit can be set to turn on right before the family goes to bed and wakes up, and to be turned down in the middle of the night and throughout the day when no one is home.

This one item can drastically reduce your energy bills while keeping your family comfortable and responsibly using your energy.

Certainly, as IDT Energy and any other energy service company will explain, there are many clever ways that you can save on your electric bill.  If you are careful, you can reduce electricity use in the home and reduce your energy bills.  While the savings may not be drastic – every little bit counts and helps with the overall budget.

Here are a number of quick tips for reducing your energy usage in the home.  Certainly, within each of these categories, there are more specific details and recommendations that can help you even more.

* Appliances and Electronics – Purchase products with an energy-efficient rating and make sure to turn products off when not in use.

* Lighting – Try to add more natural lighting options to the home including windows, skylights and more.  Purchase energy-efficient light fixtures with the Energy Star label and use energy-efficient light bulbs.

* Heating and Cooling – Add ceiling fans in as many rooms as possible. These help to circulate air and to keep rooms cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.  Make sure you have proper insulation and air seals in the home.  Select an energy-efficient heating system that doesn’t use electricity.

* Water Heating – Purchase an energy-efficient electric water heater and make sure to operate it as efficiently as possible.  Or, you might want to select an energy-efficient water heater that doesn’t require electricity to operate.

The way you cook can be energy efficient or wasteful. Two people cooking the same meal can use vastly different amounts of energy doing it. By simply covering a pot when boiling water can save half the energy and time than trying to boil water in an uncovered pot.

The types of pots and pans used in the kitchen can also make a big difference. If you have an electric stove, make sure the pots you use are flat bottomed and make full contact with the eyes.

On gas stoves, keep the grease catchers under the burners clean. The shiny metal that they are made from actually reflects the heat back up into the pot and reduces cooking time.
Use the smallest pot that you can for the meal that you are making. Heating up a large pot to cook a small amount of food is a waste of energy. Also, whenever possible use a toaster oven or microwave to warm up leftovers of make small amounts of food. Microwaves are among the most energy efficient appliances around, using two thirds less power than electric ovens.

It is possible to save energy when you cook. You might consider purchasing a new type of stove which uses “induction” to heat your food. Induction creates heat more quickly by accelerating metal molecules magnetically in such materials as steel, cast iron and some stainless steel pots. When the pot is removed from the eye of the stove it cools much faster than ordinary stoves.

A stove that heats using induction transfers about 90% of its heat to the pot due to the fact that induction conforms to specific metals. An electric burner transfers about 70% of its heat, and a gas stove only about 35% to 40%. Be warned though. Induction stoves can cost double to triple or more that what a gas or electric stove costs.

Gas stove tops are very popular, but are they more energy efficient than electric stove top burners? IDT Energy is going to explore this little discussed issue with you.
Because of the fact that, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, approximately 4.5% of all household energy use is spent on cooking, Energy Star, the government’s way of measuring energy use of home appliances, does not rate or give a standard for cooking stove tops. 4.5% is just not considered enough usage to mandate stricter standards of efficiency, at least not at the moment.

Even so, are there any advantages, energy wise, of using gas over electricity for cooking? Well, it turns out that yes, there is. Gas burners are instantly hot, whereas electric burners take time to heat up and cool down. Cooks prefer gas because it is easier to control the intensity of the flame. Old fashioned gas stoves had pilot lights that were always on, wasting precious fuel, but now, with electric igniters up to 40% less gas is being used.

Abiogenic formation of natural gas happens very deep within the earth’s crust.  Here there are found carbon molecules and gases rich in hydrogen molecules. These gases slowly rise towards the earth’s surface, and as they rise they can interact with underground minerals. This interaction can result in the formation of a variety of compounds which are found in the atmosphere, like nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, argon and water. Given enough pressure as the gases move towards the earth’s surface it is likely that methane deposits will form, similar to thermogenic methane.

In our exploration of the genesis of natural gas we have already seen the process of thermogenic formation which requires extreme temperatures to transform plants and animals into fossil fuels.

Another process, which could help us in today’s world produce methane as a renewable resource is called the biogenic production of methane. In this process methane is produced by the breakdown of organic matter by means of microorganisms which are found on the surface of the earth in which oxygen is not found. These microorganisms are so common that they are found in the intestines of most animals, including humans.

Presently methane formed this way is almost entirely lost to the atmosphere. Sometimes, however the methane can be trapped underground and then harvested and used as natural gas. This happens at landfills, where relatively large amounts of methane are produced when the materials in the landfill decompose with the help of the microorganisms found there.

IDT Energy hopes that this new understanding of what natural gas is and where it comes from will increase your appreciation of the wonder of natural gas.

There are three major ways we know of in which natural gas is formed. The first and most famous way is called thermogenic formation of methane. This process happens when organic matter, such as dead plants or animals become compressed under the earth. The living matter is slowly transformed over millions of years through high temperatures which exist below the surface of the earth, and extreme pressures caused by the accumulation of materials on top of the organic matter over time.  The carbon bonds are broken down by the high temperature and pressure. The higher the temperature and pressure, the more natural gas is created. Therefore it is usually found that the deeper the oil deposit is found underground, the more methane (natural gas) is found there. Some extremely deep deposits are pure methane. Coal, on the other hand, found closer to the earth’s surface, and usually a smaller amount of methane is associated with the coal deposit.