MNN - Mother Nature Network

Think globaly, act locally. We've been told time and time again that change starts at home. It all borders on cliche, but it's true: people can wrap their heads around things right in front of them, they can get excited and energized by actuall doing something. When you talk about the floating mass of plastic choking the seas between North America and Asia it's almost too big and distant to even be real, nevermind something we can actually do anything about.

 

But talk about how the cracks and drafts in our homes are equal to leaving a window open year round and it suddenly becomes very real. Tell us that the old fashion thermostat is costing us hundreds of dollars a year and it's REALLY real. It's a lot easier to understand how you can fix a problem like that.

 

If change starts at home, then the newly launched website and online store Home Energy Resource has the right plan- sell  people things that will make their home more energy efficient and less costly to run.

 

I sat down with Home Energy Resource's founder and CEO Peter Troast today for lunch and got the inside scoop on their long term plans and some of the things they're doing behind the scenes to get their new business up and running. I can't talk about most of what he told me (Peter said he'd kill me if I dished) but I'll share what I can.

 

Home Energy Resource is new- they launched less than 48 hours ago. The site is just a scratch on the surface of what they will be coming out with in January and February. Peter told me that a couple of weeks ago they decided to get a barebones site up for the Holidays to kick the tires around their ecommerce system; what you currently see is the results.

 

The look of the site is clean and cutterfree and I'm a big fan of the natural language they use. It feels likes it's run by real people.

 

Right now they have ten categories of products up, ranging from electricity monitors to lighting and rechargeable batteries to window insulation, crank powered gadgets, and space heaters. The site loads quickly and is designed well.

I found a few things on the site that are going on my Santa List. I'm a sucker for green gadgets and love the the hand crankable Freeplay EyeMax Weather Radio (seen at left), a deal at only $58.

 

The Isole IDP-3050 Plug Load Control seems pricey at $89.95 for a surge protector until you consider that the thing actually knows if you are in the room. If you step away from the desk for lunch it will detect your absence and cut off power to your unessential gadgets and appliances. When you get back from Subway it fires everything back up for you. Big (Green) Brother is watching.

 

I'm really excited to see how this site progresses over 2009. Peter told me they are going to make education a big part of the site- they'll have people working full time to create articles and videos demonstrating how to actually use all the things they sell, working to demystify the world of efficiency.

 

Head on over to Home Energy Resource and do some last minute holiday shopping for your favorite greenie (or green blogger, hint hint ;) ).