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Living with Ed follows Ed Begley, Jr., and his wife, Rachelle, as they green their home, family, and celebrity friends. But if you've ever wondered what kind of advice they'd give the rest of us, then the Ask Ed forum is your chance to find out. Readers submit questions and comments about the show, green living, etc., and Ed chimes in with his green answers; here, we've rounded up some highlights of the past week.
Q. I live in Las Vegas, Nevada, it is hot here--heat and water are our biggest challenges. I need a technical explanation and some specific names and manufactures of hardware and solutions that can help me reduce my dependence on evaporative cooling, a water waster and traditional air conditioning and electricity waster.
A. My solution has been insulation. By doing a comprehensive energy audit on my home, adding insulation in key places like the ceilings, attics, walls etc., and having the best possible windows and doors, I was able to remove my 4 ton HVAC unit and replace it with a tiny 1.5 ton unit. The savings have been huge. Obviously there are many technologies to cool--but all of them will work less hard and use less resources with a home that is as tight as possible.
Ed
Q. I just wanted to know about the best insulation that I could use to stay green at a low cost. My wife and i are starting an alpaca fiber processing plant...We already are looking at solar and wind energy. I saw on one of your shows old blue jeans were being used [as insulation]--can I install that myself?
A. I have the recycled denim insulation in my home and my garage and I'm quite happy with it. The company that makes it is called Bonded Logic. The insulation brand is Ultra Touch. You can find it online.
Ed
Q. I priced out solar panels, [a] vertical axis wind generator and geo thermal for my house. I could see why not everyone is going green. It's not that they don't want to. It's that people cannot afford it. You never recoup what you spend, at least not in your lifetime. I guess everyone-- including me --[is] going to wait on the sideline till the technology gets more affordable.
A. Please don't focus on energy PRODUCTION technologies. Try instead to focus on the low hanging fruit of energy and resource CONSERVATION. A kilowatt SAVED is so much cheaper than a kilowatt PRODUCED. I always recommend starting with a home energy audit--it will create a great game plan of things to do where you will get your fastest and largest return on investment. I didn't get solar electric until 20 years after I started this stuff!
Ed
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