Welcome to the GREEN SCENE where green people, places and products aim to enlighten and empower us to live sustainably. Regardless of where our lifestyle is in the green continuum each one of us can and should take simple steps to improve the state of our environment.

One of my favorite green celebrities is Ed Begley Jr. an actor and long time much awarded environmentalist. Ed’s commitment to the environment is stellar. He has served as Chairman of the Environmental Media Association and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. He serves on the boards of organizations including the Thoreau Institute, the Earth Communications Office, TreePeople and Friends of the Earth. His work has earned awards from numerous environmental groups including the California League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Coalition for Clean Air, Heal the Bay, the Santa Monica Bay Keepers and SCGC, Southern California Gas Company. Currently he is the costar of the hit HGTV series ‘Living with Ed’ which looks at the day-to-day realities of living green and his not so environmental wife Rachelle Carson. The series has currently just finished its second season.

Recently I had the pleasure of being part of a press interview with Ed Begley Jr. Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

Heidi: What are some of your favorite green gadgets or tools?

Ed Begley: My favorite green gadget is my little solar charger. I have had them for years. Nearly all of them had a panel that was too small to really charge a battery properly. Now, they are much better, more efficient. They open up like a fan that has several panels on them and they will actually charge your cell phone. They give it a real charge. There’s also a solar backpack that has an even larger panel if you want something larger that you could take camping and charge your cell phone, or even run your computer with it. Those are pretty good.
My solar oven though is my number one favorite. That’s a larger item certainly, I don’t know that it’s really a tool, but it is a cooking tool. I make all my soups, rice, beans, stews in that, boil my hot water or recipes out in the yard, all free energy from the sun for my solar oven.

Heidi: What's your next Green Home Improvement project?

Ed Begley: It’s happening right now. I have been talking about how I took a 1936 energy inefficient house. I made it very energy efficient or so I thought. Recently people with an infrared gun came by and I saw all the gaps in my home. I had put great insulation in the attic and in the walls but discovered there are spots that we missed.

There were other problems with the crawlspace in the house. I figured that since heat rises there wouldn’t be big problems with the floor. I was very wrong. I was hemorrhaging heat in the winter and cool in the summer from the crawlspace under the house. The house was nearly an energy sieve, despite all my best efforts. That’s being enclosed as we speak. I also got a much more energy efficient hot water heater from AO Smith that I am putting in right now. It’s a 95% energy efficient water heater from AO Smith and a new heating and air unit that is super energy efficient that will replace the old from a bygone era.