(NewsUSA) – Ed Begley Jr., a movie and television actor whose credits include A Mighty Wind
(as well as my introduction to him, the TV series St. Elsewhere
As a result of his convictions, Begley created “Begley’s Best,” a line of natural, non-toxic household cleaning products, and recently published Living Like Ed: A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life
Begley’s roof hosts a wind turbine and more than 6 kilowatts of solar panels that provide the majority of his home’s energy as well as power his car. On a recent episode of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”, Begley said he only pays about $300 a year in electric bills.
Fitting a house with a wind turbine might seem extravagant to most Americans, but you don’t need celebrity status to conserve energy and resources at home.
Here are some tips for Americans hoping to live more sustainably:
- Watch your water use. Taking simple steps, like only running your dishwasher or laundry machine when you have full loads, can save thousands of gallons of water each year. Take showers instead of baths, and when you need to replace kitchen or bathroom fixtures, choose high-efficiency appliances. Monitor your water bill for unusually high prices — they might indicate leaks.
- Consider buying a high-efficiency water heater. Heating water can use up to 25 percent of a home’s energy supply. If it’s time for a new model, look for one that qualifies for the federal tax credit for energy-efficiency improvements, like A.O. Smith’s Vertex model. Begley uses the Vertex in his home to provide all of this home heating and hot water needs.
- Upgrade your lighting. If every American home replaced just one lightbulb with an ENERGY STAR compact fluorescent light (CFL), it would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars for a year. Better yet, CFLs are inexpensive and easily installed.
You may not can do it all, but we can all do something.