Living Like Ed: Begley's Picks for Greywater Systems, Hot Water Heaters, Wind Turbines, and More

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'm trying to find the whole house water filter very briefly shown in the segment of the couple with a baby in Venice where they did a whole house renovation and had the rented solar panels on the roof. The whole home water filter was verbally described as a sculpture and there was only a glimpse of it shown in the segment. I've found many many references to whole home water filters many of which state "with Ed Begley's endorsement," however none of them look like this item shown in the episode.

A. The system in the early Living With Ed episode is called the Wellness Filter. It was installed in the house in Venice, CA on the show. It is not the one Rachelle and I selected for our own home. We have the Lifesource Water System in our house and we're very happy with it. You can find it at www.lifesourcewater.com. Hopefully you'll see the installation of it in our house on a future episode—it was pretty funny and Rachelle and I got into it pretty good. We also use a KYK ionizer for our drinking water - you can find it at www.waterforlifeusa.com.

Ed

Q. I read great things about this Mag-Wind roof top wind turbine generator, manufactured in Texas and sold in Canada. I live in the Seattle area and would love a roof top wind generator that produces roughly 1000 kwh per month.

A. Yes—the company is Enviro-Energies. You can find them at www.enviro-energies.com. They aren't calling them the Mag-Wind anymore. Their new name is the M-VAWT.

Ed

Q. I just watched one of your shows where you gave Bill Nye your CFLs because you went to LED lamps. He made a comment that LED lamps put out a lot of heat. Is that true and if so how much heat?

A. The LEDs I have put out very little heat: www.diogenlighting.com

Ed

Q. What do you think about these do-it-yourself spray insulations, Ed? I've been looking around and have found lots of new brands that are almost 1/3 the cost for a 1200 sqf home. I dont know a living soul that has done it yet and no one has the advice to tell me if its good to spray the foam yourself or have someone do it for you.

A. The VOCs in most spray foam insulations have been a deal breaker for me. Even the soy based products still have a lot of chemicals in them. My choice has continued to be organic products like recycled denim and cellulose. I think spray foam is best used to augment these products for filling cracks and the like...at least in my world.

Ed

Q. I'm sure in your home you monitor all your utility usage. Besides electricity, how can a homeowner monitor how much total water and hot water has been used over time on a computer? What about monitoring natural gas consumption by appliances such as furnaces, water heaters, and cook tops? I'm looking for DIY products I can purchase with which I can retrofit my existing home.

A. For water, I check the meter on the street fairly regularly. Often times water bills are 'averages', so checking your own meter is a good idea. For hot water, I have a device called the iCOMM that hooks to my AO Smith Vertex 100 water heater and gives me excellent data from my computer. For natural gas I use my monthly gas bills. There may be other gadgets that do this stuff better by appliance (like the Kill-A-Watt does for electrical devices), but I'm not currently using them.

Ed

Q. What do you have for a hot water heater? I have been looking at an add on for our existing electric hot water heater called an "air tap". It works like a reverse air conditioner. What do you think is the best method to heat water? Keep in mind we are in upstate New York and could only do solar part of the year.

A. I have solar, backed up and supported by high efficiency natural gas. Solar should be a very good option in NY—I would have someone come over and survey the site for you. If you have access to natural gas, check out the AO Smith Vertex 100—that is what I use, and it's more efficient than just about anything else on the market today. I use it to heat both my water AND my home!

Ed

Q. I am in the process of installing a rain water harvesting system. I have been trying to find the episode where Ed visited a homeowner who made his own system including a filter out of a plastic box with a snap on lid and several layers of material inside for large and small debris. I thought that look like a really easy to clean and inexpensive unit as opposed to some of the ones I have found on the web.

A. My solution is not DIY—I have a professional grade water recycling system that handles both my gray water, and soon, my rainwater. It will be featured on an upcoming episode of the show. You can see it now at www.reusegraywater.com. It is designed to do the same job as a municipal water recycling facility—and bring all the water within the Title 22 spec for recycled water.

Ed