Very funny!

What happened to the show?  It seems to have disappeared.  Why?  For the love of all that is holy, tell me it's not canceled!!

I know that we are all worried about the enviroment but Florecent Bulbs contain Mercury, a VERY DANGEROUS substance.  Although we know we are suppose to recycle these bulbs end up in the land fills every day!

They are becomming more and more popular every day!
Are we poisining ourselves while trying to do good?

LEDs are getting cheaper and there is great hope that they are a better alternative to CF. Christmas lights came out in LED this year and were a big hit. 

Halogens and other low voltage bulbs are now being made to work with household current.  The problem that I have with them is the amount of UV rays they emit.  From what I have been told they are worse then being in sunshine.  Seeing UV is one of the leading causes for cataracts and eye problems I am not a big fan of halogen.

Xenon is becomming more popular and as they become common in household current styles I think they are by far the best alternative as they do not create as many harmful rays. They are easier on the eyes just not the wallet, yet.

I am not a fan of LOW VOLTAGE in the home.  I think that LOW Voltage is one of those things in your house that could be the most danerous.

Your house's AC current is designed to cut off if there is a short.  If you have a new house if there is a fault in the circuit or a arc is detected the circuit breaks saving you and stopping the wiring from overheating.

This is not always true with DC Low Voltage electricity, and that is dangerous! IT is true that low voltage current is less likely to harm you through direct contact but it could easily overheat and start a fire.  Ever notice how hot the bulbs get in a low votage installation?  They are so hot that if you touch them and get oil from your hands on them they can explode.

 I use all of the above in my own home.  There just isn't one solution for us as of yet. You just have to take responsibility upon yourself to do the best thing for your home.

I run a microfilm company in Springfield, IL and at one time we used a gas water heater that was very ineffective.  So I found an old water heater that no longer worked (plumbers usually have one from somewhere), Stripped it down to the tank, painted it black and installed it in the maintenance room in line before the gas water heater.  This pre-heated the incomming water to room temp.  Cold water comming in can be very COLD in the winter.  Even if you have instant on water this can really help save you $$$.

Love the show!! I got into the first season late-I wish that HGTV would show those over!! Also they need to have more showings of your second season. I have seen most of them, but missed a few due to weather(we lost power). I usually tape them on the TIVO. Keep up the great work. I have changed out my bulbs to CFL's, did more composting,eaten more local & in season foods, & I am now using cloth bags at the grocery store. I changed my toilet to a low use(1.6g) one & replaced my two leaking faucets. I plan to make rain barrels next year(I live in Indiana so I won't need them 'til next spring). Thanks for your inspiration. I will do more when the budget allows.

I gotta ask.  Now that the first beta-install of a Citizenre solar panel array has been installed (shown on the 11/05/2007 HGTV’s Living with  Ed program), does anyone know when the rest of us who signed up will start to hear something from them?  I signed up back in Dec 11, 2006, and I'm patiently waiting to hear some news (any news) from CitizenRe.   (Love the Living with Ed show - never miss it thanks to Tivo)...

I enjoy gaining new ideas from Ed. I have spent much time and money to get my whole house insulated. I have the floor, walls, and added another layer in my attic. My a/c is now set at 82 during the day and 81 at night here in the summer. I live in St Petersburg, FL. I now am saving to get solar power o my home and dream of adding a wind generator, but need to see if the city will allow it. Now when it drops down to the lowe 60s my house stays a nice warm 76* now that winter is coming. I use a propane stove I got from Vermont to heat my house. It keeps me toasty day or night. Yes it gets cold in Florida! I'm also replacing my 15 year old windows with new low e glass filled with argon. I never thought I'd be replacing these windows being I installed them back in the 90s, but I love the newer ones for saving energy. I'm also wanting to add one of those misters to the a/c, but need to attach it to rain water instead of the city water. It is hard water and will clog the misters over time.

Hello Ed, I have been participating on fixing
the planet for about a month now and I have been working on

An Evolving Plan for "Going Green" in all areas of our home and life

I have been working each area of my plan and below is a section of it on our experiences with the programmable thermostat you introduced us to on Living with Ed last season and suggested to Helen Hunt last week. Thank you for your nudge it has made our lives better and will help with our energy consumption.

Thermostats:
September 30th, John installed our new programmable thermostat for our central heating
and air conditioning like the one Ed showed on Living with ED last season. It has
cycled though it's 4 programs all day. Very interesting...

• October 11th, well our fall weather
  finally came, the new thermostat
  automatically programs the heater to its built-in energy star
  complaint program settings. The first night or two we were a little too
  warm while sleeping and adjusted the temp by 2 degrees for a few hours,
  ala Rachelle, (It goes back to the energy star setting after the cycle it
  is on. You don't even need to remember to reset it.) Since then we seem to
  have adjusted; now it is cold at night and we have added another blanket to
  the bed. We heat with natural gas so it is clean burning. In Indiana
  our electricity is produced by burning coal. People who heat with electric
  pay less $$$ but add to the problem of pollution.
• October 13th we bought the second
  thermostat it is just like the first one. This one is for the first
  floor system; the heater is in the basement. John will install it this
  weekend.

·
October 14th, John just installed the second
thermostat for the 1st floor and basement the first one was for the second
floor bedrooms and attic. The outstanding attributes of using these Energy Star
programmable thermostats here in the Mid West are:

• 1. Number 1 has to be
     saving energy
  2. Number 2 has to be
     ease of use, in this part of the country there are many days in the Fall
     and the Spring were it is so cold at night you need heat and some times
     heats up in the day so that you need air. These thermostats work together
     on the same 4 rotating schedules to regulate the temperature in the house
     using both your heat and air as needed with out you touching it.

• We adapted very quickly to
  the change in temperature in our house and actually it is a lot more comfortable.
  Usually at this time of year we are freezing because we haven't turned the
  heat on yet, or we are too hot because we turned the air off for the year.
  Now I feel like Goldie Locks, its just right

• October 22nd, the 2 new
  Programmable Thermostats are wonderful, the whole house is comfortable all the
  time you don't walk from warm rooms to cold rooms and they have made it effortless to maintain! For the first time ever
  the two big gas heaters for the central heating are working together. Tell
  Helen Hunt that there is nothing to be afraid in using programmable
  thermostats, she will love it with those cool California
  nights and hot days. Besides, Helen, a woman who can track tornadoes
  shouldn't be afraid of a thermostat. We watch your old tornado movie once a year to
  get us ready for the tornado warnings. There are so many of them each year
  it would be easy to just ignore them, but we don't. While the experts say
  the movie didn't portray the real violence of the tornadoes it did enough
  to make us seek shelter when we are told to. Thank you, Helen, for a fun
  movie that shakes the house enough to make us remember to seek shelter!
  and watch for cows...

Is anyone else alarmed at the number of "cheap" polypropylene, plastic or questionable fabric "shopping bags" being offered by Whole Foods, Trader Joe's etc.  as "environmental" bags. First of all: the synthetic fabrics (including nylon) are PETROLEUM-based (a non-renewable resource); second, the manufacturing of the polyprop or nylon is not a "clean" process; third they are NOT recyclable or bio-degradable and finally, their "reusable" time is SHORT (granted, better than a single-use plastic bag). Perhaps a show that educates "good, better, & best practices on topics. Stores & people need to be educated that a single well-made canvas, or string shopping bag is the correct environmental thing to do!  I've had my EcoSac bags for almost 20 years w/ continuous weekly shopping for a family of four most of that time...my favorite is the GardenSac bag which takes the place of the plastic bags off the roll in the produce department. Great for storing potatoes, onions etc as well as NOT putting plastic out-gassing into my organic produce!

Hello Ed, Thank you for making going green a step by step process rather than a conversion by fire. I have been participating on fixing the planet for a few weeks where I have been working on

An Evolving Plan for "Going Green" in all areas of our home and life

I have worked each area of my plan and below is a section of it.

Weatherizing: I plan
on replacing part of the insulation in the attic this fall. The part that is in
the ceiling is falling out and needs to be replaced. I think I have
already insulated the floor sufficiently with peanuts. When we moved here
in 1995 and I unpacked all of the boxes I had bags and bags of packing peanuts.
I couldn’t recycle them and I couldn’t bear to throw them in the trash so
I started placing the bags in the attic on top of the insulation that was
there until I could find someone who was moving and needed them. After I
got them up there and looked at them I decided that they added an extra 8
to 10 inches of insulation to the attic and I still have them up there as
insulation. Maybe this is a really good idea? Maybe I should ask Ed?

• October 13th Does anyone know if this was a good thing to do? Is this a good use of used peanuts? Can we ask Ed?

Sunday October 14th, I have been told that refrigerators run more
efficently and use less electricity when they are full. To echieve this
there are boxes sold by Tupper Ware and by Sharper Image that are
suppose to keep our food fresh longer and fill the frig so that it runs
more efficently. Ed do you know about this? I think we could use a show on storing our food for the most efficent use of our refrg and on keeping our food fresh longer!

Been a big fan of the show since it's inception. Hopefully we can collaborate our solar interests somewhere down the line. I think our Solar LED landscape accent lights would be absolutely perfect addition to anyone looking to beautify their backyard or home!

www.solarcynergy.com

Ed, Living With Ed is one of the best tv shows I've seen in a long time. I usually don't even watch tv, so am not very familiar with your work, but LWE has made me a fan.

One thing that would be a great addition is a resources section for each show. For example, on the 9/17/07 episode, you showed some solar panels that integrated into the roof and pergola/arbor. To show my tv ineptitude, they were at a producer's house, but I'm not sure what his name is.

You've shown other things have caught my attention, and are probably of interest to others as well.

I'd love to know more! Where can we find these specific solar panels? What do they cost? How long do they last? All that good practical stuff!

Yes, a lot of people are just starting on the Green Path, but some of us are ready to be nudged a little further. Help us out!

And keep up the good work. You are way ahead of the curve!

I have enjoted the show since it has began but would like to see more of the "nuts & bolts" of how to install and maintain solar, wind generators, etc.  I have wanted to do these types of things all my life but since I live in the midwest there is not enough sun or in my region enough wind to make either practical.  I would still try it except the cost of equipment makes it impossible for a person on a fixed income to do.  I know there are many people out there that have come up with ways to make their own wind generators and other ideas to promote conservation and to lower their operating costs and would like to see the average joe's methods of doing these types of things.   I am in Missouri and they have no mandatory buy back of energy laws either, so the utilities are not encouraging conservation much either. Keep up the good work Ed.

Blindi2

Ed, the second season, is off to a great start....... Keep up the good work, spread the word of green living.  You inspired me so much with season one,  I've  installed Solar Panels, Wind Generator,  Solar Water Heater, and even built my own Electric Mitsubishi Eclipse automobile.  I plan to keep adding to the Solar array, and Wind Farm, as funds permit.  Check out my Electric Mitsubishi Eclipse at:   www.texomaev.com

Each time I watch the show I seem to get a little greener.  Ed inspires me to do the things that I have known for a while that I needed to do.  I love the show.  Thanks for another season and keep the GREEN DREAM alive.

While I don't purport to be an environmental expert by any means, I have always had a desire to live greener.  I recently discovered the show Living with Ed on HGTV which is both entertaining and educational.  While the show might be quaint and basic knowledge to most hard core environmentalists, it serves as a primer for those of us wanting to live greener from the simpler solution of compact fluorescent bulbs to exposing people to more comprehensive solutions.   As our nation understands the more comprehensive solutions better, they will begin to demand even more advanced and convenient and AFFORDABLE products so we can also implement a comprehensive green lifestyle.  Ed Begley, a pioneer environmentalist, should be praised for bringing practical solutions for living greener to the masses in an especially entertaining way.  Hopefully the presidential candidates can take the greening of America to the next level by implementing policies to speed up the process so regular Americans can more fully participate in being green!

I can't wait to see your show again this Sunday. I learned a lot last time I watched and I'm sure that more will again be new to me. Ed, I like how you keep the show fun, but also educational. My children also caught a few episodes of the last episodes and as a result they've insisted on small changes in their lives that help to make a difference - walking and bicycling whenever there's a choice between taking the car or not, growing a fresh organic garden (we started small and are growing on this), changing all of our light bulbs to fluorescent, turning off appliances and chargers when they're not in use - you may consider these all small changes, but it's our way of at least making a little difference. Not to be competitive, but here's a photo of our little garden that we started taking more seriously after watching your show:

By the way, sometimes it can be tough to figure out which are the best fluorescent light bulbs that you can purchase.  I found a good link here which actually tests all of the major bulbs - http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/home_improvement/4215199.ht...

I am excited to see a second season of Living with Ed. I watched every episode and enjoyed the family interaction. For me, his wife Rachelle gives a grounding element to the show. My hope is that more people will watch and actually start doing something for the enviroment. I like his motto, "Live simply, so others may simply Live". Beautiful!

Ed,

I didn't catch the first season, but have heard a lot about the show from my friends that have. It sounds fun and can't wait to watch it. Thanks for helping to fix our planet.

- Naida

Ed,
I look forward to seeing your new season of Living with Ed. I saw some of the episodes from the first season and enjoyed the show quite a bit. I liked the humor and learned a few things as well. Best to you on the new season. By the way, I've been creating a new garden at my home towards growing organic healthy foods. Here's a picture:

Charley