I’m sitting in artic Tennessee and feel like I’m an extra in the movie “The Day After Tomorrow” depicting the world in turmoil due to global warming. Well, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but the bitter cold, along with low gas prices, is a perfect combination to lull me into energy and environmental complacency.
I just finished reading, “Living Like Ed” by Ed Begley, Jr. His book is a “guide to the eco-friendly life.” I read it mostly out of curiosity to see how this long-time environmentalist and celebrity viewed biofuels. It was actually quite surprising in that he is very much in favor of ethanol, specifically E85, even more than biodiesel.
Most celebrities are out tooling around in their vegetable cars touting biodiesel, and rarely out in their flex-fuel vehicle (FFV) touting E85. (Maybe its because driving with grease is sexier than driving with corn.)
His book has some good tips that don’t border on the extreme – Ed is known to recycle EVERYTHING. But since this is an alternative energy blog, I’ll give you a brief run-down on his “transportation hierarchy.
- Walking
- Riding his bike
- Public Transportation
- Electric Car
- Hybrid Car
- Fly
His wife Rachelle actually drives the hybrid car. We should get her a flex-fuel plug-in electric vehicle from one of the manufactures currently working on them, and then they can feature it their show, “Living With Ed” that airs on Planet Green TV. Any takers?
Well, since it’s cold out, I’ll stick with driving my ethanol fueled vehicle for the time being and implement some of his good, indoor green tips like researching how to put a solar panel on my roof or install my own personal wind turbine in my back yard (Ed already has both).