Ed Begley Jr. wants to help replace your toilet

Ed Begley Jr. is taking eco-advice beyond his TV show "Living with Ed." Now, Ed's the first host for Home Depot's "Celebrity Workshop Series," giving out green DIY tips for your home.

The two episodes up so far: "Making your home draft-proof" and "Installing a programmable thermostat." The next couple weeks will bring you the sexiest of green projects: "Replacing a toilet" and "Creating a compost."

Not a whole lot of help for apartment dwellers like me, but all of you who moved out to a far-flung suburb to own a home can mull over how best to incorporate these tips while fighting traffic each day .

Home Depot is really trying to earn some good stripes here via its Eco-Options program. Unfortunately, Eco-Options -- basically a program that sticks green labels on products Home Depot deems eco -- takes eco labeling down to new lows. As the N.Y. Times points out:

Plastic-handled paint brushes were touted as nature-friendly because they were not made of wood. Wood-handled paint brushes were promoted as better for the planet because they were not made of plastic.

Still, Ed gives good advice. If following it finds you at Home Depot, remember to look beyond the Eco-Options label.

Comments

[James]

Actually Siel, I think the City of L.A. might have a plan for apt owners. It may be a coincidence, but the apt bldg I live in was inspected by the city a couple of months ago, and they installed a new "lo-flo" commode a week later.

I can't imagine these owners voluntarily spending the money to replace the antique I had, so I figure the city either got them a deal on the toilets, or convinced them they would save more in the long run if they spent the money to replace them all.

[Siel]

Hey James -- Yes, many of the cities do indeed have incentives -- as well as laws / ordinances requiring apt. owners to install lo-flo shower heads, etc. The latter prolly accounted for yr lo-flo commode :)