Ed Begley, Bill Nye wage friendly eco war

LOS ANGELES -- On a tree-lined corner of Studio City filled with modest homes, flower gardens and neighbors who chat across back fences, two wiry celebrities are engaged in a green grudge match.

The good-natured competition between actor Ed Begley Jr. and Bill Nye, the host of the educational series Bill Nye, the Science Guy began when Nye moved into the neighborhood two years ago. Since then the two moderately famous and slightly geeky environmentalists have matched wits over whose home can leave a smaller carbon footprint.

Neighbor Frema Rood, 83, who lives between the two houses, said the competition started the day after Bill moved into the neighborhood.

"Bill announced it: 'I'm going to best Ed Begley at his own game. I'm going to get him,'" she recalled. "He ordered panels for the garage, then rain barrels, then he had his windows done and he put in a vegetable garden."

Nye, 52, pins the source of the rivalry on Begley, who became envious of Nye's new solar panels while filming a segment of his HGTV green living show called Living with Ed.

"Ed instantly got a little twinge — you could see it," Nye said. "My system, being 15 years younger, has a couple of nice little features that he doesn't have."

To liven up the segment, the neighbors pretended to spar over who had the better system. But in this city where the rich and famous jockey to be the first behind the wheel of a new alternative-fuel car, the jokes have given way to an environmental turf war.

Nye trumped Begley's old solar panels with a system that shows when he's making more power than he's using. Begley pushed to offset his wife's 20-minute showers with rain barrels to water the plants.

Begley long ago installed an Astro Turf lawn to save on water. He composts his garbage, cooks in an outdoor solar oven and grows his own produce. His sprinkler system electronically checks the forecast and shuts down if it's supposed to rain.

Instead of using pesticides, Begley lures slugs and snails away from his plants with trays of beer that kill them. Nye, who also has plots overflowing with produce, keeps raccoons away with an electric fence powered by a matchbox-sized solar panel.