Actor and environmentalist Ed Begley Jr., the featured speaker The Battery Show near Detroit, speaks onstage at the EMA IMPACT Summit Day in Beverly Hills in May 2019.
Getty Images for The Environmental Media Association
Ed Begley Jr. is an actor who is also a committed and very vocal environmentalist, so playing the role of keynote speaker at a trade show featuring green technology wasn’t much of a stretch.
Appearing on the final day of The Battery Show in suburban Detroit, Begley Jr. regaled several hundred engineers, scientists and others connected to the development of vehicle battery and hybrid electric systems with his origin story of how and why he leads a “green” life, and offered encouragement after touring the floor.
Ed Begley Jr. explaining how he became an environmentalist during a keynote speech at The Battery Show in Novi, Mich., Sept. 12, 2019.
Ed Garsten
“What I see out there on the showroom floor is so good for us,” said Begley Jr., “Good for climate change, good for our pocketbook.”
He explained he became an environmentalist in 1970 in conjunction with the first Earth Day in part because he was trying to find ways to save money, doing things like finding ways to use less electric power and fuel for his car. Over the years he ratcheted up his commitment to a cleaner environment by rarely flying, driving a battery electric car, riding a bicycle and building a house with a host of green technology to the point of attaining Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum status. That certification from the U.S. Green Building Council is earned by meeting requirements ranging from site selection, renewable energy, waste management, water conservation, material selection and indoor air quality.
Begley Jr. says the road to becoming environmentally responsible starts the way he began.
“If we did things in the right order which is what I did in 1970—do cheap and easy stuff first, make our homes and offices more efficient, we can have more money to free up to do more solar, more wind, more clean energy by just making our homes more energy efficient,” he said.
Show floor at the co-located The Battery Show and Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo, Novi, Mich., Sept. 10, 2019.
Ed Garsten
But in the automotive world, there’s little that’s cheap and easy, as evidenced by the advanced technology on The Battery Show floor. Still, Begley Jr. urged his audience to keep working on electric vehicle development, even in the face of tepid adoption in the marketplace.
“I just wonder if we have the will to do it. I certainly hope we do,” said Begley Jr.
“I happen to know for a fact that you cannot make gasoline on the roof of your house”
“There are so many great products out there on the showroom floor, so many great people that are doing things that are exciting. To see some of the controls, to see some of the technology that’s coming out today, I’m very, very hopeful.”
After his speech, Begley Jr. sat down for a brief video interview where we discussed the future of electric vehicles more directly, as well as autonomous vehicles, Tesla, the move by several automakers to strike their deal with the state of California on emissions and fuel economy standards, and the Green New Deal.
He also shared an indisputable insight from his years trying to lower his use of fossil fuels and rely on electric cars.
“I happen to know for a fact that you cannot make gasoline on the roof of your house,” he says. “You can make electricity on the roof of your house.”
