Gore Mansion Uses 20x Average Household

[Bigen12]

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash.htm

POWER: GORE MANSION USES 20X AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD; CONSUMPTION INCREASE AFTER 'TRUTH'
Mon Feb 26 2007 17:16:14 ET

Nashville Electric Service/Gore House

2006

High 22619 kWh Aug – Sept
Low 12541 kWh Jan - Feb
Average: 18,414 kWh per month

2005

High 20532 Sept - October
Low 12955 Feb - March
Average: 16,200 kWh per month

Bill amounts

2006 – $895.60 (low) $1738.52 (high) $1359 (average)
2005 – $853.91 (low) $1461 (high)

Nashville Gas Company

Main House
2006 – $990(high) $170 (low) $536 (average)
2005 – $1080 (high) $200 (low) $640 (average)

Guest House/Pool House

2006 – $820 (high) $70 (low) $544 (average)
2005 – $1025 (high) $25 (low) $525 (average)

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research, an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization, issued a press release late Monday:

Last night, Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.

Gore’s mansion, [20-room, eight-bathroom] located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).

In his documentary, the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home.

The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.

Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.

Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.

Gore’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year.

“As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk to walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use,” said Tennessee Center for Policy Research President Drew Johnson.

In total, Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.

For Further Information, Contact:
Nicole Williams, (615) 383-6431
[email protected]

[Bigen12]

http://www.fairviewobserver.com/apps...82/1321/MTCN06

Group questions level of energy use at Gore home
High electric billing records show 'green power' also was purchased

By ANNE PAINE
Staff Writer


A day after a film about his efforts to combat global warming won an Oscar, former Vice President Al Gore was called a hypocrite by a Tennessee group that said his Belle Meade home is consuming too much energy.

The home's average monthly electric bill last year was just under $1,200, according to bills that The Tennessean acquired from Nashville Electric Service.




"As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk (the) walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use," said Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, identified as a free-market think tank.

Gore's power bill shows, however, that the former vice president may be doing just that.

Gore purchased 108 blocks of "green power" for each of the past three months, according to a summary of the bills.

That's a total of $432 a month Gore paid extra for solar or other renewable energy sources.

The green power Gore purchased in those three months is equivalent to recycling 2.48 million aluminum cans or 286,092 pounds of newspaper, according to comparison figures on NES' Web site.

NES joined the TVA program in 2000 to give power customers a way to support environmentally sound sources of electricity. The Tennessean could not determine when Gore signed up for green power.

NES gets its electricity from TVA. Most is produced from coal, which emits carbon, a greenhouse gas. A lesser amount comes from nuclear power and a small amount from hydroelectric.

An Inconvenient Truth, the movie about Gore's global warming battle, details how greenhouse gases are trapping heat next to the earth, causing a changing climate with melting ice caps and more violent storms.

"Every family has a different carbon footprint," said Kalee Krider, a spokeswoman for Gore. The Gores' 10,000-square-foot house on Lynnwood Boulevard has a large one.

The Green Power Switch program isn't all that Gore and his wife, Tipper, are doing, Krider said.

They use compact fluorescent light bulbs and are in the midst of a renovation project that includes having solar panels installed on their home to reduce fossil fuel consumption, she said.

Their car? A Lexis hybrid SUV.

"They, of course, also do the carbon emissions offset," she said.

That means figuring out how much carbon is emitted from home power use, and vehicle and plane travel, then paying for projects that will offset that with use of renewable energy, such as solar power.

Gore helped found Generation Investment Management, through which he and others pay for offsets. The firm invests the money in solar, wind and other projects that reduce energy consumption around the globe, she said.

Johnson, whose group usually focuses on government spending issues, said he "doesn't differ much from Al Gore on his environmental concerns."

"We went into this just asking the question, 'Is the leader of the environmental movement basically living up to his word?' Given that he's a Tennessean, I thought it's a question we should ask."

What they found is someone whose home uses as much power in a month as an average family would use in a year, he said.

In addition to the electric bill, the natural gas bill for Gore's home and guesthouse ran $1,080 per month last year, Johnson said.

"For someone in his position not to take steps to reduce his own energy consumption is disingenuous," he said. "He's simply not taking all the steps he can take and should take as the leader of the environmental movement."

Rather than attacking one man — Gore — Johnson and his group should be taking a larger view and trying to make a difference to reduce global warming, Krider said.

That should include helping to get government and corporations, which are big energy users, on board to reduce energy and move to renewable resources, she said.

"They're trying to single out one person rather than look at the big picture," Krider said.

[yourmom]

Love it! What a hypocrite. They announced at the Oscars that they were totally 'green'. Show some of them arriving in rented hybrid cars. So was that before or after the private jet ride there.

[singern]

Does anybody remember the press conference on Global warming where the senator (dont remember the name) after his speech drove off in a Hybrid car, then was spotted two blocks away switching into an SUV.

[Tock]

Tsk tsk tsk . . .

So maybe people should be rationed X-number of kilowatt-hours of electricity every month, and then turn it off if they go over?

Nevertheless, it seems that Americans do indeed use too much energy, and something's gotta be done about it. Me, I'm down to about 500 Kwh a month (average) and am gonna try for 400. Gore, however, if he's gonna rant about reducing energy consumption, well, he's got to cut his own to something closer to the national average. That's gonna mean a painful change in his lifestyle, but hey, why should anyone else cut back if he himself doesn't?

-Tock

[Dude-Man]

Did you guys not read the second post in the thread?

I like this thread. it delivers both sides... if you take the time to read both posts.

[Tock]

Yes, I read the second post.
So he's trying to escape responsibility for using 17,000 Kwh/month by buying blocks of "green power." IMHO, a nobler path would be to do what the average Joe would have to do, which is cut energy usage, period.

There's only so many of those "green power" blocks to go around, and if every American did what he does, it still would not solve the overall problem.

Yes, I know he's rich bigwig, and such folks seem to think they have a capitalist-right to 8 times a much energy as the average American. Unless they're willing to pony up to the bar and practice what they preach, they won't be taken seriously.

[Teabagger]

Stop the presses....I actually agree with Tock. If you're gonna talk the talk, you gotta walk the walk, rich or not. Its about changing and scaling back your lifestyle. He's a hypocrite along with all the other screechers about excessive energy use, yet live extravagant lifestyles burning energy like a drunken sailor spend his money. Can anyone say Hollywood?

[Act of God]

Don't forget, he also has trees planted in his name to erase his "carbon footprint" on the earth.

That's like beating up a black guy then donating money to the NAACP. Sure it's nice, but you're still better off not beating up the guy.

[Red Ketchup]

Stop the presses....I actually agree with Tock. If you're gonna talk the talk, you gotta walk the walk, rich or not.

Ok time to go buy a lottery ticket, I also agree!

Red

[Bigen12]

Did you guys not read the second post in the thread?

I like this thread. it delivers both sides... if you take the time to read both posts.

Yeah, but read what Carbon Credits or green power blocks really are.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_credit

How buying carbon credits attempts to reduces emissions
Carbon credits creates a market for reducing greenhouse emissions (carbon) by giving a monetary value to the cost of polluting the air. This means that carbon becomes a cost of business and is seen like other inputs such water rates (water is also a freely available natural resource, but governments have a system of charging for it as it is seen as valuable).
By way of example, assume a factory produces 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse emissions in a year. Following international interest in greenhouse emissions, a government enacts laws that restrict or provide a quota on the maximum emissions a business can have. So the factory is given a quota of say 80,000 tonnes. The factory either reduces its emissions to 80,000 tonnes or otherwise is required to purchase 'carbon credits' to offset the extra tonnes it is polluting over and above its quota. It means factories which want to pollute, in the short term, pay a real 'financial cost' for making greenhouse emissions.
A business would buy the 'carbon credits' on an open market from organisations which have been approved as being able to sell legitimate carbon credits, one seller might be a company which will plant so many trees for every 'carbon credit' you buy from them. So for this factory it might pollute a tonne, but is essentially now paying another group to go out and plant trees which will say draw a tonne of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
As emission levels are predicted to keep rising, over time it is envisaged, that the number of companies wanting/needing to buy more credits will increase hence pushing the market price up, and hence encouraging more groups to undertake environmentally friendly activities which create for them carbon credits to sell. Another model is that companies which use below their quota can sell their excess as 'carbon credits' also, the possibilities are endless hence making it a open market.
While the system is being established it is suggested that initially carbon credits should be relatively inexpensive so that business find it easy to transition towards paying for credits, then over time the quota of emissions a government allows (based on say international agreements) will gradually be reduced, which increases demand and keeps pushing up the value of the credits. The hopeful end game is that somewhere along the way the company will question this financial cost and reach a realisation that if they just reduced their emmissions they would not need to buy credits, hence achieving the desired goal of the carbon credit trading system.

[biglouie250]

big houses use more energy.....

[Bigen12]

big houses use more energy.....

Keep in mind, this is only one of the 3 or 4 houses that he owns.

[singern]

big houses use more energy.....

And big cars use more gas, It pretty much equates to Gore driving a double decker bus, with no passengers, while telling people to save gas.
I mean the guy is the biggest critic of waist, and environmental issues, but has a house the size of Montana for him and his wife.
If Gore and his like truly live according to the green ideology. His address would be a tent, in my backyard, riding a bicycle to his job at the recycling plant.


Hypocrisy is king of hollywood, and the bitch of Washington DC.

[mcpeepants]

you got to practice what you preach

[breacherup]

Yes, walk it like you talk it, in order to be effective in your crusade you should be beyond reproach.
All these Hollywood types have their ideas about what everyone else should do-as long as we all get in our cars every weekend and go see their new movies. I'd love to see a study on the energy used in the production and consumption of entertainment.

[Act of God]

The best part is that GW's house in Crawford is on the absolute cutting edge of environmentally friendly technology. How this escaped the front pages of the liberal media is a non-shocker

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007...eorge_bush.php

[Teabagger]

That is an interesting article. You're right, for some reason that bit of news has not hit the mainstream anti-Bush media. Can't imagine why.

The same with a news article regarding a girl as a freshman in High School used the words, "thats so gay" as a response to a group of fellow students making fun of her and her religion. She is Mormon, and the kids taunted her about "how many moms do you have?", etc. She responded that is so gay. She was disciplined for it, but the kids making fun of her religion were not even addressed. Now the girls parents are sueing the school district asserting, correctly, the school violated her 1st Admendment rights. Of course on the news now there are groups wanting to make laws outlawing the use of certain terms...such as "illegal alien".

If the PC crowd had its way there would be re-education camps for "wrong thinkers", much like the old Soviet Union, Red China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and countless other totalitarian regimes. The agendas are the same, only the methods are a bit different.

[Kärnfysikern]

Gore is a cumstain.

[Tock]

All this Gore-bashing doesn't change the fact that the planet is most likely warming up, that humans contribute to the problem, and unless we stop doing what we're doing, we're gonna be in a lot of trouble.

So.

Let me ask all of you this: "What are you going to do about this problem?"

Me, I bought a swamp cooler to replace my air conditioner from
http://www.air-n-water.com/evaporative-cooler.htm
and plan to get used to somewhat warmer tempertures.
Since I live about 3 miles from where I work, I'm gonna get me a shiny new electric Goped like
http://www.goped.com/products/default.asp#elec
and save some gas.
I'm having some fans installed in the building I work in to reduce the need for air conditioning.
I've already changed to fluorescent lights.

Anyway, yes, Gore is a hypocrite on this issue. But what are y'all gonna do -- bash him and his hypocrisy, or do something to fix the problem?

It's up to you.

[Bigen12]

Gore is a cumstain.

Come one man, don't hold back tell us how you really feel!

[Kärnfysikern]

All this Gore-bashing doesn't change the fact that the planet is most likely warming up, that humans contribute to the problem, and unless we stop doing what we're doing, we're gonna be in a lot of trouble.

So.

Let me ask all of you this: "What are you going to do about this problem?"

Me, I bought a swamp cooler to replace my air conditioner from
http://www.air-n-water.com/evaporative-cooler.htm
and plan to get used to somewhat warmer tempertures.
Since I live about 3 miles from where I work, I'm gonna get me a shiny new electric Goped like
http://www.goped.com/products/default.asp#elec
and save some gas.
I'm having some fans installed in the building I work in to reduce the need for air conditioning.
I've already changed to fluorescent lights.

Anyway, yes, Gore is a hypocrite on this issue. But what are y'all gonna do -- bash him and his hypocrisy, or do something to fix the problem?

It's up to you.

Its not that Gore is a hypocrit that pisses me of. It is that he is activly doing all he can to prevent the one realistic solution there is!!

Just dig around and read what he and Clinton did to american nuclear research! They even wanted to close some of the national labs. They shut down one of the most promising reactor designs ever. Inherently safe and profilation resistent. Not to mention it was a breeder design so it would use uranium 50 times as efficienctly as todays reactors.

No Gore is far worse than a hypocrit. He is part of the problem. Not only that he is so against fission. But his actions towards nuclear research also endanger fusion.

He should get some kind of scientific education before he continues with his environmental crusade. He is just another dreamer that thinks solar and wind power will save the world.

[Kärnfysikern]

Come one man, don't hold back tell us how you really feel!

its disgusting that he is taking a leading position in the environmental campaign. The thought about him reciving the nobel peace prize makes me want to puke.

[Tock]

its disgusting that he is taking a leading position in the environmental campaign. The thought about him reciving the nobel peace prize makes me want to puke.

Nevertheless, even if Gore is a (fill in the blank), which he very well may be, it seems that when people use fossil fuels, the planet's temperture rises. Politicians may or may not come up with a plan to change things -- probably they won't.
So, it remains to the rest of us to do what's right, and that, IMHO, is conserve. That's the quick fix to this problem, and it's also the word that nobody likes to talk about.

Anyone have any plans to conserve energy? Or do y'all just plan to keep with the status quo, and blame the politicians when things really get bad?

[Act of God]

Well for one, you could not use 20x the average household's use of electricity...but that's just one idea I had

[Tock]

I'm underwhelmed by the spirit of conservation here . . . guess none of y'all are conservatives, eh?

Aren't conservatives supposed to conserve? Or am I mistaken?

[LawMan018]

He uses 20x what an average american household uses? Well wow, I may be a little off but the average american household isn't a mansion... Not to mention I bet his mansion is 20x as big as mine =o

[Kärnfysikern]

Nevertheless, even if Gore is a (fill in the blank), which he very well may be, it seems that when people use fossil fuels, the planet's temperture rises. Politicians may or may not come up with a plan to change things -- probably they won't.
So, it remains to the rest of us to do what's right, and that, IMHO, is conserve. That's the quick fix to this problem, and it's also the word that nobody likes to talk about.

Anyone have any plans to conserve energy? Or do y'all just plan to keep with the status quo, and blame the politicians when things really get bad?

I am nota big fan of conserving energy. Mostly because I think it is a dead end strategy. Our entire technology development depends ultimately on increasing energy consumption and technology development is what we need in order to get away from fossile fuels.

We can conserve stuff like petrol. I mean you guys in the states could raise the cost of petrol to the same levels as in europe. I bet the SUV sales would shrink like a dick in freezing water. But I dont se why we should conserve electricity when we know how to produce it cheaply without environmental consequenses.

Im not sure how much can be acomplished by energy conservation. Stuff like changing incandescent bulbs doesnt realy do a whole lot. It would require infrastructur changes for heating systems ect. Nuclear heating instalations for all major cities for instance. Better insulation in buildings. Those things would make a difference.

But if we want to make a impact on global warming we would have to conserve ALOT and I dont se any plausible way for that to happen
Nobody is going to give up their standard of living so we need to fix the problem in a way that doesnt impact living standards to much.
Thats why gore, greenpace and that bunch is unrealistic. Their entire strategy is based on conservation and the dead end wind and solar power. It might make for a pretty scenario on paper. But it wont happen.

[Bigen12]

He uses 20x what an average american household uses? Well wow, I may be a little off but the average american household isn't a mansion... Not to mention I bet his mansion is 20x as big as mine =o

Are you saying that justifies his usage?

[Tock]

Are you saying that justifies his usage?

Why not?

You either say that rich people get to use more energy than poor folks, or else you end up saying that each person gets a ration (their fair share) of energy, and can't use more than what they've been allocated.

[mick-g]

Bro all these politicians are multi millionaires. They all or most have huge mansions. Im surpried in fact the cost isn't more.

[Logan13]

I'm underwhelmed by the spirit of conservation here . . . guess none of y'all are conservatives, eh?

Aren't conservatives supposed to conserve? Or am I mistaken?

People who live in glass houses...........
You can't have it both ways Tock.

[Bigen12]

Why not?

You either say that rich people get to use more energy than poor folks, or else you end up saying that each person gets a ration (their fair share) of energy, and can't use more than what they've been allocated.

I'm not supporting any governmental interference in personal energy usage.

He's a hypocrite, he's preaching one thing, and living another.

The large house small house analogy is the same as gas guzzling automobiles, verses hybrids.

[Logan13]

I'm not supporting any governmental interference in personal energy usage.

He's a hypocrite, he's preaching one thing, and living another.

The large house small house analogy is the same as gas guzzling automobiles, verses hybrids.

If this was a Republican and not a Democrat we were talking about Tock and the other Neo-leftists would be smearing his name all over this board...
Another example of their lack of Integrity.

[singern]

The issue isnt rich people and there mansions, but the hypocrisy of the those who wage a pseudo war in the name of the earth, for personal agenda. The blatant use of a cause that appeals to all people, and in most cases a political goal.
Its like the Emperors new cloths, no one would dare to deny the issue of Global warming, pollution, or natural resources. And Gore is riding high on it as the conquering hero, who did nothing but scream fire in a world wide theater.

[Tock]

The issue isnt rich people and there mansions, but the hypocrisy of the those who wage a pseudo war in the name of the earth, for personal agenda. The blatant use of a cause that appeals to all people, and in most cases a political goal.
Its like the Emperors new cloths, no one would dare to deny the issue of Global warming, pollution, or natural resources. And Gore is riding high on it as the conquering hero, who did nothing but scream fire in a world wide theater.

There's also another form of hypocrisy -- that of the people who know there's a problem, but don't do anything about it. Like people who won't turn down their air conditioning, or cut back on their gasoline use . . .

Seems to me that a good method to figure out how much fossil fuels folks should use, is to take the maximum amount of burned fossil fuel the earth can safely process per year, divide by the number of people on the planet, and voila! that's what each person gets to use. How much electricity/fuel oil/diesel/etc that is, I haven't a clue, but I'm sure someone somewhere has that information. The way things are now, though, rich folks get to use as much fossil fuel as they like, poor folks don't. It's an economic thing, I guess.
It's odd that that bit of information (how much fossil fuel the planet can process) isn't already commonly known . . . hmmmm . . .
I'd bet that whatever that number is, it's substantially less that what the average American has been using for the last few decades. And that means that Americans simply have to figure out some way to use less fossil fuel. Same thing will probably apply to the Chinese, too.

[Bigen12]

Nevertheless, it seems that Americans do indeed use too much energy, and something's gotta be done about it. Me, I'm down to about 500 Kwh a month (average) and am gonna try for 400. Gore, however, if he's gonna rant about reducing energy consumption, well, he's got to cut his own to something closer to the national average. That's gonna mean a painful change in his lifestyle, but hey, why should anyone else cut back if he himself doesn't?

-Tock

A person like yourself I can respect, you see a problem and you personally take steps to help.

Unlike some politician who bitches at us to change and help, but doesn't feel serious enough about the cause to cut back himself.

I too conserve energy when I can.
Before I was married, and I was living alone, I kept my thermostat at 58deg in the winter and at 75deg in the summer, my kids would come stay with me and bitch about it being cold. I would tell them to put on more clothes or another blanket on the bed, I just hate paying huge power bills.

[Tock]

I too conserve energy when I can.
Before I was married, and I was living alone, I kept my thermostat at 58deg in the winter and at 75deg in the summer, my kids would come stay with me and bitch about it being cold. I would tell them to put on more clothes or another blanket on the bed, I just hate paying huge power bills.

An excellent start.

I wonder what tempertures public buildings are kept at these days . . . Seems to me that the one good place to adjust thermostats for energy conservation would be in public buildings. Nevertheless, every bit of fossil fuel saved, is a bit of carbon dioxide that doesn't go into the air. The more we save, the better off your kids will be.

[Logan13]

A person like yourself I can respect, you see a problem and you personally take steps to help.

Unlike some politician who bitches at us to change and help, but doesn't feel serious enough about the cause to cut back himself.

I too conserve energy when I can.
Before I was married, and I was living alone, I kept my thermostat at 58deg in the winter and at 75deg in the summer, my kids would come stay with me and bitch about it being cold. I would tell them to put on more clothes or another blanket on the bed, I just hate paying huge power bills.

I don't have enough bodyfat to survive the thermostat at 58 deg in the winter.......

[Act of God]

58 is pretty rough, that's like grandma's house cold