Lots of people have posted about John Edwards very large house he is building in Orange County, NC, which is not environmentally friendly. Well, what about Al Gore's house? (h/t Hot Air)
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, 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. (emphasis mine)
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 the 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.
Goodness! Seems as if Al is burning the midnight all day oil. And lots of other things. Not very environmentally friendly, eh? Doesn't look as if he has replaced his incandescent light bulbs, which are bad for the environment, producing, yup! massive amounts of greenhouse gasses. With Compact Florescent bulbs, which are more environmentally friendly and, while cost more, save you in the long term. From 18Seconds.org
If every American swapped just ONE bulb for an ENERGY STAR labeled CFL, it would collectively save more than $8 billion in energy costs, prevent burning 30 billion pounds of coal, and remove 2 million cars worth of greenhouse gas emissions from our atmosphere. Just imagine the difference we could make if we replaced all of the lights we use most!
There is actual science behind that, too. Unfortunately, looks as if AL Gore doesn't care. "Do as I say, not as I do."
And, Al Gore responded to the article through Think Progress (snicker). You can read it (why wasn't the response in the Big Media? Perhaps Al is afraid of creating a situation outside the blogosphere, eh?) I truly enjoy the final paragraph of commentary from Think Progress
These are the lengths that climate skeptics must go to suppress action on global warming. There is no meaningful debate within the scientific community, so the right-wing busies itself with talk about how much electricity Al Gore’s house uses — and even then they distort the truth.
Gee, I wonder who is stopping meaningful debate on global warming? Hmmmmmmm.
As Ed writes
Second, as I mentioned above, purchasing offsets only means that Gore doesn't want to make the same kind of sacrifices that he's asking other families to make. He's using a modern form of indulgences in order to avoid doing the penance that global-warming activism demands of others. It means that the very rich can continue to suck up energy and raise the price and the demand for electricity and natural gas, while families struggle with their energy costs and face increasing government regulation and taxation. It's a regressive plan that Gore's supporters would decry if the same kind of scheme were applied to a national sales tax, for instance.
Give the spice weasel a BAMM!
Others: The Anchoress, Captain's Quarters, Stuck on Stupid, Wizbang, Roger L. Simon, Conservative Times, The Bullwinkle Blog
