Posted on 06/19/2008 11:10:20 AM PDT by Caleb1411
In the year since Al Gore took steps to make his home more energy efficient, the power use at the former vice president's house has increased more than 10 percent, a nonprofit research group reported Tuesday.
"A man's commitment to his beliefs is best measured by what he does behind the closed doors of his own home," said Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, in a news release. "Al Gore is a hypocrite and a fraud when it comes to his commitment to the environment, judging by his home energy consumption."
Using data obtained through a public records request to the Nashville Electric Service, the Center determined that during the past year, Gore's mansion in the Belle Meade area of Nashville used 213,210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, enough to power 232 average American households for a month.
As Cybercast News Service previously reported, the Center revealed in February 2007 that the former vice president's home "consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year."
A few days later, President Bush's "Western White House" in Crawford, Texas, was praised as an "eco-friendly haven" by the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Gore promised to make his mansion -- an 80-year old house that received a gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council -- more efficient by adding solar panels, installing a geothermal system, replacing existing light bulbs with more efficient models and overhauling the home's windows and ductwork.
Since taking those steps, the former vice president uses an average of 17,768 kWh per month -- 1,638 kWh more energy per month than before the renovations -- at a cost of $16,533, Johnson noted.
By comparison, the average American household consumes 11,040 kWh in an entire year, according to the Energy Information Administration.
While a spokesman for an investment firm co-founded by the former vice president told Cybercast News Service that Gore has not been profiting from his crusade against global warming, Johnson strongly disagreed.
"In the wake of becoming the most well-known global warming alarmist, Gore won an Oscar, a Grammy and the Nobel Peace Prize," he said. "In addition, Gore saw his personal wealth increase by an estimated $100 million thanks largely to speaking fees and investments related to global warming hysteria.
"Actions speak louder than words, and Gore's actions prove that he views climate change not as a serious problem, but as a money-making opportunity," Johnson added. "Gore is exploiting the public's concern about the environment to line his pockets and enhance his profile."
However, Gore spokesperson Kalee Kreider disputed the Center's claims.
The utility bills for the former vice president's mansion have gone down 40 percent since the makeover, Kreider told The Tennessean. The drop was largely due to the home's new geothermal heating and cooling system, which relies on the stable temperatures of the earth or groundwater beneath a building to power its heating and cooling systems.
As for the increase in the electric bills, Kreider said that the three-year renovation on the structure wasn't completed until November, so it's a bit early to attempt a before-and-after comparison.
In addition, the Gores take part in the Nashville Electric Service's Green Power Switch program, which allows them to buy their electricity from renewable sources like wind power, solar energy or methane gas.
"When they do use power, it's green power," Kreider added, noting that 33 solar panels also supply about 4 percent of the household's power needs.
While Johnson told Cybercast News Service that the Center stands behind its data, the Gore home is also the target of another group critical of the former vice president's stance on global warming.
As part of its cross-country "Hot-Air Tour," Americans for Prosperity (AFP) hopes to fly its hot-air balloon over the former vice president's mansion on Friday in an attempt to "remind him of all the hot air in the global warming debate," AFP President Tim Phillips said on the group's Web site.
"Alarmists who are pushing economically devastating climate change policies are out of touch with average Americans," Phillips stated. "We think American families need to know what these proposals will cost them -- lost jobs, even higher energy prices and less freedom."
Quel suprise!
Quel suprise!
“A man’s commitment to his beliefs is best measured by what he does behind the closed doors of his own home,” said Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, in a news release. “Al Gore is a hypocrite and a fraud when it comes to his commitment to the environment, judging by his home energy consumption.”
...Yaaaaay for Drew Johnson! Finally someone has some ba$$s to tell it like it is! Drew for President!
Bow down before the high priest of Gaia. Question not his motives, energy use or travel methods because he is blessed among men.
/sarcasm
Al Gore buys carbon credits, so it doesn’t matter how much power he uses.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
I wonder what big al spends every year on groceries.
What a fraud.
The only green that pudgy dimbulb is going after is the foldin' kind he heists from the gullible carbon mea culpa crowd.
We can’t eat whatever we want,
drive our SUV’s
and keep our houses at 72 degrees year round
and have the rest of the world say that’s OK...
UNLESS YOU ARE AN ELITE LIBERAL.
Gore buys carbon credits but he also sells carbon credits. You don’t suppose he is operating some kind of a scam do you? 8=]
RE: Your regal graphic
Just to satisfy my curiosity...
While I was busy with science classes and labs in college, I didn’t
have time to get a minor in “The Classics”.
Might I suppose that painting is of “The Sun King” of France?
-- A. Gore
Sun King? I dunno’... I just thought of Louis XIV.
Would you buy a used carbon credit from this man?>br>
My proposal for Gore's next eco-friendly home: Private 2 bedroom carbon-emission-free mini-mansion; well-shaded, naturally warm climate; natural landscaping; nearby stream. Home is elevated in anticipation of man-made flooding.
And the hypocritical bastard won’t even expose himself to a public forum where he can be asked about this.
Is that a picture of his holeyness the Gororacle? Bow down all ye unworthy freepers! Worship with your tithes to the Bank of the Gorocale and make him wealthy!
Already while he was VP, he did things a true environmentalist would not have done. I have not heard him speak out about the illegal aliens who cause a great deal of environmental problems in this country.
Those are not "green" energy sources. If you burn methane, you're generating CO2, NOx, and PAHs. There's no way around it. Any kind of combustion in air will produce those things.
Neither are wind and solar "green". Those have capacity factors in the range of 5-25% on average. The rest of the time, when they're not producing, you have to go to your "backup". What is the "backup"? Most likely, some carbon-burning system, like coal or natural gas. Wind and solar are basically fronts for using more natural gas.
The only really "green" and "renewable" energy source is nuclear.
And I believe he buys them from himself. So, isn't that like taking the money out of one of your pockets, and simply putting it into one of your other pockets?
I don’t really give a damn what is burned to make his electricity.
The man’s an out and out hypocrite - telling everyone else to reduce their lifestyle while being an absolute energy pig (manbearpig?) himself.
This is SO frickin’ typical of leftist elitists.
Latest Weather Channel Healine:
GORE’S GLOBAL FLATULENCE INVADES GORE’S HOME. WILL HE EVACUATE?!
So it is ok for Gore to hog all the green power while everyone else has to use the ungreen power.
What an ahole.
C’est Louis X1V
LOL....tipper will love it
In all fairness, we don't have to resort to cheap liberal tricks to make a point; like mixing apples and watermelons.
Suffice to say it is the sufficient to power 19+ average American homes in the same one year period.
But he buys carbon credits from himself with donated money, so it's cool!
Wind energy has a “capacity factor” of zero: that is the minimum that it can be counted upon to produce at any time of the day or night, any day of the year.
Zero.
That's why those in the power dispatching business (something I had a hand in in a previous life) consider sources like wind and solar to be "low quality" energy. That's because you can't count on it being there when you need it Balancing supply and demand for electricity is a tricky, delicate business. The last thing you want is capacity coming on line and dropping off at the whim of the wind.
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