Other than getting a copy of his electric bill, no.

Frankly, though, the TCPR reports (this year and last) have a ring of truth. Oddly, Gore aids in giving it credence. I’ve spent all but seven of my working years in and around the federal government. Without going into a lot of detail, Gore’s statement (via proxy) is what clinches it for me. Keep in mind, he’s a politician. He knows how to use spin. Here’s my analysis of his (proxied) statement:

1) the base fact of high usage last year remains undisputed. If the TCPR report wasn’t close to the truth, Gore would have trumped that by producing the his bill on his own.

2) He disputes the latter claim of 10% rise by claiming to be doing something about the original allegation. Consider: he wouldn’t have to do anything about it if the original allegation was false.

3) Last year (March, 2007) Gore’s response was it didn’t matter that his extravagance was so high because he buys “green” power.

4) He claims to have implemented changes that already have the effect of reducing the previous usage. Note that he uses a percentage instead of (or in addition to) the reduced value. This is PR sleight-of-hand where only the most favorable numbers are used and unfavorable eschewed. It automatically implies that the actual number might be considered out-of-sight by many (in this case a 40% reduction of 20 x average household is still an outrageous 12x) or ridiculously unimportant (e.g., saying something like “this menace has increased 200%” within the last year which pushes the alarming +200% while failing to mention that last year said menace affected at most one individual).

5) the use of a whole number which is a multiple of 10. In the spin world this is called an “estimate.” It’s purpose is to sound objective but the value is often an optimum of looking good while remaining believable but still allowing the “it was only an estimate” out if the true value should ever come to light. Rounded numbers that might be mistaken for “sound good” numbers are usually guarded with “close to” or added decimal places which make it harder to later say it was “just an estimate.” Whole numbers ending in 5 are used to sound even more precise while those ending in 3 or 7 sound almost scientific. Remember, 87% of all statistics are manufactured.

Personally, I really don’t want to go to the effort of getting Gore’s electric bills, anyway. Gore’s responses indicate high likelihood that the TPCR report is close enough to the mark (despite its over-the-top-tone) and that final confirmation would just be a waste of time. All circumstantial though. YMMV.

One more thing I did discover is this from back in 2007: But electric company spokeswoman Laurie Parker said the utility never got a request from the policy center and never provided them with any information.

They may both be right. TCPR may have gotten their numbers from NES, just not through the front door. I don’t know. That would explain why I didn’t get very far though. Also, the numbers the AP dug up are somewhat lower than what TCPR reported. There may be an explanation for that, too. Then again, maybe not. The article didn’t say.

Michael (from TCPR) invited me to email Adam King with the questions he couldn’t answer, which I did. I haven’t heard back.

Any other suggestions?

As I mentioned before, I’m not a reporter. But I do work for a living, so my time is limited, and I think I’ve spent as much time on this as I care to. You would think that some reporter somewhere would have done what you say I should. Maybe they are. So far though, all any media outlet seems to have done since this most recent dust-up is get a statement from Gore’s spokesperson. I did find this article dated Oct 2007 though. If it is accurate, then apparently it is true that rennovations weren’t completed until around Nov 2007.

And no, I don’t assume Gore’s spokesperson is objective. I don’t assume TCPR is objective, either. The extent to which either one of them is reliable is another good question. I don’t know. All I’m saying is she’s independent of TCPR, and that they have different stories. I tried to find out why they were different. I have so far been unable to do that to my satisfaction — and apparently yours. If I hear back from King I’ll let you know.

“Gore purchased 108 blocks of “green power” for each of the past three months … That’s a total of $432 a month Gore paid … [for] renewable energy sources … equivalent to recycling 2.48 million aluminum cans or 286,092 pounds of newspaper”

I wonder where the conversions come from.

To think: all of that for only $432/mo. Must be nice to be feelthy rich ;) Of course there’s a BIG difference between SAVING energy (via recycling) and USING energy. He pays roughly 50% more to make the energy available then uses it himself. Now there’s a humanitarian.

Interestingly, since there aren’t any truly independent electric grids in the U. S., everyone here uses that same “green power” as well. So, no need to fret over lining your backyard with carnival lights and those 40 million candlepower searchlights, kids. Light ‘er up!

I think I’ll have me another helping of that low-fat ice cream.

“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”

Good thing this option is available, newspaper become scarce and all.

Answering the last question first, certainly Gore’s spokeswoman, Kalee Kreider, would qualify as a source independent of TCPR. Wouldn’t you agree?

Independent of TCPR perhaps but certainly not of the issue. She wouldn’t be Gore’s spokeswoman very long if she was in the habit of not spinning Gore in the best light.

Let me get this straight. You were looking for “independent verification” so you called King’s number and stopped at whatever answers you got? IOW: what was posted above was perhaps of questionable validity but now what you are being told no longer is?

I don’t know. I would have thought you would ask for his source then go there to check it yourself. Instead of “who” maybe your question should have been “where”? In any case, “public information” was claimed. Did you try NES as well?

It’s unavoidable [being objective]. I try very hard to be as objective as I can, but I know it’s a quest that can never be fully fulfilled. How about you?

Gore’s electric bill certainly wouldn’t qualify as opinion. However, you don’t sound like you really want to verify the numbers but instead want something else. Are you saying it’s not possible to get the real numbers? It’s not like you need a three year project with associated personnel plus a period of analysis. That might be a reason to complain about lack of independent verification but IMO it is NOT when I believe you could easily find out for yourself. Do you really need spoonfeeding or is it just a convenient position?

I informed him about what Gore’s spokeswoman claimed — specifically, that rennovations weren’t completed until Nov 2007. … I told him that Kreider claimed that since rennovations were completed the Gore’s utility bills had decreased 40%

FWIW: Note that Gore (once removed) is NOT denying the usage from last year but is instead saying the equivalent of “I’m trying to fix that” and furthermore is saying he got his usage all the way down from 20x (or 19x or whatever) to around 12x the average home use. Sounds like he better be planning a whole lot more “rennovation.”

—

Interesting what people are saying about Bush’s house. It’s actually smaller than mine, too — I have 4500 sq. ft. (the house is 50 x 30 x 3 floors, counting the basement) but not all of that is useable. I never felt it was abnormally large.

Answering the last question first, certainly Gore’s spokeswoman, Kalee Kreider, would qualify as a source independent of TCPR. Wouldn’t you agree? You could certainly argue that Gore’s spokeswoman is not a disinterested party. Then again, it’s pretty clear that neither is TCPR. I mean really, can you ever be sure that any party in any dispute is truly disinterested? IMO, everyone has biases — including me — including you. It’s unavoidable. I try very hard to be as objective as I can, but I know it’s a quest that can never be fully fulfilled. How about you?

I called the number you indicated, and talked to a guy named Michael, who identified himself as Adam King’s aide (Adam himself wasn’t available). This is how I identified myself: “Hi, my name is Rick Lambert and I was wondering if you could answer some questions I have about Al Gore’s home there in Nashville that you recently reported about.” I didn’t claim any affiliation or anything, and he didn’t ask. He just said, “Sure, what do you want to know?” So I asked Michael…

1. How they defined “year”. He said that they defined it as June 2007-2008, which they compared to June 2006-2007. I presume that explains the discrepancy between
their original 2007 article in which they claimed, “In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.” and their recent article in which they claimed that “In the past year, Gore’s home burned through 213,210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity…” And that, they said, was 10% more. Obviously if you compare the numbers in the two different reports, it’s not. But their re-definition of “year” provided some wiggle room on that score. I pointed out the discrepancy. He acknowledged it, and said the redefinition was the reason.

2. I informed him about what Gore’s spokeswoman claimed — specifically, that rennovations weren’t completed until Nov 2007. He said he hadn’t heard of any comment from Gore’s people, and they (TCPR) determined from media reports that rennovations were completed prior to June 2007. So they went withg that.

3. I told him that Kreider claimed that since rennovations were completed the Gore’s utility bills had decreased 40%, and did he have any comment. He said he hadn’t heard that, so was unable to comment.

4. I asked him if they had monthly records. He said yes, they did. So I asked him if they had seen a reduction between June 2007-Nov 2007, and between Nov 2007-June 2008. He said he didn’t have that information available at the time.

5. I asked him if they had plans to publish the monthly totals. He said no.

6. I asked him who I could contact to find out that information. He said he didn’t have that information available.

I’m not a reporter, so I suppose there were questions that I could have asked better than I did, and/or questions that I could have asked that I didn’t. But the foregoing is an accurate description of our conversation.

Actually, independent verification from a reliable source would go a long way towards satisfying me.

Then why don’t you: 1) call Adam King at 615.383.6431 which he posted as a contact number; 2) ask him how he got his information then 3) do the same yourself? Mr. King said in his article how he got the information. Seems you could readily do the same. Lacking that, what would you consider to be an “independent source?” Is there one?

I withdraw my quibble. But I will point out that government leaders, I exclude Ghandi, are masters at “parallel processing” of living bodies into corpses.

Just a quibble in the interest of truth, but wouldn’t “parallel killer” be more accurate? ;)

Can’t tell about that, but I do think Wisdom is more discriminating over the battles to be fought.

Actually, independent verification from a reliable source would go a long way towards satisfying me. I’m skeptical, not crazy. I rather hope most folks recognize a difference. Independent verification is certainly a hallmark of the scientific method, but it’s not limited to it. The same principle applies whereever uncertainty reigns — which is to say pretty much everywhere. I’ve never been to Australia, but I’m quite confident it exists — because several independent lines of evidence strongly suggest it does. I suppose there might be a huge conspiracy afoot to make us all think it does exist when it actually doesn’t, but I sincerely doubt it. In fact, I think you need to be a little crazy to buy into such a conspiracy theory, hehe.

Unfortunately in the case of Gore’s home, independent verification of TCPR’s claims seems unlikely at this point.

Till the end of days
they’ll always be knaves.
Till they’re on the run
we’ll have our fun