For Immediate Release: June 17, 2008
For Further Information, Contact:
Adam King, 615.383.6431
adam@tennesseepolicy.org
Energy Guzzled by Al Gore’s Home in Past Year Could Power 232 U.S. Homes for a Month
(Above is not my stat, could also be: “19 homes for one year” – Anthony)
Gore’s personal electricity consumption up 10%, despite “energy-efficient” home renovations
NASHVILLE –
In the year since Al Gore took steps to make his home more energy-efficient, the former Vice President’s home energy use surged more than 10%, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.”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. “Al Gore is a hypocrite and a fraud when it comes to his commitment to the environment, judging by his home energy consumption.”
In the past year, Gore’s home burned through 213,210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, enough to power 232 average American households for a month.
Read the entire press release here:
http://tennesseepolicy.org/main/article.php?article_id=764
According to whom? Is it just on the basis of what the TCPR says? They claim they have proof, but they don’t seem to provide any. Moreover, they claim that their assessment began after all of the rennovations occurred, but they don’t seem to provide any evidence of that either. I have no affinity for Mr. Gore, but we’re supposed to be objective, aren’t we? If we aren’t, well…
In all honesty, I think it’s great that you are being skeptical; demanding proof; and scrutinizing the claim in question.
I really wish that the public would take the same attitude towards the pronouncements of Al Gore; the IPCC;
Come on guys, it’s obvious the extra power consumption comes from Tipper leaving the front light on for Al’s late night speaking engagements.
or it’s having to constantly charge their electric limo to take Al to and from the airport.
One of the two anyways.
This figure most likely doesn’t count the energy needed to transport the massive amounts of food Big Al needs daily to keep up his weight, not to mention feeding his staff and the security personnel. It also doesn’t mention how much CO2 is spewed to keep the grounds manicured, surely that is gasoline in the lawnmowers and two stroke trimmers.
This is the Nobel Peace prize equivalent of finding out that Ghandi was a serial killer.
Don’t worry, he and I have worked out a deal where he pays me every month for the carbon he generates!
“Nashville Electric Service’s Green Power Switch Program”
I presume that the NES is part of the TVA. The way I understand it, the Green Power Switch Program is nothing more than a $4/150 KWh price increase. There is really no way to separate “green” power from “you pick the color” power on an electric grid.
The extra money is apparently used to purchase power from “green” sources which has to be mixed with “other” sources. A little weird actually. Isn’t the TVA one of the biggest hydroelectric producers in the U.S.? Doesn’t that count as “green”? Why the “extra” money” anyway? “Green” power really costs an extra $0.027/KWh and the TVA wouldn’t touch it unless somebody ante’s up?
I think Anthony hit the nail squarely when he compared “green” power consumption to fat-free ice cream. As others have pointed out, increased “green” power consumption is that much less “green” power available to everyone else.
The extra money is a “feel good” sacrifice. But an extra charge for power just leads to the feeling of entitlement. If you paid more for your dinner than others pay for theirs wouldn’t you feel entitled to a bigger/better dinner experience? I think the TVA Green Power Switch Program is a mistake.
Just to add to the irony — President Bush’s house in Crawford is exceptionally energy efficient. (Here’s a link with a description of the house’s energy efficiency. You’ll note that the piece does not come from an organization that is usually friendly to Bush.)
this story went through at least two other cycles, last time there was a comparison between Gore’s Nashville & Bush (GW) Waco homes – as much as I detest politicians of both parties, the younger shrub has a very well designed “low footprint” home
GALL, the trate of being rude , ignorant, or impertinent, inclined to take liberties.
Sound familiar?
Yes, sounds like a pretty good description of most AGWers. I could add a number more “trates”.
I wonder what the adult children would do if Al Gore didn’t exist?
Then again, they’d just find SOMEBODY else to trash. It’s cheap entertainment, though it does nobody (including them) any good.
I love this story the more I read it. The only change I would like to see is consistent values. One YEAR of kWh usage translates to 19.33 homes per YEAR or 232 per month. Just keep the data constant.
timprosser,
Till the end of days
they’ll always be knaves.
Till they’re on the run
we’ll have our fun
MarkW: “Rick, I take it you won’t be satisfied until you personally are allowed to read Gore’s electric meter.”
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.
Since any information might conceivably be useful to terrorists don’t be surprised if less and less of it becomes accessible. There is absolutely NO end to paranoia (notice mine?) 🙂 The very best solution is to avoid making enemies in the first place. Bring the troops home!
“I’m skeptical, not crazy.”
Can’t tell about that, but I do think Wisdom is more discriminating over the battles to be fought.
“This is the Nobel Peace prize equivalent of finding out that Ghandi was a serial killer.” jryan
Just a quibble in the interest of truth, but wouldn’t “parallel killer” be more accurate? 😉
Jryan,
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.
Rick Lambert:
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?
DAV: “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?”
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.
Rick Lambert
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?
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?
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.
From the ‘Tenneseean’ by way of ‘Planet Gore’ at NRO.
“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.
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.
DAV, why don’t you try contacting NES and asking them for Gore’s utility bill records? Here’s the number: 615-736-6900. See how far you get. That’s why I asked “who” I should talk to, because I wasn’t getting very far with the obvious “where”. They seem to be a little reluctant to give out that kind of information to any schmuck that gives them a jingle.
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.
Rick Lambert,
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.