Al Gore uses 20 TIMES as much electricity as you do

[NELSON]

I boiled one of my Birkenstocks for breakfast today. It’s not as terrible as it sounds – the Carbon Footprint caused by firing up my stove was actually offset by the Eco-Credits I earned for not wearing any shoes today. It’s not like I’ve never been forced to eat my footwear before, either. In the entire 20th Century, there was only one stock market crash, followed by one little depression. Since Bush stole the peeResidency, there has been a recession, a stock market crash, another recession, years of stagnation (not the good, Jimmy Carter kind of stagnation, either), then yesterday’s stock market crash which will likely lead to the Great Depression of our time. Thanks to the Shrub, I’ve digested enough shoes in the past six years to make Imelda Marcos gag.

I got smart after the 9/11 crash, though, and started squirrelling shoes away for the next big storm. So don’t worry about ol’ Nelson, I’ll weather Bush’s Depression just fine. However, there are thousands of working families out there that can’t afford to put shoes on their dinner table. Who will care for them? Certainly not the so-called “Compassionate Conservatives”, who are far too selfish and greedy to feed someone the loafers off their own saintly feet. It must be up to us as progressives to scour the thrift stores and garage sales for every pair of used sneakers, sandals, and slippers we can find, and we must do it NOW before Bush and his gouging Big Footwear Buddies have a chance to corner the market.

It's too late to prevent Bush's depression. But together, we can rebuild America out of the ashes of Capitalism, leading it into a bright, new, social utopia with a government-issued boot in every pot and three families living in every garage.

 

[Charade]

Again, comparing the Gore home to the average power bill is silly.

Then don't compare gas mileage between a Hummer and a Prius because they are two different vehicles. That's just as silly.

IMO, it's not silly. If the average home uses X energy and Al Gores house is say 4 times (10,000 sf vs. 2500 sf) as large (even after the green mods) then his usage should be about 4X, not upwards of 20X.

 

[wvrevy]

Saw this posted elsewhere:

# It's nice to see the conservative media taking the message of conservation and energy efficiency seriously. Hopefully they will hold their own leaders and readers to the same high standards.

# The Tennessee Tax Dept. does not consider the "Tennessee Center for Policy Research," which roughly no one had heard of before this, a legitimate group. It's run by a long-time right-wing attack hack, and its only registered address is a P.O. box. Why is everyone in the media taking what it says about Gore's electricity use at face value?

# Gore's electricity company has no record of being contacted about his bills.

# The "average" home electricity use quoted by TCPR is a national average that includes apartments and mobile homes. In Gore's climatic zone, the East South Central, the average is much higher, thanks to hot, humid summers and cold winters. Within that zone, Gore's usage is three (not 20) times average, and his per-square-foot usage is squarely average.

# The Gores are not an average family. He's an ex-VP with special security arrangements, and has live-in security staff. He and his wife both work on their many business and charitable undertakings out of their house, so they have space for offices and office staff. All that would be tough to cram in an average size house.

# Gore buys the maximum allowable green electricity from the program offered by his utility.

# Most of the electricity in TN comes from hydro and nuclear, and so doesn't generate all that much CO2 anyway.

But hey...don't let facts stand in the way of funny little posts by Nelson - who I'm assuming must be a writer for Fox' Half Hour News Hour - and political rimshots by the conservatives on here. I mean...it's never stopped you before, so why let reality intervene now?

 

[TheDoctor]

Thanks for the link. Now maybe the righties will crawl back under their rocks where it is safe until the next call to arms from Druggie and Hateity.

I wish that you are right. However some are committed to spread or believe whatever lies or false and misleading statements that drudge puts out. See the below post for a great example.

Then don't compare gas mileage between a Hummer and a Prius because they are two different vehicles. That's just as silly.

IMO, it's not silly. If the average home uses X energy and Al Gores house is say 4 times (10,000 sf vs. 2500 sf) as large (even after the green mods) then his usage should be about 4X, not upwards of 20X.

John, the drudge attack was silly, false and misleading. You are normally a defender of special treatment for the rich including tax estate tax cuts and the cut in the dividend tax rate even though those cuts are the special benefit of the rich. Evidently democrats are not allowed to be rich or to share in the special treatment reserved for rich republicans

In any event, even brenda has admitted that the 20X number is bogus (I had to provide a definition of the word bogus but that is a different post). Comparing apples and oranges is silly. I would further point out the following http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-roberts/talking-points-on-the-gor_b_42335.html

The Gores are not an average family. He's an ex-VP with special security arrangements, and has live-in security staff. He and his wife both work on their many business and charitable undertakings out of their house, so they have space for offices and office staff. All that would be tough to cram in an average size house.

Are you advocating that the Gores move to a smaller home and have a separate set of offices for their staff (I am willing to bet that this will use more energy than the present arrangement). Again, this attack was silly and your claim that the numbers presented were corrrect was wrong. Again, you can count on drudge to be wrong when he runs with a story like this and this was no exception.

 

[TheDoctor]

Saw this posted elsewhere:
....
# The Tennessee Tax Dept. does not consider the "Tennessee Center for Policy Research," which roughly no one had heard of before this, a legitimate group. It's run by a long-time right-wing attack hack, and its only registered address is a P.O. box. Why is everyone in the media taking what it says about Gore's electricity use at face value?....

But hey...don't let facts stand in the way of funny little posts by Nelson - who I'm assuming must be a writer for Fox' Half Hour News Hour - and political rimshots by the conservatives on here. I mean...it's never stopped you before, so why let reality intervene now?

Good post. The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is run by gop hack who is clueless about the issue. The fact that the address for this so called foundation is a PO Box is telling as is the fact that the Tennessee Tax Dept has called this organization "not legitimate" is very telling. Of course those who listen to drudge do not care about facts.

 

[LuvDuke]

Saw this posted elsewhere:

# It's nice to see the conservative media taking the message of conservation and energy efficiency seriously. Hopefully they will hold their own leaders and readers to the same high standards.

# The Tennessee Tax Dept. does not consider the "Tennessee Center for Policy Research," which roughly no one had heard of before this, a legitimate group. It's run by a long-time right-wing attack hack, and its only registered address is a P.O. box. Why is everyone in the media taking what it says about Gore's electricity use at face value?

# Gore's electricity company has no record of being contacted about his bills.

# The "average" home electricity use quoted by TCPR is a national average that includes apartments and mobile homes. In Gore's climatic zone, the East South Central, the average is much higher, thanks to hot, humid summers and cold winters. Within that zone, Gore's usage is three (not 20) times average, and his per-square-foot usage is squarely average.

# The Gores are not an average family. He's an ex-VP with special security arrangements, and has live-in security staff. He and his wife both work on their many business and charitable undertakings out of their house, so they have space for offices and office staff. All that would be tough to cram in an average size house.

# Gore buys the maximum allowable green electricity from the program offered by his utility.

# Most of the electricity in TN comes from hydro and nuclear, and so doesn't generate all that much CO2 anyway.

But hey...don't let facts stand in the way of funny little posts by Nelson - who I'm assuming must be a writer for Fox' Half Hour News Hour - and political rimshots by the conservatives on here. I mean...it's never stopped you before, so why let reality intervene now?

There you go again. Muddying up the issue with facts. Get with the progam. The facts don't matter.

Btw, Hannity has a new crusade. He wants people to send him photos of Al Gore getting into private planes. You can't make this stuff up.

This must be a big deal to the right wingnuts. On the plus side, it takes their minds off of coming up with new and creative ways to carry the water for the Bush administration. Gee, I wonder how they're going to spin the meeting with Syria and Iran. That water carrying spin exercise ought to be one for the record books. Or the looney bin.

 

[TCPluto]

There you go again. Muddying up the issue with facts. Get with the progam. The facts don't matter.

Why would you consider this "saw this posted elsewhere" essay fact based??

It's nothing more than spin and misinformation....

 

[TheDoctor]

Why would you consider this "saw this posted elsewhere" essay fact based??

It's nothing more than spin and misinformation....

First the drudge piece was nothing but spin and misinformation (heck, even Brenda has agreed that the 20X claim is false and misleading). I have provided a link to the key facts cited in that piece already. http://www.anonymousliberal.com/2007/02/gores-energy-use.html

The press release claimed that Al Gore's home in Nashville consumed 221,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity last year compared to a national average of 10,656 kWh per household. I have no idea whether the number cited for Gore's house is correct, but let's assume it is. The 10,656 number comes from data published by the Department of Energy. But it's an average of all households nationwide (including apartment units and mobile homes) and across all climate regions. As it turns out, the region in which Gore lives--the East South Central--has the highest per household energy usage of any climate region in the country, a good 50% higher than the national average quoted in the press release (I assume this is due to the combination of cold winters and hot, muggy summers). So that's misleading in and of itself.

Moreover, Gore lives in a large home (10,000 sq. ft.). If you look at the data, it's clear that Gore's energy usage per square foot (even assuming the 221,000 kWh number is accurate) is well within the average range for his climate region. So all this accusation boils down to is a claim that it is somehow "hypocritical" for Al Gore to live in a large house.

That's awfully weak. Gore's a former Senator and Vice President of the United States. Does he have to move into a studio apartment before he has the right to talk about climate change?

And more importantly, as Think Progress reports, even this watered-down hypocrisy charge entirely misses the point. What Al Gore wants people to do is reduce the carbon footprint of their residence as much as possible and then purchase carbon offsets to reduce the remaining footprint to zero. Gore has installed solar panels in his home, he uses fluorescent light bulbs and other energy saving technology, and he purchases his energy from Green Power Switch, a provider which utilizes solar and wind power. He then purchases carbon offsets to reduce his remaining carbon footprint to zero.

Could Gore use less overall energy if he and Tipper moved into a one-bedroom apartment? Of course. But he's not asking people to move into smaller homes. He's asking them to reduce their carbon footprints, which is exactly what he has done. He practices what he preaches.

And last but not least, I'm always amazed by the triumphalism displayed by right-wingers when they think they've managed to humiliate a messenger, as if doing so somehow undermines the message itself. It's bizarre. I mean, suppose Al Gore was caught tomorrow driving around the country in a fleet of Hummers that run on solid coal. Would that somehow invalidate decades of scientific research? Could the inhabitants of low-lying Pacific Islands suddenly breath a sigh of relief? It's sad what passes for logic these days on the Right.

 

[biras jim]

wait a minute -- what would we do without spin (on both sides) ? what do you expect from our national leaders ... HONESTY ???

 

[Charade]

"Here's my take on the 2008 presidential race. There's no doubt
history is in the making. We may have either the first Black
president, the first Woman president or the first Mormon president.
Why not kill three birds with one stone and elect Gladys Knight and
call it a day?"

Ah, but don't you know? There was a recent poll that showed people were apprehensive about a Mormon becoming president.

 

[rockbottomsound]

I'm going to apologize, in advance, for jumping in.

But, after reviewing this entire thread, I'm disturbed by the tenor of this debate.

I am most discomfitted by the, seemingly widely, accepted notion that intellectual belief and practical lifestyle are in no way mutually exclusive. How can that be? Since when is life so simply defined in black and white? And who determines those standards by which ones beliefs and lifestyle are allowed to intersect?

It seems to me that there is no argument whatsoever that Gore takes steps daily to adjust his lifestyle to more firmly cohere with his environmental concerns. If there is, there shouldn't be. I can say with authority, he does.

So then the argument took on a life of little more petty judgements that seem fueled only by a certain contempt for his assumed wealth or political affiliation. Statements like "Noone needs three homes", etc. are being bandied about. Let's be clear. Al Gore cannot be expected to live like a "regular joe". Because he isn't. He has a certain amount of money with which he is entitled to have a certain amount of things. Just like me. And you. He has a certain amount of status which demands a certain amount of...well, things. Why not applaud his efforts instead of chanting a meanspirited refrain of "you have more so you should do more and more and more"? The very idea that his installing solar panels now is not okay because they've been around alot longer than now is nothing less than asinine. With that logic, nothing any of us do to better our lives (famous or not) is ever acceptable, much less laudable. (And yes, DiCapprio does indeed use a hybrid for his day-to-day driving...and though he does quite a bit to live a greener lifestyle, he's decidedly less green than Gore).

I don't see his efforts to ignite and maintain a global dialogue about environmental issues to be preaching. Or bullying. He's simply taking good advantage of his public profile in an effort to affect some change in an arena he believes in. What is the fault in that?

Even more upsetting is the idea that environmental concerns are a partisan issue. Since when? I'm, personally, heartsick at the idea that conservation and all-around respect for nature are now, somehow, dirty notions. And am definitely not clear on what is to be gained by not engaging at all.

Individual beliefs, aside, I believe this is good work Gore is doing. And more than I have done. With regard to any issue that I care about.

I have absolutely no problem with anyone including Gore living as extravagently as they want too. 10 mansions, Ferraris, whatever you want.

The point is when someone holds themselves out as an environmentalist activist and goes around raising money for themselves with speeches, preaches to everyone to yada yada yada, and just now in year 2007 discovered solar panels, that in my book makes them a total joke that's all.

All I've ever said if you talk the talk you should walk the walk. Has he advocated that everyone should use solar, no, that's not the point, HE SHOULD be already using them if he was a true environmentalist, being he is as wealthy as he is and can afford it.

Do I say everyone should run out and get solar, no, absolutely not, but if you are going to claim to be an environmentalist and you can afford it, absolutely yes. That's all I'm saying.

But some on here absolutely do not see the logic of this argument, so its futile.

 

[BuckNaked]

First the drudge piece was nothing but spin and misinformation (heck, even Brenda has agreed that the 20X claim is false and misleading).

If you're going to quote me, at least make an attempt to to get it right. I said that the claim is misleading, but I never said it was false, because it isn't. According to the numbers provided, Gore IS using 20x the electricity of the average home in America.

 

[LuvDuke]

If you're going to quote me, at least make an attempt to to get it right. I said that the claim is misleading, but I never said it was false, because it isn't. According to the numbers provided, Gore IS using 20x the electricity of the average home in America.

And I probably use about 20 times the average tent.

Whoa, I am one no-good, wasteful, reprobate.

Like just about everything else that comes out of the Republican slime machine, the facts don't quite fit the press release. Once again, when it comes to George Bush and the Republicans, you have to wait for "the rest of the story" and then take a good, long, 2nd look. Although for the rightwing, that isn't necessary. The ******** is enough to send them into paroxyms of rapture. They wouldn't vote for a Democrat if their vote came with a $100 bill in their pocket. No loss there.

 

[Andy B]

Ah, but don't you know? There was a recent poll that showed people were apprehensive about a Mormon becoming president.

They have seemed quite comfortable with the first Moron.

 

[TheDoctor]

If you're going to quote me, at least make an attempt to to get it right. I said that the claim is misleading, but I never said it was false, because it isn't. According to the numbers provided, Gore IS using 20x the electricity of the average home in America.

But I did quote you correctly. Here is your exact quote from another thread.

I never said it wasn't misleading - I believe it is. I was simply pointing out that your statement that the 20x claim was bogus is incorrect.

Of course, you were wrong here because you did not know that the word bogus meant. Again, the common definition of the word bogus means something that is false or misleading. The piece by drudge is false and misleading even by your standards and according to the dictionary that means that the drudge claim is bogus.

 

[Bob Slydell]

This is one of the more intelligent posts on this board. I'd say, unless you want your IQ to drop a few points, stay away from these boards. They will have your brain cells fighting to make sense of what you are reading. I have to quit as well. For me it's like junk food for my intellect.

You're leaving? Cool

 

[Bob Slydell]

I have responded to your attempt at analysis on the other thread. Again, you are wrong. Under the law a statement is fraudulent and misleading if it fails to state a fact necessary to make such statement not misleading. The statement by drduge and the faked foundation are fraudlent and bogus under that standard.

Just filing this quote away for the next time you post one of your famous "bi-partisan thinktank" groups that take a figure and twist it for their own benefit.

 

[Andy B]

I have absolutely no problem with anyone including Gore living as extravagently as they want too. 10 mansions, Ferraris, whatever you want.

The point is when someone holds themselves out as an environmentalist activist and goes around raising money for themselves with speeches, preaches to everyone to yada yada yada, and just now in year 2007 discovered solar panels, that in my book makes them a total joke that's all.

All I've ever said if you talk the talk you should walk the walk. Has he advocated that everyone should use solar, no, that's not the point, HE SHOULD be already using them if he was a true environmentalist, being he is as wealthy as he is and can afford it.

Do I say everyone should run out and get solar, no, absolutely not, but if you are going to claim to be an environmentalist and you can afford it, absolutely yes. That's all I'm saying.

But some on here absolutely do not see the logic of this argument, so its futile.

Is the record broken...record broken...record broken...

 

[Charade]

Interesting but given the outcomes of the two scenarios;
1 No global warming, we continue as we are we are safe but a lot of people look foolish. Doh!

2 There is Global Warming, we struggle to come to terms with it, millions of people die in fragile climate areas and the costs to the developed world are very high.

should we not err on the side of caution and if nothing happens then hurrah!

To many skeptics of the current hysteria the issue isn't "Is there or isn't there global warming", it's "Is the current warming period caused by man's activity in the last 150 years?".

If man's activity isn't a significant component of the current global warming trend, it won't make much difference what we do to reduce our impact on it because it's caused by a mechanism that we can't control. Or affect.

Now this doesn't mean that we shouldn't strive to be good stewards of our planet and conserve, recycle and protect the plant as best we can. However, some believe that we need to make drastic, expensive and life style altering changes to make a significant difference.

 

[BuckNaked]

But I did quote you correctly. Here is your exact quote from another thread. Of course, you were wrong here because you did not know that the word bogus meant. Again, the common definition of the word bogus means something that is false or misleading. The piece by drudge is false and misleading even by your standards and according to the dictionary that means that the drudge claim is bogus.

Like I said before, you are the gift that keeps on giving.

I'm pretty sure that you can do the math, and if so, you will see that 221,000(amount used by Gore)/10,656(amount used by average American home)=20.739, which is indeed 20x the national average.

So, saying that the 20x claim is false (definition: not true or correct; erroneous) is incorrect. Are those calculations erroneous? No, of course not, unless you are now going to explain to us how all 1 + 1 = 11.

Not that I doubt you'll try.