Gore’s home electricity usage criticized again
Environmental champion Al Gore was criticized last year for consuming 20 times more electricity at his Nashville home than the national average. In response to that report, Gore announced his house was in the process of a major green upgrade, including the installation of solar panels and low energy light bulbs. Apparently, the same group that levied this criticism last year has found that the Gore residence’s electricity usage for the year following the green upgrade jumped another 10%. A Gore spokesperson explained that the dates used for the analysis (June 2007 to May 2008) were misleading since the home’s renovation wasn’t completed until November of 2007.
While none of this goes to the substance of Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, it does arm critics with a powerful weapon to discredit the messenger. One criticism of Gore has been that his message is embraced mostly by those people already predisposed to his politics, when it is the people who are naturally opposed that need convincing. When stories like this one about his home’s electricity consumption so starkly contrast with the message he is preaching, it merely gives his critics another reason to ignore and discredit that message. While few of us live perfectly green lives, Gore’s choice to become the iconic figurehead of the anti-global warming movement puts him in a place where he is inevitably going to be held to a higher standard. When he fails to live up to that standard he gives climate change skeptics just another reason to be distrusting.
[Thanks to reader Shoeman for the story tip.]
- Similar Posts:
- Gore addresses criticisms of his personal lifestyle
- Move over Al Gore, T. Boone Pickens is the new face of clean energy
- Al Gore calls for abandonment of fossil fuels in 10 years
Comments
5 Comments on Gore’s home electricity usage criticized again
-
snowa on
Thu, 19th Jun 2008 10:13 am
-
marsoner on
Thu, 19th Jun 2008 10:51 am
-
shoeman on
Thu, 19th Jun 2008 11:20 am
-
snowa on
Thu, 19th Jun 2008 11:25 am
-
a-ride on
Thu, 19th Jun 2008 11:29 am
This still doesn’t change the fact that his message is right, just dumb of him not to have himself totally buttoned down already. Only thing I would add to that is that his house is probably 20 times bigger than a normal family home…add in the fact that he works and lives there and there you have a good explanation for the huge bill.
[Reply]
I agree that his message is right, but that’s a pretty extravagant bill. A normal electricity bill is around $125-$140/month for a house. The working out of the house isn’t what jacks a bill up. It’s not computers and fax machines. He must do some massive pool heating, extravagant lighting, lot’s of A/C, multiple sub z refrigerators, etc. I guess it’s an interesting debate if he earns the right to live that way by all the work he does to help the environment. Kind of like karma credits.
[Reply]
He also works on private jets, and has three homes in total - one is 10,000 sq. ft with 8 bathrooms and one is 4,000 sq ft.
His message is great, but hollywood and environmentalists have been jocking him for 2 years and he’s consuming more energy than all of us combined….. All I’m saying is that someone who is lecturing about excessive consumption and personal sacrifice because “We have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tailspin” should sell one of his homes and fly coach every once in a while.
[Reply]
not defending al gore so much as the message because in this case, attacking the messenger seems to be a way to divert from the message. i heard that cow s–t is worse for the environment than anything, so maybe we should talk about that.
[Reply]
I don’t think his message is for everyone to all of a sudden switch to being the most eco friendly they possibly can in an instant. I think his message is that society has to change and everyone can start by doing what they can themselves and the government can start by changing policy so overtime we save this planet …. although we will be long dead by then. SPARTA!!!
[Reply]
Please contribute to the discussion. No need to agree with the post or other commenters, but please be constructive and respectful.
-
Private Leaders
