Al Gore defends his green ways

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Al Gore defends his green ways

by Kyle Hepp (Subscribe to Kyle Hepp's posts)
Jun 19th 2008 @ 7:16PM

Filed under: Celebrities

Ever since Al Gore started traveling the world preaching the word of green, there have been some doubters. People wonder if this man is actually walking the walk.

Earlier today on Perez Hilton, Al was accused of living in a house that expends so much energy it exerts more than 232 homes put together.

Amongst other things, the gossip blogger also took him to task saying that Al's home energy consumption went up 10% in the past year.

Well, Mr. Gore isn't going to take those chargers sitting down. His rep Al fought back listing off the ways that he's made his home more sustainable.

The Gores undertook a three plus year renovation that concluded in
November 2007 with the issuance, in November 2007 of Gold LEED (Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design) from the US Green Building Council.
As part of this renovation, the Gores have:
-Installed a geothermal system for heating, cooling and hot water
-Installed 33 solar panels
-Completely retrofitted their appliances, windows, ductwork, insulation, and
lighting.
Since the renovations were complete, the Gores have saved 40 percent on
their site energy use (which is a combination of electricity and natural gas
bills–the two major sources of global warming gases).
The Gores also purchase their electricity, through their utility, from
the Green PowerSwitch program–which means that their electricity come from
solar, wind and methane gas.
So, in summary, the Gores have: made their home more energy efficient, the
produce electricity from renewable power (solar, geothermal) and they
purchase renewable power. No one is perfect, but they are doing their part.

What do you think? Is Al telling the truth about his energy habits, or does he truly need to learn to practice what he preaches?

Comments [10]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-20-2008 @ 12:09AM

David said...

You know, the thing that keeps bugging me every time this issue comes up is that every single news source fails to provide some context. Gore's home isn't just a home, it's a 14 bedroom MANSION! Sure, it's been greenified, but still it's a huge house. He also runs his business dealings form there with a full staff. That alone is also enough to drive up energy usage.

6-20-2008 @ 3:23PM

Chris V said...

These complaints are that Gore is hypocritical because he has a large energy bill.

Anyone who lives in a large house is going to have a larger energy bill than someone in a studio apartment. Al Gore lives in a large house, so he too has a large energy bill.

Even so, does Al Gore state that everyone should live in studio apartments? No.

Gore states that people should reduce their carbon emissions. He has done that. So much for the hypocrisy.

In effect, this complaint about Gore is really not about carbon emissions, but about the fact that he lives in a large house.

Al Gore is a former Senator and former Vice President. His family runs several businesses from their home. He is a Oscar-winning movie star. His Nobel Prize sits on the same self. The man even has a Secret Service detail. It is completely unrealistic to even think that he'd move to a studio apartment.

And seriously, these complaints have only recently come up because Gore was back in the news. None of these conservatives really care about how much electricity Gore uses - they just want to use it as a weapon to shut him up, even if their arguments make no sense.

6-20-2008 @ 9:36AM

cat lincoln said...

Um, everyone needs to back off. Al Gore is a HERO and we should all be on our knees, THANKING him for the work he's done to bring global warming to the attention of a vapid and shallow public.

He has a mansion? Fine! He *should* have been President, living in The White House. This is a global leader we're talking about, not the fat asshole who runs the local pollution plant. Put it in perspective, people! Look at the big picture of what he does.

Al Gore RULZ!

8-10-2008 @ 7:21PM

Baron F said...

In all fairness, do you think that it is fair that he buys carbon credits from himself? Do you think it is fair that he created a company that sells these carbon credits, two years before he made his movie, making people think that they need to buy Carbon Credits to make them selves feal better. The problem is you can not debate about the enviroment, every one out there is trying to figure out the planet we are just not smart enough to figure it out yet. and no one is giving money to people who do not say the sky is falling. Please do not be angry at what I am saying Al Gore is trying to figure this problem out and he is trying to help, it just seems strange that he buys these credits from him self, and that he is profiting from creating a panic situation.

Last figure for you 97 percent of carbon emmisions are natural, from old growth forests, volcanos and from the ocean, where as three percent is from people.

If your really concerend why not look back on the 70's every news source was saying we were headed into an ice age, so the current warming trend may have more to do with the fact that our sun is not like our home furnace we can not controll or fully understand the way in which it realses energy.

Keep up the good fight, I just think that if more people stopped being mad at people who ask questions this situation would move forward insted of having two groups of people yelling and arguing like kids.

6-20-2008 @ 9:36AM

Chris said...

Yep, we all should bow in his presence. He claims the debate is over, yet has refused to share a stage with a SINGLE person to debate. He has created a new religion/cult. Joined by anti-religious folks ironically enough. What was that quote, those who stand for nothing will fall for anything? Reminds me of the cult of global warming, with the high priest Al Gore.

He needs all this energy? He needs this house? It is Al and his wife in a house. Just the 2 of them. The most he does is a few power point presentations. My wife and I both do more work at home than him and his wife combined. Guaranteed. I saw inconvenient truth, could have been made on a 100mhz 1992 PC with microsoft powerpoint.

Al is a hypocrite. He is getting rich off you cult followers. If it wasn't so pathetic, it would be hilarious!

6-20-2008 @ 6:25PM

Dad said...

Al Gore knew about "Global Warming" in 1995. What did he do with that knowledge in 1995? NOTHING.

He is making money, flying all over the world and has a 14 room mansion. All the time he FAILED to do say anything 13 years ago when he first knew about GW in 1995. This makes him a hero?

6-20-2008 @ 11:17PM

David said...

Have you seen his movie? He talks specifically about how long he has been working on climate change (since the 80's) and the so-so reaction that he got all those years. During the '92 campaign he made the environment part of the campaign (remember Bush Sr's quote "we'll be up to our neck in owls and out of work for every American"). He lobbied Congress to ratify the Kyoto protocol (which Clinton then decided not to act on). It wasn't until recently when we started getting more definitive answers as to the effects that human-induced greenhouses are having on the environment.

6-21-2008 @ 1:55PM

Dad said...

"He lobbied Congress to ratify the Kyoto protocol (which Clinton then decided not to act on)"

In other words, Al Gore failed. And Clinton failed. Both these fellows encoraged cheap gas, gas guzzling SUVs and did nothing to increase the CAFE average for 8 years. We had to wait for Bush the second to do this all.

6-21-2008 @ 12:08PM

Dad said...

7-01-2008 @ 5:45PM

Kramer said...

Looks like Al has finally caught up to George W!

An April 2001 article in USA Today described the president's 4,000-square-foot single-story limestone house in Crawford as an "eco-friendly haven."

"Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into purifying tanks underground -- one tank for water from showers and bathroom sinks, which is so-called 'gray water,' and one tank for 'black water' from the kitchen sink and toilets," it said. "The purified water is funneled to the cistern with the rainwater."

In addition, "the Bushes installed a geothermal heating and cooling system, which uses about 25 percent of the electricity that traditional heating and air-conditioning systems consume."

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