In February 2007, the day after his [...] film "An Inconvenient Truth" won an Academy Award for best documentary, a [...] report based on public records revealed that Al Gore's Nashville home consumed 20 times more electricity than the average American household.
Facing scrutiny for his extreme electricity consumption, the former vice president pledged to renovate his home to become greener and more energy-efficient. The extensive and expensive overhaul of Gore's house included installing solar panels and geothermal heating.
In order to determine the effectiveness of the environmentally-friendly remodel and learn whether the self-appointed spokesman of the environmental movement has amended his energy-devouring ways, the National Center for Public Policy Research obtained Gore's electricity usage information through public records requests and conversations with the Nashville Electric Service (NES).
In powering his home, Gore still greatly outpaces most Americans in energy consumption. The findings were shocking:
- The past year, Gore's home energy use averaged 19,241 kilowatt hours (kWh) every month, compared to the U.S. household average of 901 kWh per month.
- Gore guzzles more electricity in one year than the average American family uses in 21 years.
- In September of 2016, Gore's home consumed 30,993 kWh in just one month – as much energy as a typical American family burns in 34 months.
- During the last 12 months, Gore devoured 66,159 kWh of electricity just heating his pool. That is enough energy to power six average U.S. households for a year.
- From August 2016 through July 2017, Gore spent almost $22,000 on electricity bills.
- Gore paid an estimated $60,000 to install 33 solar panels. Those solar panels produce an average of 1,092 kWh per month, only 5.7% of Gore's typical monthly energy consumption.
No matter how the numbers are viewed, Al Gore uses vastly more electricity at his home than the average American – a particularly inconvenient truth given his hypocritical calls for all Americans to reduce their home energy use.
A PDF copy of Gore's 2008-05-27 electricity bill is available on-line.
Source: The National Center for Public Policy Research. Wikipedia reports The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a self-described conservative think tank in the United States. In February 2014, at Apple Inc.'s annual shareholder meeting, NCPPR proposed Apple "disclose the costs of its sustainability programs" was rejected by 97% vote. The NCPPR representative argued that Apple's decision to have all of its power come from greens sources would lower shareholders' profits.
David Almasi, the Veep of the National Center for Public Policy Research accused CNN of being " a key player in the war against the Trump presidency" a couple of months ago.
-- submitted from IRC
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Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
A couple of Time Warner shareholders went after CNN CEO Jeff Bewkes Thursday in LA at a Time Warner shareholders meeting [...] David Almasi, the Veep of the National Center for Public Policy Research1, a conservative communications and research foundation, is in LA to question Bewkes. Both Almasi and President David Ridenour are Time Warner shareholders.
[...] “Mr. Bewkes, we have urged you many times to make CNN more objective,” Almasi said in his statement. “You have admitted to us in 2014 the need for more balance. We praised you last year after CNN President Jeffrey Zucker also acknowledged this and acted on the need for more diverse views. But bias is apparently worse than ever. As shareholders, we are concerned about the repetitional risk to our investment in Time Warner as CNN appears to be a key player in the war against the Trump presidency.”
Almasi cited a Media Research Center2 study of CNN programing for 14 hours and 27 minutes of news coverage back on May 12. The report concluded that all but 68 minutes were devoted to Trump with 96 guests out of 123 being negative.
[...] “I’m inquiring about CNN’s bias and our return on investment,” Almasi continued in his statement. “Half of the American public – which includes potential and current CNN viewers – voted for Trump last November and supports his agenda. CNN acts as if it is part of the anti-Trump resistance. Are you willing to lose viewers, possibly forever, because of the bias?”
Almasi even threatened Bewkes, saying that Media Research Center plans to alert advertisers about news programs that “peddle smear, hate and political extremism.”
He asked Bewkes, “Are you concerned about advertisers leaving CNN? Will you continue to ignore our appeals for objectivity at the risk to our investment in Time Warner?”
Source: The Daily Caller
1The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a self-described conservative think tank in the United States. In February 2014, at Apple Inc.'s annual shareholder meeting, NCPPR proposed Apple "disclose the costs of its sustainability programs" was rejected by 97% vote. The NCPPR representative argued that Apple's decision to have all of its power come from greens sources would lower shareholders' profits.
2The Media Research Center (MRC) is a politically conservative content analysis organization based in Reston, Virginia, founded in 1987 by activist L. Brent Bozell III. Its stated mission is to "prove—through sound scientific research—that liberal bias in the media does exist and undermines traditional American values."
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @09:06PM (5 children)
Am I supposed to be outraged?
Instead of complaining about the story (submission queue is low), I'll make a modest proposal that will make a more SoylentNews-relevant:
I propose that we assemble together and eat Al Gore. Human meat is supposed to taste like pork, so lets have some BBQ ribs, Gore confit, shredded Al sandwiches, and Gore rinds. This is all for the good of the planet, of course.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @09:30PM (1 child)
Go Green Ya'll! :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @01:45AM
At 71, I'm sure Al Green is quite tough.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:27PM
Gore might still be what the secretary et service refers to as a "covered person"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @11:01PM (1 child)
But now _I_ am outraged that you advocate cannibalism instead of complaining about the story. At least we are getting this crap directly from "a self-described conservative think tank" instead of sucking scum from Breitfart.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @11:41PM
Oh, come on. If you don't respect Breitbart and you're against cannibalism, what are you doing on this site? Admit it, you'd happily nibble on Steve Bannon's thighs if they were on the menu.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Dr Spin on Sunday August 06 2017, @09:27PM (6 children)
What was he using the electricity for?
Does he have a model Hyperloop in his garden?
Has he got a whole bunch of Cray super computers?
Is he running hundreds of centrifuges to purify Uranium?
or maybe he has an underground cannabis farm?
Enquiring minds want to know!
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:16PM (2 children)
Didn't you know? Al Gore invented cryptocurrency.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @08:39AM (1 child)
Someone modded this funny. It's not a joke. [pymnts.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @11:56AM
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1anxwc/al_gore_at_pymnts_innovation_project_2013_im_a/?st=j623odf0&sh=448f2d5f [reddit.com]
Maybe he's mining bitcoin. If the taxpayers are paying for his electric bill that's one way to convert taxpayer dollars to his money. :)
(Score: 4, Interesting) by mmcmonster on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:29PM
I seem to recall that he works from home and actually has part of his house fitted for his office staff to work.
Not sure how his home compares to the average power consumption of a small office building.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday August 07 2017, @04:58AM
Grow op.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday August 08 2017, @04:46PM
My guess: Air condition, and pool heating?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:03PM (14 children)
The optimist in me desperately wishes to believe that he's offloading all of his neighbors' power bill onto his account out of goodwill, that at least *someone* in the upper strata of American society is willing to do something good for once with their unnecessarily large gains.
But no, the practical pessimist in me knows that by Occam's Razor, he's probably just leaving his exterior lights on at night and keeps his entire estate at a permanent 75 degrees like every other douchebag with money to spare are wont to do.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:15PM
"Do as I say, not as I do"!
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:18PM (7 children)
Yes, he obviously is fabulously wealthy, which makes me wonder how he got so rich.
I had a quick look over his Wikipedia entry and he is the son of a senator, so there's inherited privilege right there, but how do life-long politicians get so wealthy in the US?
It's not from their salary, which is about $174,000, so where does all the money come from?
(Score: 1) by ekerin on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:27PM (5 children)
His books:
https://www.amazon.com/Al-Gore/e/B000AP8Y7G [amazon.com]
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:39PM (4 children)
Maybe. An Inconvenient Truth did sell a lot of copies I suppose, and there was that movie also, but I can't see him making that much money from books.
There is also the matter of him being born into money. His father was a career politician also, so where did his father's money come from?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:44PM
Money snowballs. Once you don't have to bat an eye at covering your basic expenses, it becomes much easier to divert increasing portions of your income towards investing and other endeavors. Collecting fees for speaking in public also probably helps.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @11:44PM
Tobacco.
(Score: 3, Funny) by frojack on Monday August 07 2017, @05:05AM (1 child)
Goretex ring any bells?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @01:25PM
Well, at least ringing bells is not a standard use of Goretex. :-)
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday August 08 2017, @04:50PM
Senators and others are the first to get market information. So insider trading and of course "donations".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:19PM (4 children)
Unless the gains stem from coercion (e.g., government), those gains represent profit for society—those people have been rewarded for doing well by others.
Put another way: What have the poor ever done for you?
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @11:01PM (2 children)
Not much, that's true. At least compared to the rich, who have repeatedly done wonderful things like crashing the global economy, poisoning people for fun and profit, stuff like that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @11:06PM (1 child)
The coercive power of the State is what has led to those outcomes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @02:54PM
rabble rabble violently imposed monopoly rabble rabble
(Score: 3, Touché) by bob_super on Monday August 07 2017, @07:31PM
> What have the poor ever done for you?
Spent at least 99% of their income, locally, keeping the economy going when the rich were rushing to find foreign placements with higher returns?
(Score: 5, Touché) by fritsd on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:14PM (15 children)
This changes the narrative.
From:
1. Global Warming is real
2. Al Gore is a hero for popularizing the issue
to:
1. Global Warming is real
2. Al Gore is a hero for popularizing the issue
3. Al Gore is also a hypocrite for not "practicing what he preaches"
What is the purpose of the authors who wrote that article? That we'd draw a different conclusion, namely:
3. Al Gore is a hypocrite
!1. Therefore, Global Warming is not real
That would only work, if the only source of information about Global Warming is the hypocritical mr. Gore.
Gore is no L. Ron Hubbard, or Lou de Palingboer [wikipedia.org].
Gore wasn't there with Fourier [wikipedia.org] theorizing about the Greenhouse Effect in 1824.
Gore wasn't there with Tyndall [wikipedia.org] proving the Greenhouse Effect in 1859, with his dinky experimental Infrared spectrometer [wikipedia.org].
Then, in 1896, the Swede Arrhenius [wikipedia.org] rejoiced at his discovery that humans were burning enough coal etc. to cause increased Greenhouse Effect, i.e. Global Warming. Goodbye ice-ages
with a kilometer of ice upon Uppsala!
Now fast-forward 121 years.
"Global warming is not real, because some person is a hypocrite."
Count me un-convinced by that argument.
And I hope not many people are so stupid as to be taken in by it.
And I hope that one day, American children will get English classes in school, where they learn the important skills of critical reading.
And let me finish this rant with a beautiful cartoon by the inestimable mr. Munroe:
XKCD Earth Temperature Timeline [xkcd.com]
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:23PM
Humans hate each other, and will do anything and everything to knock each other down a peg. That's the point of the article, idiot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:26PM
The wierd part is that the temp record is matching the "best case" projections though:
https://geoethic.com/2015/11/27/james-hansens-climate-models-versus-observations-1958-%C2%AD2015/ [geoethic.com]
So I think that xkcd is hily misleading.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:30PM (1 child)
I have modded this +1 Insightful, because there is no Excellent mod.
I should be able to mod you up again for the fantastic link to Lou de Palingboer. That is going to keep me entertained for ages. Thanks.
In return, take a look at this. [blogspot.com.au]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:36PM
666 999 TURTLES!
Why do all the wackos seem to have the same style of webpages? My guess is they use the same defaults from some crappy old-school HTML web generator /s
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:31PM (3 children)
But I understand it is out of style these days
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @10:53PM (2 children)
It was never in style.
Critical thinking can't get you laid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @01:33PM (1 child)
I'm not sure about that. If you use your critical thinking skills to determine those people by whom you won't get laid anyway, and then concentrate on the remaining ones, it may actually improve your chances to get laid. Assuming the selection process didn't end up with the empty set, of course, but in that case you wouldn't have had any chance to begin with.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DECbot on Monday August 07 2017, @05:33PM
I know a joke about critical thinking...
... and a good sense of humor does increase your chances of getting laid!
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @11:52PM
Fourier burned wood that was unsustainably logged. Tyndall travelled repeatedly on coal-powered trains. Arrhenius used vast amounts of electricity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @12:00AM (1 child)
Al Gore's actions suggest that he doesn't believe in global warming. The concept has been very profitable for him however, so that could explain why he likes to push it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @12:25AM
Al Gore, the ultimate expert in global warming, doesn't believe in it, so why should we? FEET OF CLAY!
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @12:52AM
Al Gore is not a hero, because he made hundreds of millions from peddling his doomsaying. Few people dispute the existence of the global warming effect. But skeptics think the amount of warming is modest and the benefits of CO2 should be considered. Leave it to people like Al Gore to polemicise the debate and prevent rational discourse. That he doesn't personally reduce his carbon footprint while exhorting everyone else to, speaks to his character and leadership qualities.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Monday August 07 2017, @04:17AM (1 child)
Sadly, about 1/3 of our fellow citizens are so bad at reasoning that they will buy into the idea that Gore is the personification of the warning that the climate is overheating, eat up this trash reasoning that concludes he's a hypocrite, and happily dismiss him and the entire left and the scientific community as a bunch of partisans cooking up a conspiracy to trick the government into wasting more money on them.
If Gore lived in an unairconditioned FEMA trailer, the cynics would still bash him, but in that case from the opposite direction, for sacrificing too much. He's trying to deliver a message, and the denialists want him discredited no matter what contortions of fact it takes. Shoot the messenger. If that means making an unfair comparison between his home and office to someone else's home only while leaving out their office, and no one notices, then it will be done.
But those with poor reasoning skills can be lead in nearly any direction. The people I wonder about are the ones leading them into this stance of denial. What the hell is their problem? When they were informed of the problem, the leaders of Big Oil chose this path of denial. They could have started preparing for the massive transition to green energy. They had the education to understand that not doing so was very risky. Instead, they doubled down, first keeping quiet, then as conditions worsened and the problem became more obvious and harder to ignore, engaging in a massive propaganda campaign to deny it. Folly! The shareholders must shoulder some of the blame too, but even if they were of a mind to heed the warning, they're so detached from the executive decision making that there's no hope of action from that direction. They ought to get together to make clear that propaganda campaigns are wrong, and to fire all the upper management who dares to press ahead with one anyway. That won't happen, of course.
Another avenue is to get the left to knock it off with the elitist snobbery. The denialists may be bad at reasoning, but they are plenty good at detecting condescending and supercilious attitudes, and most righteously telling the elitists to shove off. A college education at the least broadens people's views, shows them a wider world, removes them from any echo chamber they might be stuck in. Instead of making college affordable (not free, just affordable), the elites have managed to make it more exclusive, have denied education to many who could have benefited from it. Seems education has been under assault from all sides lately. Education makes it much harder to run a successful propaganda campaign.
(Score: 1) by Goghit on Monday August 07 2017, @09:28PM
"What the hell is their problem?" Checking the resume for the National Center for Public Policy Research, it looks like their problem is keeping the cash flowing in (11.5 million +/-, annually.) Looks like they're just another neoliberal Koch-sucking thunk tank doing business as usual, trying to persuade old people to be afraid and outraged.
This is definitely a valid case for shooting and pissing on the messenger.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @04:42PM
Very clear and insightful breakdown. However, I think the argument they are trying to get people to buy is:
1) Al Gore says global warming is a massive crisis.
2) Al Gore does not act as if global warming is a crisis. (This is your #3, he is a hypocrite statement.)
3) Therefore Al Gore does not really think global warming is a crisis.
4) Therefore he must be selling it for another reason, like selling a tiger-repelling rock. Global warming may or may not be real, but the claims of Al Gore should be taken as that of a con man trying to sell more books.
I personally do think that human caused global warming is a real thing and should be stopped. However, I do see how pointing out Al Gore's supposed hypocrisy is a legitimate thing and not just mental gymnastics to confuse the public.
(Score: 5, Informative) by stretch611 on Sunday August 06 2017, @11:23PM (5 children)
Snopes has a fact check about an email that went out when Al Gore created An Inconvenient Truth, comparing his 10,000 sq ft house to George H Bush's 4,000 sq ft Crawford, TX house. Basically it said Gore used a lot more power than Bush at his home and snopes said it was true. http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp [snopes.com] Of course, this is not surprising considering the size of the houses. The email still surfaces from time to time, but Snopes did mention that it has not been updated to account for the fact that Bush now lives in a 8,000 sq ft home.
However, in a separate Snopes article... http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/gorehome.asp [snopes.com]
As for the latest iteration...
Personally, I'm not completely surprised at the large power usage; especially after considering the size of the house and the fact he and his wife use it for their daily businesses. If you compare it to other houses that size it is typical, instead of comparing it to the much smaller houses that non-millionaires live in. (as snopes confirms)
That being said 10,000 sq ft is a huge house... even though he is paying a premium for "green" energy, he is somewhat hypocritical by not living in a more modest dwelling.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 07 2017, @12:15AM (4 children)
And what does his heated pool say, out of curiosity?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @12:22AM
(Score: 3, Informative) by BasilBrush on Monday August 07 2017, @01:44AM (2 children)
It's probably solar heated.
Hurrah! Quoting works now!
(Score: 2) by drussell on Monday August 07 2017, @02:30PM (1 child)
You would think he would have a solar setup on the pool, it is pretty easy to do but it says above:
That is insane
(Score: 2) by BasilBrush on Tuesday August 08 2017, @06:54AM
The question is, did he? Or did the hostile author simply estimate the size of the pool and calculate a heating figure assuming it was heated from mains electricity.
Hurrah! Quoting works now!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @03:47AM (4 children)
> compared to the U.S. household average of 901 kWh per month.
There are three of us in a modest brick ranch, in the NE USA. Run the A/C a few hours a day when it's hot in the summer, heat with natural gas / hot water baseboard. Other things I can think of include electric cooking, 10-year-old efficient fridge, dehumidfier in the basement on 50% duty cycle for ~8 months of the year, a few laptops on all the time, mostly LED lamps, but not all. We don't leave lights on when we are not in the room.
Average electric usage is about 500 kwh per month.
Given that many people live in much smaller apartments, why is the average usage so much more than us?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @06:06AM
Probably all those people with their AC set to 60 F in the summer and heat set to 75 F in the winter.
As a single person in an apartment, I use 175 kWh per month.
(Score: 3, Informative) by stretch611 on Monday August 07 2017, @06:30AM (2 children)
You are in the NE... Your AC usage is nothing compared to the people in the South. Admittedly, the South does not have heating bills close to yours.
Most people do not have LEDs. While more people now have fluorescent bulbs there ares still quite a few people with incandescents.
Efficiency can make a big difference, so does the size of your house... not just sq ft, but cubic feet. If you have a high ceiling in any of your rooms, it costs a lot more to control the temperature.
And remember, an average is just that... an average. There are outliers, but mansions add to the average as well. If there is a single mansion with 20,000 kwh usage and 40 homes with a 500kwh usage you have an average of 975kwh for those 41 homes.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @12:07PM
You stated it, but let me be pedantic about it: HVAC (heating and cooling) is the biggest user by far of energy in a house in almost all climates.
The poster above stated he used gas to heat his house. Of course gas doesn't show up on his electric bill. Duh. If it did, he wouldn't wonder why he uses so much "less" energy than houses in the South. If Southerners could run their AC off natural gas, their electricity bills wouldn't be that much either.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @12:38PM
I used to live in a building where many people had "weekend condos". The average electricity usage in the building was, of course, very low. You really need to look at the distribution rather than just averages.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @04:44AM
Americans use too much electricity as it is, add in a facet of risk compensation to that because you're "green nao" and you end up with even more usage.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @07:39AM (2 children)
When all your spokespeople are monumental hypocrites that fly around in private jets telling everyone else to 'save the envrionment!'.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @09:01AM (1 child)
The world at large takes it serious bro, it's really just (some) Americans that don't.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @10:02AM
No.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @10:32AM (1 child)
You know, a house in a neighborhood using 20x the electricity of other houses would be raided by the DEA on suspicion of being a pot farm.
Unless, of course, the house is Al Gore's house. Then the same laws that are applied to everyone else are ignored.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 07 2017, @11:58PM
The lesson: if you want to get away with growing pot, first get a reputation as a tobacco grower.