Or he needs better insulation in his house.

Well, he could insulate his walls with ten-foot thick sheets of insulation, but then we would just accuse him of being wasteful and irrational, would we not?

Drudge fails to mention that a major reason his electric bill is so high is that he pays an enormous amount extra to use solar power. Voluntary payments to get power from solar or other carbon-neutral technologies made up more than a third of his energy bill. This is not an investigative piece into the man's house. This is a simple hatchet job, taking facts out of context to attack him fairly or not.

According to this article he pays extra for green fuel. About $432 a month extra. Which means that from his $1200, $800 is normal costs and $400 is a self-imposed fee. Doesn't sound so bad when you put it that way.

Not excusing his excess, before we go willy nilly saying EVIL I don't think a fair comparison can be made until we get the numbers:

Firstly, it is necessary to compare with a house of equivalent size. The graph of energy consumption isn't a straight line as house size increases.

It is necessary to know how many people live/work there.

It is necessary to know what additional load is unusual to him, such as security systems, etc.

It is necessary to know whether people work there and on what basis - is it 24 x 7? Do they have separate cooking/washing facilities?

All these are necessary to perform a reasoned comparison of power consumption. Remember that 3 shifts of 4 security men represents an additional consumption of 12 people.

..probably more

Saladbar,
Could you explain the solar power? Here in NY, if you install solar panels on your roof, the kwh supplied by the panels gets DEDUCTED from your bill. The purpose of the panels is that you store enough energy so that your meter actually begins to spin backwards. Why would he billed for having it?? Are the laws different?

Thanks for the information.

He uses a program called GREEN POWER SWITCH available in Tennessee (not sure what other states). Using this you pay more because although sunlight and wind are FREE the "technology for capturing their energy is still more expensive than traditional power generation methods". By chosing to pay more, if you have such means (as Gore does) then you "help advance the technology and increase the amount of electricity generated from cleaner sources" and the money goes into more research.

So that is why it costs MORE.

What Gore says: Global Warming is real and that CO2 emissions are the cause therefore we must reduce CO2 emissions, because CO2 emission are causing global warming.

This report says: Al Gore uses a large amount of electricity.

Fact: It's true, he does use a lot of electricity.

Common sense and knowledge:

CO2 emissions are not directly related to electrical consumption. Since he pays extra for non-CO2 producing electricity, he could leave every light on in his house and still not violate his message that CO2 emissions cause global warming and we should reduce CO2 emissions.

His heating bill is high too, is that because he lives in an area with higher GAS rates or consumes more. If he heated his house with low efficiency renewable wood, he'd contribute more CO2 to the environment. He doesn't.

Once again, the end goal is not to reduce total energy consumption, but to reduce CO2 emissions. Reduce CO2 emissions. Reduce CO2 emissions. Got that?

Why? Let me reiterate: because CO2 emission are causing global warming.

Thanks for the information, SB. Perhaps he leases his solar panels, and that's what's costing the money. The way it was explained to us, you install the solar panels, they send the energy to your meter, and the electric company then only charges you for what you don't generate yourself.

My husband and I have a solar panel company coming over to give us a quote this Saturday. I doubt that it's feasible for us, but it's worth looking into. There are grants that can pay up to 50% of the cost, but the out of pocket is still over $10,000, and you really need the right pitch on the southern exposure portion of your roof, and no trees shading it, so that you can produce enough in the summer to sustain you throughout the short winter days. And it will take years and years and years for it to pay for itself. I wish that the technology was more affordable.

I suspect over years, it will become more affordable. Our kids may see the day when most homes, vehicles, etc. will have solar powered components. While the technology has existed for quite a while, I think we've been slow in developing practical applications for it.

Good luck on the estimate tomorrow.

Just thought I'd give everyone an update on WHY solar energy is not feasible for the general public. Not unless you have nothing better to do with your money and can afford to spend it.

The portion of our roof that has a southern exposure AND no trees that would interfere is approximately 150 sq. ft. Each panel is 12 square feet, which means that we could install only 10 panels, since they can't be too close to the edge, etc. (although the idiot from the solar company said that he can install 18-20 panels, although where he could do it is beyond me). Maybe we could squeeze one or two more, but let's use 10, since the math is easier.

For each panel, you generate 175 watts, so we would generate 1750 watts. In the Northeast, they estimate that you will be able to generate energy 4 hours per day, on average. That means that we would be able to generate 7,000 watts per day, or 7 kwh. The electric company charges us .07244 per kwh. That means that we would generate approximately 50 cents worth of electricity per day.

The cost to install? 8 cents per watt or $14,000 dollars!!!!!!!!! The state would give us 4 cents per watt, plus 2 tax credits in the first year only. The tax credit is $2,000 deducted from your federal taxable income, and $3,000 deducted from on the state level. The out of pocket cost would be $7,000, and then we get the tax credits for the first year. In that case, it would take us over 38 YEARS to recoup the initial $7,000 investment.

It is so ridiculously out of the question for anyone with an average income!

You know, Snake's not been around much since starting this thread...

Don't despair. There is so much you can still do that will have a big impact and does not cost a lot of $$$ and might even save you $$$. Just get an energy audit for your house to identify inefficiencies and take care of those. Put up better-insulating curtains in the winter and open and shut window coverings to let sun in or to insulate through the day. Seal gaps under doors. Switch to heating single rooms rather than the whole house at night. Use a programmable thermostat. Get a down blanket. Air-dry much of the laundry. Turn off lights. Use compact fluorescents. Drive cars that get good mileage. Look into an auxiliary solar water heater. Look for energy efficient appliances. Look for a tankless water heater system. Retire your CRTs and get LCDs.

The lesson is that the environmental movement isn't going to get anywhere if the message is, "Suck it up and sacrifice for the good of the planet, people!" People have to be convinced on the basis of their OWN interests.

There are a zillion ways we can reduce our carbon footprints, and there are no excuses not to do them. One thing that amazes me about many people is that they spend their money on DRIVING to gyms with hot water, air conditioning, heating, etc. etc. to do things like bending, lifiting weights, use rowing and stairclimbing machines, stationery bicycles, and treadmills. These are often the same people who use the elevator, pay a lawn guy to bend and lift weights, and who never walk or drive to a nearbyh store.

DT, Good point! My husband always laughs when he sees our neighbors' landscapers pull up to do all their work, just as our neighbors are driving home from the gym.

SB - You are 100% right. The first thing we did was trade in the SUV for a far more gas-efficient automobile. I did install a clothesline in my washroom. It also saves on clothes because the kids don't outgrow their stuff as quickly when you don't put them in the dryer. We also installed an energy efficient water heater and furnace a few years ago when our older models broke down, and made sure to get programmable thermostats at the same time. These things may not seem like they make much of a difference, but you'd be surprised how they add up.