Al Gore's home still an 'Inconvenient Truth'.

You remember back when 'An Inconvenient Truth' came out and it was pointed out that Al Gore's mansion in Tennessee actually uses many multiple times the amount of energy the average American's house uses ... ?

There was a big e-mail to-do about it, pointing out that Bush's home in Crawford, Texas is actually far more energy efficient than Gore's mansion. It read:

House #1 A 20 room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house, all heated by gas. In one month this residence consumes more energy than ! the ave rage American household does in a year. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400. In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not situated in a Northern or Midwestern "snow belt" area. It's in the South.

House #2 Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university. This house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction can provide. The house is 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on a high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds ; geothermal heat-pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer! The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.

~~~~~
HOUSE #1 is outside of Nashville , Tennessee ; it is the abode of the "environmentalist" Al Gore;

HOUSE #2 is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas ; it is the residence the of the President of the United States , George W. Bush.

An "inconvenient truth".

Initially, Gore denied it. Then, his spokespeople confirmed it and made an announcement that he was going to go back and green-ify his house to make it more energy efficient.

And, he did. He switched out the lightbulbs and the windows and added weather stripping and a solar panel or two (or 33) and a geo-thermal system for heating and cooling. So, now, he's all green, right?

Wrong.

Turns out that, after all of those fancy modifications and attempts at reducing his home's carbon footprint, Gore's monthly energy usage actually went UP.

According to the Nashville City Paper, Gore's mega-house now uses enough energy per year -- from 'dirty' coal and natural gas -- to power 232 average homes for a month.

According to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, the electricity used in Gore’s home during the past year could power 232 U.S. homes for a month despite Gore’s efforts to make the house more energy efficient ...

On average, the group says Gore has consumed 17,768 kilowatt-hours per month since June 2007, which is 1,638 more than before the renovations. The electric bill totaled $16,533, TCPR claimed in a press release.

The average American household, according to the Energy Information Administration, uses 11,040 KWH a year.

Hmm. Well, maybe he can buy some carbon credits from himself (he runs a company that sells them) to 'offset' his hypocrisy ...