By now, almost everyone in the country with access to the
Internet is aware of Al Gore’s lavish energy consumption at his Belle Meade
mansion, just east of Nashville, and the monthly utility bills that would make
even Bill Gates cringe in horror.
According to a report published
by the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, Al and Tipper’s 20-room home and
pool house consumed nearly 221,000 kilowatt-hours in 2006 – more than twenty
times the national average of 10,656 kilowatt-hours per home – while the
Nashville Gas Company billed the Gores an average of $1080 a month for natural
gas ($536 a month for the main house and $544 for a heated pool house). That
comes to nearly $29,300 in gas and electric purchases for the Gores in calendar
year 2006.
Of course, as the Pied Piper of global warming, Gore can’t
allow himself to be seen as an energy hog, so he’s devised a “scheme” to absolve
himself of criticism. He co-founded a company in London, called Generation
Investment Management, which we are told buys carbon “offsets” from two
companies, one of which is the Carbon Neutral Company.
Although we can’t be sure exactly where Carbon Neutral gets the “offsets”
that it sells to Generation Investment Management, which in turn sells them to
the Gores, they do appear to salve Al and Tipper’s
eco-consciousness.
Anyway, the news of Al and Tipper’s
outrageous energy usage is now all over the Internet. Everyone knew Gore
was a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do hypocrite; it’s just that now we have solid proof
of it. But what few people have heard about, because the mainstream media
apparently doesn’t find it politically correct, is the story of the Texas White
House that George and Laura Bush built on their ranch at Crawford,
Texas.
In 1999, the Bushes purchased approximately 1600 acres of
land, complete with house and outbuildings, eight miles northwest of Crawford,
Texas. They later hired an associate professor of Architecture from
the University of Texas at Austin, David Heymann, to design a new 5,000 sq. ft.
house and to convert existing buildings into Secret Service quarters and guest
houses.
The new house is a model of energy efficiency. Central
to the energy efficiency of the house is a geothermal heating and cooling system
which pumps water through pipes extending three hundred feet beneath the ground
surface, using only twenty-five percent of the total electric usage of the
house.
Pipes connected to a heat pump inside the house circulate
water into the ground and back up through the house. As the water returns to
ground level it is a constant 67 degrees F, sufficient for summer cooling and
winter heating. The water for the outdoor pool is heated by the same
system, which proved to be so efficient that plans to install solar energy
panels were cancelled.
A 25,000 gallon underground cistern collects rainwater
gathered from the roof and from French drains installed around the perimeter of
the house, while “gray water,” collected from showers and bathroom sinks, and
“black water,” collected from the kitchen and the toilets, flows into separate
underground purifying tanks. Once purified, the wastewater also flows into
the cistern, from whence it is used to water flowers, trees, and a large garden
behind the guesthouse. Potable water for drinking, cooking, and bathing
comes from a well.
The 12 to 18 inch-thick exterior stone walls are built from
honey-colored Leuders limestone, a native stone quarried in the area. The
passive-solar house is positioned so as to absorb winter sunlight, warming the
interior walkways and walls of the residence.
But what is most interesting is the reaction of liberal
environmentalists. While they are silent about the Gores’ outrageous
energy consumption and their mind-numbing hypocrisy, they are not too shy to
actually criticize the Bushes and the Texas White House.
Rob Sullivan, writing in CommonDreams.org on April 29, 2001,
said, “No, this is not the home of some… wealthy eco-freak trying to shame his
fellow citizens into following the pristineness of his self-righteous example…
this is President George W. Bush's ‘Texas White House’ outside the small town of
Crawford.
“How does the President reconcile an eco-friendly abode for
his own family with his persistent stand against anything that smacks of an
environmentally friendly agenda for the nation…? Perhaps sound ecological
practices are only for those who can afford them? (The architect) termed
the house ‘stunningly small.’ Really? Would it be stunningly small
for a single mother in South Central Los Angeles… (or) an immigrant Latino
family in San Antonio?
“But then most of us can't reconcile what
might at first glance appear to be inherently irreconcilable.”
That’s true, Mr. Sullivan, and if one day you’d like to take a
shot at reconciling that which may be inherently irreconcilable, maybe we can
get together in Nashville for a little chat.
