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by Paul R. Hollrah, Lincoln Heritage Institute Senior Fellow
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 $1,080 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.
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