Gore's energy bill is $1300 a month?

[Proud2BAmurkin]

How in the hell does someone power 10,000 sf for only $1300 a month?

[Virginia Dare]

1. Wood burning stoves?...n/t

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MissB]

3. Well, I have about 1/4 of that.

And my absolute worst combine gas/electric bill would be about $250. But then again, I keep it downright cold and I rarely turn on many lights during the day.

[helderheid]

26. I have about the same amount of space and gas + electric averages $200 a month

Maybe it's just cheaper here? :shrug:

[MissB]

30. Well, that is my absolute worst -

so the coldest part of the winter and the highest amount of light usage (around Christmas time).

Most months, it is wayy less than that.

[lectrobyte]

4. That sounds about right to me.

[sandnsea]

5. Show and Tell

If his house is green, invite a crew in and educate America. Would be a great public service.

[wakeme2008]

6. I believe he has some solar and wind power.

:shrug: but not sure.

[kestrel91316]

7. I betcha he ripped out every bit of plaster on the exterior walls and put in super insulation,

also insulated the attic, new furnace that draws air directly from the outside or perhaps geothermal heat/cooling.

It's do-able. Bet it cost a bundle. Good on him!

[Lost-in-FL]

8. Are you saying that Gore's home is bigger than Edwards??

That's terrible, terrible!! Why they hate America!!11!

[LSK]

9. Green Power Switch

http://www.tva.gov/greenpowerswitch

Does anyone do research anymore?

[LSK]

10. How much does Green Power Switch cost?

Green Power Switch is sold to residential consumers in 150-kilowatt-hour blocks (about 12 percent of a typical household’s monthly energy use). Each block adds $4 to the customer’s monthly power bills. Consumers may buy as many blocks as they like. In other parts of the country, residential consumers who participate in green power programs pay an extra $2 to $10 per month for green power. Green Power Switch is also marketed to commercial and industrial consumers, who are asked to buy blocks based on the amount of energy they use.

http://www.tva.com/greenpowerswitch/green_mainfaq.htm

[Czolgosz]

11. 10,000 sq ft?!?! Oh my God, he's as evil as John Edwards!!!

[Proud2BAmurkin]

21. Only about 1/3 as evil

:evilgrin:

[Czolgosz]

24. The 28,000 sq ft Edwards house meme includes the garage etc. The Edwards family home is 10,000 sq ft

[Contrary1]

12. MaybeTennessee Center for Policy Research pulled the figure out of their arses

"...The Gores used about 191,000 kilowatt hours in 2006, according to bills reviewed by The Associated Press. The typical Nashville household uses about 15,600 kilowatt-hours per year.

The group said that Gore used nearly 221,000 kilowatt hours last year and that his average monthly electric bill was $1,359. Johnson said his group got its figures from Nashville Electric Service.

But company spokeswoman Laurie Parker said the utility never got a request from the policy center and never gave it any information."

Oh please, please, please...someone show proof that they were lying.

[Porcupine]

13. Al Gore should have done better: Links.

I have an 850 sq. ft. apartment. My power bill is $75 a month for gas and electricity both.(january, 39th parallel CA) My two daughters and myself live here. It's an apartment built maybe in the mid-seventies with single-pane aluminum framed windows that leak air and sweat in the winter. Multiply my bill by 12 to account for the different volume and I get $900.

Given that large buildings are cheaper to both heat and cool due to the larger volume to surface area ratio it does beggar the imagination how environmental Al Gore manages to use 13 times the power my family does.

Of course if he really doesn't use $1300 a month in electrical power then he should give some credible news source a tour to prove it and show off the energy saving features of his home.

I'm really interested to see how that works out. Because until Al Gore comes clean on this he's going to get chewed up about it. Asking the rest of the world to change behavior to mitigate climate change is going to be something of a problem when he just buys a pass. Most of us do not have that option.

Of course he could afford any of the options used by these people: Westwood Cohousing Community

A typical mid-size house of 1265 SF sold originally for $137,000 in 1998 and resold in 2004 for $198,000. That size house bears the following approximate yearly utility costs (for 2003): Heat for both space heating & hot water $380, water $75, water treatment $96, electricity $286.

Doesn't make Al look all that good does it? This is old tech.

Or he could have used this resource: http://www.ncgreenbuilding.org/site/ncg/index.cfm

edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_energy_building Another link to show what's possible.

[niyad]

18. depends on the utility company (and how much enron crap they bought) friends here in CO pay about

$400 month in winter for utilities for a 2,000 sq ft victorian, and THAT is with as much conservation of energy as possible.

$1,300 for his property, including the outbuildings, offices, etc, is pretty damned good.

[johnaries]

20. One of the reasons he pays more is because he's paying extra

for 100% GREEN energy. See the posts above with links to Green Power Switch.
More cities should offer this.

[Porcupine]

25. Then conservation would have been cheaper still right?

All the justifications in the world don't cut it on this one. The world's most visible proponent on climate change has not brought his OWN home up to the available technology of conservation.

I could give a crap if he's Al Gore or not; he set the cause of cleaning up emissions back by his negligence. The rest of us working for climate change mitigation; those of us building straw bale, cob and rammed earth houses by hand and installing solar sytems one panel at a time. We end up looking like patsies.

"Forget the triple pane windows honey; we can buy some carbon credits like Al Gore did and have money for the trip to Key West you wanted."

Yep, that helped a lot.

[alarimer]

22. I had a $200 bill for a 550 sq. ft apartment last summer

Even keeping the temp almost unbearably warm. Of course I don't think I have the most efficient a/c unit but my complex won't replace it until it fails completely. I have since switched providers and will save 30% hopefully. Here in Texas they deregulated the energy industry a few years ago. People went along with it because they were sold a bill of goods that electric rates would be cheaper. But they are in some cases over 100% higher

[Porcupine]

23. Cheaper to replace that AC unit yourself. nt.

.

[Tracer]

14. Gore's doing pretty damn good.

I just got my monthly utility bills --- and they are:

Electric: $116.60
Gas: $521.72

Total: $638.32 for a 1260 sq. ft. house that I never have warmer than 65 degrees.

[piedmont]

16. And that's why I'll never move north of the Mason-Dixon line!

That's BRUTAL!

[Porcupine]

17. Start watching "This Old House" and

get your hands on as many copies of "Whole Earth Magazine" as possible. You need to get that under control.

http://www.wholeearthmag.com/ArticleBin/FeaturesTitle.html

[Nikia]

33. So maybe my $450 bill isn't that bad

We do know that our older home is drafty too and that it would be possible to reduce our energy consumption with insulating it better in some areas and having better windows.

[MissB]

34. I'm the owner of a drafty old home.

The first winter we lived here, we spent $600 in about 30 days for heating oil. The furnace was woefully out of date. The next summer, we installed a high efficiency natural gas furnace and switched to natural gas.

We also tear out a wall or two or three each year and insulate. We replace one to two windows each year as well. It is slow going, but we've been able to keep our bills pretty much steady, despite serious hikes in gas rates.

The windows are really bad- mostly single pane. We go for custom built double paned windows, so we can only afford one or two a year. What a difference it makes though!

[piedmont]

15. Our house is 1,000 square ft, and our bill averages $98/mo. WITH electric heat in the winter

I'm wondering how the heck some people here have such enormous electricity bills.

Edit to add: we peak at about $160 in Jan., and have bills around $50-60 in spring and fall.

[Dukkha]

32. that's exactly where I'm at

my 1035 sq ft condo is all electric but having attached neighbors probably helps with the insulation. last month was my highest bill yet for $160.00 due to many cold nights an my g/f now makes me turn it up to 70.

[Geek_Girl]

19. I use to work for TVA and I live in Tennessee

There is a program called Green Power Switch and it cost the consumer a good bit extra to use. This is why his electric bill is so high.

http://www.tva.com/greenpowerswitch/index.htm

[helderheid]

27. a HA! Thank you.

[Geek_Girl]

28. Your welcome

:hi:

[Horse with no Name]

29. I have about 2500+ square feet and my bill runs about $600

on a good month.
That is electricity.
In the winter, gas costs me $110 extra a month.

[Harper_is_Bush]

31. What is your point?

[UTUSN]

35. Uh