(I was sent this by a friend and found it ever so interesting – though I was aware of it. I thought it might be an interesting thing to mention and it will be interesting to see the response to it. Annie)
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 average American household does in a year. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400 per month. 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 and is the home of ‘environmentalist ‘ Al Gore.
HOUSE #2 is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas and it is the home of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.
Verifying information can be found here.
(I do find it very enlightening that people in general seem to be more interested in believing the words rather than the actions. And this is just one reason why I can not help but make fun of Algore and call him a hypocrite. Annie )
Anita Rodgers Mystery Writer 
Very interesting. One talks the talk while the other walks the walk. 😕
I wonder what Ron Paul’s house looks like. 😛
Well hello, Mr. Parkour, good morning. Yes, it would seem that that is the case, eh? I don’t have a clue about Ron Paul. Sorry to say so, but I think he’s a bit of a froot loop. Reminds me a might too much of Ross Peroit. It shudders me to think about it.
WC
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I’ve seen this information before and always wondered if it was true . . .
You would think Al Gore would try a little harder to live the “Green Life” that he is always preaching about.
If this is truly his cause, why doesn’t he? It makes no sense to me .. .
Hey Ramblin!
Yeah it actually is. I think I saw a documentary on it a few years back – and I believe this house has been around quite a while – twenty years or something. Bush has always been a conservationist – he just doesn’t brag on himself I guess. There are a lot of things about him that are actually quite amazing but the man doesn’t make it known – just his way I guess.
And algore, god, don’t get me started on that fat, bloviating hypocrite. Ooops, sorry did I say that out loud?
Annie
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WOW! This is so interesting, and really quite scary when you think about how passionately Al Gore speaks about this stuff and the amount of people invested in spreading his word… Great post Annie.
Yeah Simmone, I think scary is a good word for it. In fact, Gore didn’t even do the ‘green’ retrofitting for his mansion until last year when it was found out that he had serious carbon credit deficits – ironically, after he did his consumption and the cost of same rose from what his non green energy consumption had been. Right and this is the dude who is going to lead us to saving the planet? Arrrrggghhhhhh!
Annie
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Yeah, you pretty much can’t trust what comes out of their mouths. You have to examine what they do. Also, I’m sure each of them has more than one home so it would be interesting to compare them all.
Hey Teeni,
Yep, actions speak louder than words – tis true. I don’t know about – though I think he has a home in Washington DC – but I’m pretty sure the Bush’s only have this home in Crawford. It’s where they’ve lived for quite a while – though the Bush family may have several homes and I don’t know if they are like the ranch or not.
Annie
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Hi Annie,
You have to remember that the liberal elite aren’t talking about what they are going to do, but about what they want to make the rest of us do. They’ve never been great believers in that nonsense about everyone being created equal.
the Grit
Hi Grit,
Oh, I haven’t forgotten, rest assured – I’m well aware of that fact. It’s the old do as I say, not as I do, routine. As it has always been. We, the great unwashed are apparently just too stupid to do our homework, eh? 😉
Annie
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Wow! Talk about talking the talk, but not walking the walk!
Yes…can we say hypocrite? 😉
Annie
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i agree with teeni that all of their homes should be looked at. Even so, if you are filthy rich and can actually pay for green upgrades to your home or move into a green home, and don’t do so before going around and telling those cannot afford to do either that they need to go green, it’s not really going to fly.
Well, here’s the thing, Chica – that’s exactly what he does – and people buy it. I mean really buy it. The thing that drives mad about the ‘green movement’ is that it’s about controling people and making them have a certain mindset, rather than really finding solutions to the problem. I could seriously get behind a conservationist movement that actually sought to solve the problem – you know like why don’t we have desalinization plants on the coasts? That technology has been around for decades, no instead we droughts and then the water police have to come out and tsk tsk you for having the audacity to wash your car or your laundry. It’s absurd. We have had so much technology available to us for so long that could truly improve things but rather than using them and solving the problems – it’s just a tirade to enrage people and get political points. That’s my beef. It really is.
Annie
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i agree.
My thing is the denigration people take for their limited participation or their lack of eagerness, their “carbon footprint”. i now hate footprints. Even the ones in the sand!
i do what i can to save energy and recycle because i want to be a good steward of this place i live in. But the fact is, i live in it. The earth has things to offer that i can use. And what i try to do personally is not abuse the gift.
But for folks to force stuff on me or try to make me feel bad because they don’t think i do enough is, well, annoying. i understand the idea, i even understand the passion, but i cannot abide anyone mashing their cause in my face. It’s that whole my-way/highway crap.
i also agree about solutions. There are some things we can do immediately and other things we can do for the long term. With the powerful it’s always one way or the other. Why not pursue both?
Exactly, Chica!
I had to laugh because when you mentioned the footprint thing, I realized the word now kind of makes me snarl. And like you, I try to save, conserve, recycle, etc – but yeah, I do happen to live here too and unfortunately, without man, I don’t think earth would be a very inhabitable place. Think giant dinasours and using rocks to find your dinner, eh?
Yeah the judgment that you are somehow less of a human being because you do not meet their criteria and of course, almost always on inspection, you find they aren’t following their criteria either. I truly believe it’s just a control mechanism. They won’t pursue both, because there is no power in that. Algore with his, the debate is over, bullshit. There happen to be quite a few people who know a helluva lot more than he does who don’t agree with that. This guy flunked preacher school for crying out loud, where is his scientific background and degree, when did he become a climatologist? Oh, I could go on all day but I won’t. I will spare you. LOL.
Annie
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How truly ironic. Ever notice that those who brag the most about their own “perfection” often have the most to hide? That definitely applies here. Probably the only person using more energy than Al is Celine Dion from what I have read 🙂
Yeah, irony is about size of it. I hadn’t heard about Celine, what is she up to? The last quotable thing I remember from her was when there were riots here about 10 years ago and people were smashing store windows and stealing things because of them pandimonium – and she said, “let them have them – they need things – why shouldn’t they have things?’
Which I thought was quite ballsy of her to say. What about the shop owner, aren’t they entitled to the things they worked for and own. I figured if she wanted theives to have things, since she is a bagillionaire maybe she could give them some things and quit offering possessions of others.
Oh gawd, nothing gets me madder than hypocrites and liars. LOL. Sorry for the rant. Thanks for your comments Carma, nice to see you again.
WC
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I guess my cynicism was really showing in my last comment. I don’t know if any of them have more than one home, but I do know most people with money seem to have many homes and that is what I immediately thought of. Anyway, I like the way the discussion progressed in your comments between you and cahughes. Nobody likes to be looked down upon and usually the people doing the looking down could stand to have a mirror handed to them. LOL. And, oh yeah, I came by to say I’ve tagged you for a meme. http://www.vtroom.com/2008/08/11/bucket-list-meme/
I’d love for you to participate if you can, but no pressure. 🙂
Hey Teens,
I didn’t think your comment was cynical at all, I thought you made a good point. Yeah, it is the whole superiority thing that kicks me in the teeth – I mean, how about if we all just try to fix it without the all damn judgment? That would new, eh?
Yes, I saw that and made a comment and indeed will do the meme this weekend. No more cartoons though, for a while. 😉
Annie
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I think being able to buy carbon credits or offsets is a crock. It’s just another form of “passing the buck.” (“I can afford to buy excuses; let someone else take the responsibility.”) Bush didn’t buy the Crawford ranch until 1999, when he decided to run for president. Better a Texas rancher than a Kennebunkport frat boy, etc. No kudos for either of them.
Hey Girlfriend,
I don’t even understand that whole carbon credit thing – always just sounded like a load of crap to me, so I guess I didn’t bother to pay attention.
Are you sure about the crawford ranch, I could swear I saw a documentary on it – I don’t know maybe I am mixing it up with something else. But, unlike you, I do give him kudos even if he’s only been living there for nine years, it’s nine years he’s been a good steward of the environment I won’t take that away from him. I wouldn’t even take it away from Algore, if he were doing the same thing, but he’s not and that’s the diff. As to the frat boy crack – those days were quite some time ago and he was the governer of Texas for two terms previous to the white house, so I think they lived in Texas.
Annie
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It speaks volumes to me.
Me too, buddy, me too.
Annie
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Here’s the info on Celine per abc news:
[her mansion uses] nearly 18,000 gallons of water a day, about 100 times more than the 170-gallons-per-day the average resident uses every day, according to the Florida-based U.S. Water Institute. Dion’s annual water usage could fill more than 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Over 6.5 million gallons used in the past 2 years!
Interesting about her offering up other people’s goods for the taking. How generous!
Wow Carma, that is unbelievable. Where does she live Buckingham Palace? I know awfully generous of her, isn’t it? Thanks for coming back with that info.
Annie
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Craziness! Kudos to Bush. How awful about Gore. He definitely doesn’t walk the walk. Politicians are so sneaky.
Hey Dube,
I wonder, is algore still a politician or just an older version of a Paris Hilton celebrity? Something to think about.
WC
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I’m happy to hear that Bush lives like he does, but am still horrified that he doesn’t believe in mandating similar actions. People (especially big business) are going to keep looking at the short term instead of the long term and will never start living more aware of the planet if there are short term profits to be made.
So while Gore might be a hypocrite, Bush is willfully blind.
Which one is worse? Two peas in a pod I’d say…
Hey Alex,
Actually, it doesn’t work that way in this country. The people create the mandate, not the President. And because of the way our Constitution is set up, it is left up to each individual state to determine it’s laws and regulations. And mandating something like would be impossible, if only because of the expense – most people would not be able to afford to rebuild their homes in that way. So, I respectfully disagree that they are two peas in a pod. While neither is perfect – Bush is not going around preaching to people to live in a certain manner, etc and then doing something else. Although Gore is. That’s the difference to me.
Annie
WC
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