Yeah, all that time tinkering with the PowerPoint has got Al Gore in trouble. We all know he's racking up some serious energy bills—nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas in 2006 alone, according to this zing released Monday. We all knew he and Tipper were power hungry, but this is wild. Course, they've got to juice a 10,000-square-foot Belle Meade mansion with 20 rooms, plus a pool.
But it got us thinking: how do their big-homed Nashville counterparts compare? The 9,900-square-foot Jackson Boulevard home of Metro Development and Housing Agency Commissioner Ben Rechter and Ellen Martin's 8,800-square-foot Belle Meade Boulevard home, which she once shared with former husband and healthcare mogul Charlie Martin, seem close comparisons.
Some telephonic digging into NES records for a couple of similarly sized homes showed that, even compared with other Richie Riches, Gore's a big spender indeed. In August 2006, he blew more than 22,600 kWh. Rechter and Martin used less than half of that for the same month, with Rechter coming in at about 10,300 kWh and Martin at nearly 10,500 kWh. Gore's average 2006 monthly payment was about $1,359, where Rechter's and Martin's were a mere $529 and $472, respectively.
Gore's spokeswoman told AP that the former vice prez purchases enough renewable energy sources to make up for his electric bloating and invests in plenty o' projects to reduce his carbon footprint.
Some point to the mansion's dual home office, the electric security gate and such to justify Gore's energy gorge. We say it's late-night swims with Tipper in the couple's steaming hot pool of love, which takes $500 worth of natural gas to heat each month, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. So drop your global warming worries—and your towel—and come on in. At the Gore grotto, the water's always warm.
