RV.net has added a new blogger, he is known as the Green RVer, and with myself will be another source of green RVing tips and comments. He will also be relating stories and anecdotes from the many radio, newspaper, and TV interviews he has done in support of RVing being green. Check his first blog at: http://blog.rv.net/2009/01/28/mother-nature-is-watching-2/#more-3321. Oh, yes. His name is Brian Brawdy, a former New York police inspector who roams around the country in his Lance camper loaded with solar panels, a wind turbine, rain water collector, and several other green gizmos and gadgets, most of which he has installed himself. Consider him another source of green info. on RVing. Please check in and welcome him. Tell him I sent you, and that you will be watching to make sure he doesn’t get into trouble with the media, most of whom think RVing and Green are an oxymoron. Oh, and also that he doesn’t run over them too roughshod–as his Irish temper has been known to do from time to time.
Also, watch my blog for information soon on the Going Green Contest for The Rally in Albuquerque in April. The final touches are being put onto the rules and regulations and small print (very little) for a contest eliciting entries from you intelligent, creative, environmentalist, conservation-minded, and green RVers. It is going to have $$$ prize money too! More next week (I was derailed this week do to family obligations and a computer crash), when I will return to my regular blog posts.
Fred
Mr. Crumpler, I found this corrective mitgation about Al and Tippy Gore’s house on the website Snopes.com. If you get to read this, it may clear up some common misconceptions.
First, the claim: Al Gore’s residence uses considerably more energy than the average American home, about $30,000 in energy bills.
The claim is true, but read these mitigating circumstances and let me know what you think. Fred
Origin: The above claim made in a report from the Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR), claiming that Al Gore’s Tennessee home uses over 20 times more energy than the average U.S. home, was released the day after the former vice-president’s film about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, won an Academy Award for Best Documentary.
The specific numbers involved may be disputable (the TCPR claimed Gore’s
home uses electricity at a rate more than “20 times the national average,”
while the Associated Press reported that its own review of bills indicated
that the Gores’ Nashville household used more than 12 times the average
for a typical household in that area), but the gist of the claim — that
the Gores’ Nashville residence consumes a substantially larger proportion
of energy than the average American home — is true.
A spokesperson for the Gore family responded by noting some mitigating
factors, such as the fact that the Gores’ Nashville residence isn’t an
“average” house — it’s about four times larger than the average new
American home built in 2006, and it essentially functions as both a
residence and a business office since both Al and Tipper work out of their
home. The Tennessean also noted that the Gores had been paying a $432 per month premium on their monthly electricity bills in order to obtain some
of their electricity from “green” sources (i.e., solar or other renewable
energy sources). Other factors (such as the climate in the area where the
home is located and its size) make the Gore home’s energy usage comparable to that of other homes in the same area.
The former vice-president maintained that comparing raw energy-usage
figures is misleading and that he leads what he advocates, a
“carbon-neutral lifestyle,” by purchasing energy from renewable energy
sources such as solar, wind and methane gas to balance out the carbon
emissions produced in generating the electricity his home uses:
Kalee Kreider, a spokesperson for the Gores, pointed out that both Al and
Tipper Gore work out of their home and she argued that “the bottom line is
that every family has a different carbon footprint. And what Vice
President Gore has asked is for families to calculate that footprint and
take steps to reduce and offset it.”
A carbon footprint is a calculation of the CO2 fossil fuel emissions each
person is responsible for, either directly because of his or her
transportation and energy consumption or indirectly because of the
manufacture and eventual breakdown of products he or she uses.
The vice president has done that, Kreider argues, and the family tries to
offset that carbon footprint by purchasing their power through the local
Green Power Switch program — electricity generated through renewable
resources such as solar, wind, and methane gas, which create less waste
and pollution. “In addition, they are in the midst of installing solar
panels on their home, which will enable them to use less power,” Kreider
added. “They also use compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy
efficiency measures and then they purchase offsets for their carbon
emissions to bring their carbon footprint down to zero.”
Jimmy Crumpler
go to h#ll
Cindy
Well, Mr. Crumpler, that would also benefit the rest of us who wouldn’t have to read your responses. Do us all a favor.
Jimmy Crumpler
I really like rv net, I enjoy reading most of whats is on this site but bob I wish you keep your posts on with no one else on the same blog, that way when I see your name I can just delete it because what you said to me was pure bull
Carson
People are listening with an open mind but some people no matter what you say or do will not believe..It is called a Faith Based thing even though it is no proof people such as yourself have the faith to believe it is true. You just said yourself that there was no proof and if they are waiting for proof they will have a long time to wait. Just today on the The Today Show it was stated that 2008 was the worst winter in 24 years. If is so much Global Warming it sure has been cold this winter. Al Gore, Yes, let’s talk about Al Gore people have no respect for him when he has a jet that carries him to his destinations just how much fuel does that jet take to fly and what is it releasing into our skies? Sure he may live in a large home he can afford it but he doesn’t seem to be doing anything but making statements on what the American people should be doing. Take it a step farther not only him but go to DC and study how many of the Congress and Senators fly around in jets this was just reported recently on the news. . Shouldn’t the ones harping about Global Warming take a long hard look on how they live, what they drive, and FLY?? When they start setting examples then the American people can start respecting what they may have to say.
Fred
Jim,
I sure wouldn’t want to be paying his electric bill. All the more reason to get off the grid. Cover the roof with $30,000 worth of solar, and throw in some wind turbines, and maybe some bio-fuel grown in the back yard to run a good size home generator and wah-lah! Independence. I guess I’m just a dreamer.
Jim
Fred, I also remember reading somewhere Gore’s Monthly electric bill was around $30,000.00 . But then that goes with a big house
Fred
Mr. Crumpler,
The size of one’s house is a factor of the owner’s ability to afford it. On the one hand, some of the materials used to build the house might have a negative impact on the environment due to the inefficiencies of the material’s manufacturing methods. The materials, such as those made from petroleum products, that are not from renewable resources may also have an impact on the environment and global warming.
On the other hand, those materials used, such as wood, that are renewable don’t have a long term affect on the environment. Trees, for example, are replanted continuously by the big lumber companies as they harvest existing timber on their private forests.
Added to that, the size may effectively be subtracting from the negative impact if the roof area is covered with solar panels. The power produced by the solar system counterbalances the use of power from electric companies and that means one less home is polluting the environment. Al Gore’s house is just that. The bigger, the better in his case.
Jimmy Crumpler
How big is al gores house, I have little faith in him.
Bob Difley
It never hurts to listen with an open mind to the other side, and weigh the points and evidence, though we might disagree. And for those that are waiting for “proof” before committing, they will have a long wait. In science, very little is supported by proof as there are and will always be challenges to any position–it’s called peer review. But at some point we must all weight the ramifications of doing nothing as against taking precautions. That’s a decision we all must make for ourselves.
John
GREENIE FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Czech President Vaclav Klaus took aim at climate change campaigner Al Gore on Saturday in Davos in a frontal attack on the science of global warming.
“I don’t think that there is any global warming,” said the 67-year-old liberal, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. “I don’t see the statistical data for that.”
Referring to the former US vice president, who attended Davos this year, he added: “I’m very sorry that some people like Al Gore are not ready to listen to the competing theories. I do listen to them.
“Environmentalism and the global warming alarmism is challenging our freedom. Al Gore is an important person in this movement.”
Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, he said that he was more worried about the reaction to the perceived dangers than the consequences.
“I’m afraid that the current crisis will be misused for radically constraining the functioning of the markets and market economy all around the world,” he said.
“I’m more afraid of the consequences of the crisis than the crisis itself.”
Klaus makes no secret of his climate change scepticism — he is also a fierce critic of the European Union — and has branded the world’s top panel of climate experts, the UN’s IPCC, a smug monopoly.