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Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Hey Al, Since When Is Coal Renewable?

Al Gore has responded to the controversy surrounding his mansion’s exorbitant power use by saying that his power use is excused because he purchases his power from Tennessee Valley Authority’s “Green Power Switch” program which claims to get all of its power from renewable sources.

After perusing the TVA Green Switch website, however, that just doesn’t seem to be true.  At least part of the “green switch” power comes from the burning of methane gas from human waste.  Which is a renewable source, but in order for the methane to be effective it is “co-fired” with coal.

Which, the last time I checked, isn’t exactly a renewable source.

And by the way, the fact that Gore gets his power from renewable sources hardly justifies his using 20x more power than everybody else.  Were Gore not hogging so much of the somewhat-green power from the TVA there would be more for other citizens to use.  As a free-market capitalist I think Gore should be able to use all the power he can afford, but from Gore’s perspective this is pretty hypocritical.

Comments

He is such a big gas bag! ...Carbon footsteps? What does that mean? AND if it does mean anything?? How has he done anything to counter act his and Tippers? Anymore awards such as the Nobrl Peace Prize and academy awards just don’t hold the same honor as they originally were suppose to…

Zsa Zsa on February 27, 2007 at 03:52 pm

I’m sure that he bought carbon credits or some other difficult to prove BS excuse that is typical for his type of hypocrite.

electnixon on February 27, 2007 at 03:57 pm

So Al get’s his energy from poop. Well, that explains everything.

Mickey on February 27, 2007 at 04:12 pm

That’s hilarious. The number one source of anthropogenic CO2 emissions is ... coal from power plants. LMAO.

Carrick on February 27, 2007 at 05:07 pm

urp… that should have been “coal BURNED IN power plants.”

Carrick on February 27, 2007 at 05:08 pm

He also flies all over the place in a gas-guzzling, earth polluting private airplane.  All those “green” celebrities are constantly flying all over the country and the world, taking limo’s from the airport, etc.  How did all those celeb’s get to that peace rally in Washington, DC, I wonder?

GroovyPKP on February 27, 2007 at 05:25 pm

How did all those celeb’s get to that peace rally in Washington, DC, I wonder?

In a Prius. Duh!

Sparkie Arbuckle on February 27, 2007 at 05:41 pm

Carrick

Anthropogenic CO2 is only 3% of the total CO2 contribution.

The other 97% comes from natural sources like the oceans and volcanic activity.

And don’t forget the cow farts.

Mickey on February 27, 2007 at 06:04 pm
Avatar for The Authority

Methane - CH4

Basically, Algore’s explanation of why he’s soo green is still completely bogus as it does not dispute the claim that he’s releasing large amounts of the dreaded CO2 into the atmosphere.  And, as someone already pointed out, even that lame excuse doesn’t account for this -

Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year

Purchasing “carbon credits”?  Ah yes.  That means that evil CO2 isn’t being produced by Mr. Selfimportance’s private jet, right?  Nope.  It just means he’s throwing money at the problem to free himself of guilt.  Someone mentioned that he’s just now getting around to using solar panels.  Good point.  Mickey mentions -

Anthropogenic CO2 is only 3% of the total CO2 contribution. The other 97% comes from natural sources like the oceans and volcanic activity. And don’t forget the cow farts.

And CO2 is far from the leading contributor to the earth’s greenhouse effect.  The prime culprit is water vapor which is responsible for 95% of it.  99.9% of that is of natural origin.  And CO2 isn’t the only greenhouse gas contributing the other 5%.  Total CO2 comprises 0.035% of earth’s atmosphere.  Oh, and ignore the big ball of superheated gas as it’s activity peaks.  Is it any wonder that he doesn’t practice what he preaches?  He probably goes back to the mansion and snickers about all the suckers he’s swindled out of good money for movie tickets as he stares at the 1974 Time magazine article on the looming Ice Age that dust and emission particles from human activity might bring about.  Algore has concerts to put on, so we’ll have to put on a sweater.
The Authority on February 28, 2007 at 02:43 am

Al could not stand up to scientific questioning in Netherlands.


Communism is evil

Chief RZ on February 28, 2007 at 06:14 am

And CO2 is far from the leading contributor to the earth’s greenhouse effect.  The prime culprit is water vapor which is responsible for 95% of it.

That’s why I think we should ban dihydrogen monoxide

electnixon on February 28, 2007 at 06:24 am

so true.
dihydrogen monoxide kills thousands of people every year.

Mickey on February 28, 2007 at 07:19 am

In a post entitled “Follow That Armadillo” John Hinderaker reflects on the “global cooling scare” of the mid and late 1970s, quoting from a Time magazine article from 1974,

As they review the bizarre and unpredictable weather pattern of the past several years, a growing number of scientists are beginning to suspect that many seemingly contradictory meteorological fluctuations are actually part of a global climatic upheaval. However widely the weather varies from place to place and time to time, when meteorologists take an average of temperatures around the globe they find that the atmosphere has been growing gradually cooler for the past three decades. The trend shows no indication of reversing. Climatological Cassandras are becoming increasingly apprehensive, for the weather aberrations they are studying may be the harbinger of another ice age.

Telltale signs are everywhere--from the unexpected persistence and thickness of pack ice in the waters around Iceland to the southward migration of a warmth-loving creature like the armadillo from the Midwest. Since the 1940s the mean global temperature has dropped about 2.7 degrees F. ... When Climatologist George G. Kukla of Columbia University’s Lamong-Doherty Geological Observatory and his wife Helena analyzed satellite weather data for the Northern Hemisphere, they found that the area of the ice and snow cover had suddenly increased by 12% in 1971 and the increase has persisted ever since. Areas of Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic, for example, were once totally free of any snow in summer; now they are covered year round.

George Kukla, climatologist, meet Albert Gore, Jr., demagogue!


“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

Bat One on February 28, 2007 at 07:57 am

Mickey:

Anthropogenic CO2 is only 3% of the total CO2 contribution.

Yeah, I’m aware of that.  Of course, we account for about 30% of the total CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere in spite of that… That’s because we are increasing our rate of CO2 emissions more rapidly than natural processes can adjust to absorb it.

Still, the contribution from anthropogenic CO2 is pretty minimal, maybe as small as 0.3 % of the total greenhouse gas contributions come from human generated CO2.  This is consistent with atmospheric data, which show that above the water vapor layer, excuse me, “dihydrooxide layer”, the atmospheric temperature has been completely flat for the last century.  No global warming at all at those higher elevations.

That’s pretty hard to explain in models that rely on CO2 for the dominant source of heating, since CO2 concentration levels are nearly constant with elevation up to the top of the atmosphere…

Carrick on February 28, 2007 at 09:56 am
Avatar for Cricket

Whenever I hear about renewable energies and environmental issues in the US I can only shout: When, if ever, are we going to sign the Kyoto agreement?

Cricket on November 30, 2007 at 01:12 am
Avatar for coal buyer

Coal may not be renewable, but there are vast resources of coal still available.

coal buyer on January 22, 2008 at 07:59 am
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