A $9 Million Villa for Al Gore, Sky-High Energy Costs for the Rest of Us
Mike Brownfield /
From his sprawling new $9 million ocean-view villa in Montecito, California, with its high ceilings, wine cellar, terraces, six fireplaces, five bedrooms, nine bathrooms, pool and 6,500 square feet of living space, former Vice President Al Gore is asking a favor of the American people. He’d like you to tighten your belt and shell out big time for higher electric bills, all in the name of fighting global warming.
In a renewable electricity standard (RES) proposal now before Congress, those costs would be huge. A new Heritage Foundation study modeled the effects of a generic RES and found that the average family of four would lose $2,400 per year in national income, and their share of the national debt would increase by $11,000.
The Heritage analysis assumes an RES proposal that calls for 37.5% of the electricity we consume to be renewable energy by 2035; by contrast, Gore’s man-on-the-moon pipe dream calls for 100 percent renewable energy by 2018. Both would be incredibly costly to average Americans, which might be more palatable if you, like the former veep, can afford to add solar panels to the roof of one of your mansions. (Gore also owns a 10,000-square-foot mansion in Belle Meade, Tenn., where he has been depicted working in the soft glow of three 30-inch Apple cinema display monitors, which retail for a hefty $1,799 each.)