i love ya, al, but face it - you are one gluttonous dude.  10,000 square feet is just revolting, no matter how many PV panels or geothermal systems you install (this late in the game, and only after much criticism), unless, of course, you are generating much more than you are consuming, but you aren't.  you are barely denting your consumption and that's uncool.  

nobody's saying go live in a yurt, but dang it, it's just the 2 of you, can't you hang in 2,000 square feet with tipper and entertain in a rented hall?

and no, sorry again, but buying wind from "wind farms" that could have remained wilderness is only about half a point on a 100-point scale towards "greening" your energy use, so stop the greenwashing and DOWNSIZE just like the rest of us.

i don't agree with killing the messenger, either, but i also understand how deeply your grotesque consumption habits undermine your exhortations to others to conserve, especially those who might eye you warily to begin with.

Al, you gotta do MUCH more in your personal life to convince people of the urgency of your message.  this is about wise decisions and sacrifice, and actions speak louder than words...

Al and Tipper should be commended for what they've done, not criticised.  It's not a typical home, they run businesses out of it.  Would you rather see them burning gas driving to an office, and with secret service tagging along?  Those offices would then also use energy for heating, cooling, and lighting.  

Al didn't have to do those renovations, but he did, and he should be commended for the effort.

John
 

Now we can get that rhetoric out of the way.

i'm with ya on Al's too big house and all that...

but you should know that if he is buying so called "green" power for a house in Nashville it is from the Tennessee Valley Authority. The TVA buys some wind power from 15 windmills on Buffalo Mountain in Anderson County in the North Cumberland Mountains just north of Knoxville in east Tennessee. TVA owns three more windmills at that same site.

It has not been wilderness in any way, shape or form for a very long time. The windmills are built on a former strip mine. The only trees cleared were scrubby black locusts that had been planted on the reclaimed ridge top. Been there twice so far. The land is still owned by a coal company and they are letting a huge private Off Road Vehicle club run amock all over the mountain ('cept where the windmills are). There has been some vicious logging and as far as i can tell there are some contour mines (half strip/half auger) under the windmill farm and across a small valley over on the next mountain. More coal companies have active permits and mine sites all over that general area.

The entire North Cumberland Mountains area and New River drainage has some magnificant POTENTIAL wilderness, but it is in the grips of the timber, coal and pulp barons (even tho the state owns a lot of it, the aforementioned corporate overlords own mineral and timber rights even on state land they don't own).

I agree that windmills should not be built in wild areas. But there are some areas (like old strip mines), already developed ridge tops, marginal farmland and already overused yuppie yachting grounds that would be perfect for windfarms.

Wind is not the total answer but it can and should be in the mix. Your slogan about not needing energy and not using it is right on. We could all do the planet and especially the coal fields of Appalachia a huge favor by turning stuff off and even unplugging it when we are not using it.

and we should start a campaign to get all the lights on billboards turned off to!