An Inconvenient Pool

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March 1, 2007

Wall Street Journal

REVIEW & OUTLOOK

March 1, 2007; Page A12

There is an irresistible quality to the story about Al Gore's energy-hungry

Tennessee home, replete with a heated poolhouse that burns more natural gas --

$500 a month worth -- than most of us can afford to use while heating houses

that shelter people, as opposed to swimming lanes. Did you know that Mr. Gore's

house uses more electricity in a month than the average household does in a

year?

The climate-change activist and former vice president insists, through a

spokesperson, that this is not as simple as it sounds. The Oscar winner has a

clear conscience because he makes sure he pays a premium for electricity from

"renewable" sources and claims that he purchases "carbon offsets" to make up for

his rampant energy use.

To "do the carbon offset," as his spokesperson put it, is to fund projects

elsewhere that may reduce the total carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere.

So, one might burn up hundreds of dollars worth of natural gas to keep one's

poolhouse toasty, but then do penance for this carbon sin by paying someone else

to put up solar panels. Drew Johnson of the Tennessee Center for Policy

Research, the think tank that broke the story, called these offsets a way of

"buying his way out of his guilt."

We don't begrudge Mr. Gore his Tennessee spread or his pool, but his energetic

energy use does underscore the complicated nature of modern economic life and

the real costs of "doing something" about global warming. The pleasures of

affluence take energy, whether they be relaxing in a hot tub after a long day of

predicting the end of the Greenland ice sheet, or flying in a private jet to

talk political strategy with Leo DiCaprio. You never know where you're going to

leave your next carbon footprint.

Mr. Gore is rich and fortunate enough to be able to afford the "carbon offset"

for his energy indulgences. The middle-class parents who need a gas-guzzling SUV

to haul the kids to soccer practice might not be so lucky. They might even

settle for an unheated pool.