A houseboat, to be precise. Its name? “Bio-Solar One,” or … BS One. Yes, really.

According to Austin, the engines are bio-diesel fueled and Gore can expect to use about two gallons an hour to cruise Center Hill Lake. With a 500 gallon capacity Austin says Gore won’t need a refill for “two or three years” though he admits having “no clue” about where Gore could get bio-diesel at the lake. The Hurricane Marina dock doesn’t sell it.

“This boat is going to be the Toyota Prius of the houseboat business,” Austin proclaims. “It is the most eco-friendly houseboat anywhere in the country and is going to revolutionize the houseboat industry. People are increasingly worried about high gas prices and this is the answer.” Austin claims that the “Bio-Solar One” will create 40-50% less carbon emission and use half the fuel of other similar houseboats. “Gore will consume a lot more fuel driving to and from the lake than he will ever use cruising on this houseboat,” Austin asserts.

The solar panels have not yet been installed but are expected to arrive from Reno, Nevada “any day” and will be in working order “soon,” says Austin.

When the solar panels are installed the Gore boat could power itself and “most of the dock” according to Austin. In the meantime, however, Gore is plugged into the dock as his primary power source.

We’ve done so many posts about the Goracle’s conspicuous consumption that I was inclined to skip this one altogether, but I know people relish them — which is actually the key point. Even if Gore’s conscience is clear about his personal energy usage, even if he thinks it’s sufficient to be merely carbon neutral despite the dire global emergency supposedly being caused by emissions, even if he never quite explains how middle- and working-class people are supposed to find the money to install solar panels and retrofit their homes for geothermal energy (answer: they’re not, they’re simply supposed to consume less, unlike Gore), wouldn’t he at least want to avoid handing his opponents PR bonanzas like this one? This isn’t conspicuous consumption, it’s gratuitous consumption, which I’m normally happy to bless in my role as a capitalist stooge but which seems self-defeating for a guy whose life’s work now is convincing people to cut back in the interests of defeating climate change. Exit question: Could this be part of his global warming message, actually? If the ice caps melt, the oceans will rise, and Arks will be at a premium…