Editor's note: Our friends at Ecotality found out the meaning of "mixed blessing" today: this post we're republishing was picked up by the Drudge Report, and the ensuing traffic crashed their blog. We wish them best of luck in getting back on track…

by Ecotality blogger Bill Hobbs

Sign seen in front of Al Gore's mansion in the posh Belle Meade section of Nashville Thursday, indicating Gore is moving forward with plans for solar panels to help power his mansion. Here's a link to the the Belle Meade Board of Zoning Appeals meeting agenda - there are no details on the size of the solar panels, how much power they'll generate, or whether or not they'll be tied into the grid via a "net metering" arrangement so Gore can sell excess power to the grid through a "net metering" arrangement.

Tennessee is not a mandatory "net metering" state, though the local electric utility that serves Gore's house does offer the option for customers who generate their own power. But Nashville Electric Service does offer the Tennessee Valley Authority's "Generation Partners" program, which purchases customer-generated power from solar panels or wind turbines at a rate of 15 cents per kilowatt hour.

No word on whether Gore himself will be at the zoning board meeting to make the case for why he should be allowed to put solar panels on his house.

I've given Gore a lot of well-deserved grief - on this blog over his use of "carbon offsets" to present himself as "carbon neutral" even as he continues to consume large quantities of carbon-based energy, but he deserves praise for trying now to "walk the walk" and live the way he has long urged others to live in terms of using clean, renewable energy.