House #1

House #1 - A 20 room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool, and a pool house, and a separate guest house, all heated by gas.

• In one month this residence consumes more energy than the average American household does in a year.
• The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2,400 per month.
• In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home.
• This house is not situated in a Northern or Midwestern "snow belt" area. It's in the South.

House #2

House #2 - Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university.

• This house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction can provide. The house is 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on a high prairie in the American southwest.
• A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat-pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F) heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer.
• The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system.
• Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern.
• Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house.
• Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.

House #1 is outside of Nashville, Tennessee.
It is the abode of the so-called "environmentalist" Al Gore.

House #2 is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas.
It is the residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.