American Republic Online

There has been a recent hullabaloo about Gore’s “carbon footprint.”  You see, his 10,000 square foot mansion in Nashville uses more power in a month than most homes use in a year: his monthly electric bill is about $1,359 (add another $1,080 per month for gas).  He is paying for this indulgence, though: he buys blocks of green power from the local energy company, is having solar panels installed, and drives a Lexus hybrid SUV.

However, a little less known, are facts about George Bush’s home in Crawford:

Is it possible that George Bush is a secret Green? Evidently his Crawford Winter White House has 25,000 gallons of rainwater storage, gray water collection from sinks and showers for irrigation, passive solar, geothermal heating and cooling. “By marketplace standards, the house is startlingly small,” says David Heymann, the architect of the 4,000-square-foot home. “Clients of similar ilk are building 16-to-20,000-square-foot houses.” Furthermore for thermal mass the walls are clad in “discards of a local stone called Leuders limestone, which is quarried in the area. The 12-to-18-inch-thick stone has a mix of colors on the top and bottom, with a cream- colored center that most people want. “They cut the top and bottom of it off because nobody really wants it,” Heymann says. “So we bought all this throwaway stone. It’s fabulous. It’s got great color and it is relatively inexpensive.” 

(Just look at the contrast in pictures of their homes: Gore and Bush.)