Second Home Green?

I was drawn to this headline in the New York Times laying on a coffee shop table: Second Homes That Put Ecology First.

*scratch scratch*

Ok, it's beautiful that wealthy people are embracing the virtues of eco-friendly sustainable design, I'm touched. But does an energy-neutral home make up for the fact that it's a second home, which may stand vacant for nine months of the year? How about having one and attending to its green-ness? Granted, this is New York, where having an apartment in the city, a summer home in the Hamptons, a ranch in Putnam county, and a bungalow in Tahiti seems to be fairly normal, but this is also a place where we consider $850/month for rent to be cheap. National perspective, please.

My favorite quote from the article, by a Mr. Messerschmidt, green second-home owner: "...And I can't afford to buy a hybrid car."

Dude, you just built a second home. Let's think about this...

Ok, ok, I'm probably being a little too harsh. I should applaud the conscientious efforts of these eco-vanguardians. After all, they could be building 50,000 square foot, coal-heated, teak-facade, poorly-insulated mansions instead of 450 square foot, salvaged-lumber, grey-water-recovery, solar-heated retreats. Still, something stinks.