It takes a group effort, that is becoming more evident yet not everyone is aware.
It will take a change in peoples lifestyle and habits, financing based on long term life time cost not present dollar risk, engineering and regulations based on latest materials and best construction practices.
Most of the modern construction practices are based on standardized materials and plans. Before that people built with local materials. Such as sod or packed earth houses where there are no trees.
Back then your had to cut wood with a hand saw and split it with a hand axe. People froze to death during the winter and so they wore sweaters and were much more conscious of their resources. Now days people just crank up the heat without a thought. They may even remotely fire up the heat before they get home. - There is an app for that.
On the good side, many places such as California are actually setting goals for net-zero energy homes. The reduced total cost of occupancy is becoming more attractive as energy cost keep going up.
I think it's so because changes are not accepted quickly by common people. People just move on with the existing resources, forgetting that the non-renewable resources are soon going to vanish. I suggest that we must go green and use renewable resources like solar energy system. Energy efficient houses will surely reduce the electricity bill and save the money.
Well everybody is into big even though they can't really afford the mortgages. Energy efficient houses tend to be smaller and they require extra investments for solar panels and you will likely still have the expense of a furnace because the sun isn't always shining.
You are absolutely right. More energy efficient houses can be built partially under ground, with windows facing south. A fried of mine built a dome shaped house partially underground and he saves a lot of energy cost.
Energy is still cheap enough that people weill just pay a higher bill rather than sink money into efficiency. And most newer houses ARE more energy efficient than older ones. Trouble is, most people live in existing houses.
DK
Money. It's because of money. Unfortunately not all eco friendly building supplies are at a competitive enough price from the originals, so the originals are chosen.
Plus it's hard to find honest, hard working builders, contractors, and architects.
In this recession money is hard to get,energy efficent housing costs more money.that people just doesn't have.so people will try and find the cheapest option not thinking of the planet as they can barely survive already.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
There is something really wrong with how houses are built today, especially in colder climates. This is not a technological challenge since we can easily build energy efficient houses and reinvent the wheel so to speak. Instead it is ignorance. It would make a lot more sense to have houses with big south facing windows, that are extremely well insulated and partly built into the ground since the ground will always be warmer throughout the winter, and cooler in summer. I am astounded that houses look almost the same as they did 100 years ago. In fact a lot of houses are built to even poorer standards than they were back then. If houses were simply built right my bet is you could probably reduce energy bills by 3/4ths. ie big windows, skylights partly sunken into the ground and solar panels.
