This happens to be my field.
We know exactly how to build better buildings.
They would cost more, which means you would have a smaller house for the same money.
Guess what? The customer doesn't want a "better" house, he wants a bigger house.
Free market and all that.
The customer is an idiot, IMHO, but as they say, he is always right.
You got that right - and here's Gore and his gang forcing CFL light bulbs on us (super toxic waste product = mercury vapor) to 'save energy' - but I hear no one saying to build houses a bit smaller! That would save tons of energy - I'd rather have a small, well built house with a smaller mortgage, less taxes, smaller energy bills, etc -
My house is a 'daylight' basement, considered a 1,000 sq ft house - but I have two south facing rooms in the basement - one 24' long - facing the south with 4' windows.
That gives me 4 bedrooms - or as I'm using them, 3 bedrooms and an office/studio...1 and a half baths - on an acre and a half of forest land.
There aren't many people who need more than that.
As for saving energy - switching light bulbs is one of the least ways to save energy = just assigning each person a 'personal' bath towel that they must use more than once before tossing on the floor for rewash/dry would save more...hanging out wash in good weather, cooking a double amount - cook once/eat twice, etc etc - lots of easy ways energy can be saved WITHOUT the government dictating what we do in our own homes.
(Hey, Gore, did you leave to pool lights on at your 26,000 sq ft mansion when you and 10,000 of your GW buddies flew in private jets to Bali? And how much energy was used for hotels, meals, rooms, rented cars?
Why didn't you come up to Maine. What's that? It's record cold up here - and an unusal deep snow storm?
Oh right, you still remember that GW conference you scheduled in , was it NYC, a coupla years ago = the one that had to be canceled due to a blizzard and record cold???
Liar liar, pants on fire...