"How much house can the planet afford?"
In Common Dreams, Stan Cox reports that construction of homes of 3,000 square feet or more continues to grow, even as family sizes continue to shrink.
Aesthetics aside, these homes generate tons of carbon dioxide in their manufacture and materials transportation, cause damage to ecosystems by requiring massive amounts of lumber, and require huge amounts of energy to heat and cool.
Even "eco-fitting" a 3,000-square-foot house doesn't necessarily make it eco-friendly - a 2005 analysis in the Journal of Industrial Ecology concluded that one of these homes, even if rated as super-efficient, consumes 50 percent more energy that a 1,500-square-foot house built only to mediocre energy standards.
Cox compares these super-sized homes to SUVs: Though sales of SUVs have ebbed, millions will remain in use for years to come.
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3 comments:
Interesting article. You would assume that this trend would reverse as the cost of natural resources and materials rise, but with homes as a main conveyor of obvious status, large homes will probably be around for quite a long time.
In the documentary "End of Surburbia" one of the commenters predicts that post peak-oil, it will not be uncommon for more than one family to live together in a McMansion. I have a harder time with that one, but in any case, his point is made.
Small is bold and large is over-compensating for something else ;)
I don't have a problem with people spending/wasting their money on huge mansions, but they give up their right to complain about energy costs.
I honestly hope that energy costs continue to soar so that people are forced to start thinking intelligently about their home choices. I also feel that its a two part problem. There are two types of people who buy homes like this...1. People who are ignorant and don't know any better and 2. People who don't care and just want to live life like pompous fat kings.
It still amazes me that even in the face of $3.50/gal gas people are still driving and buying new trucks, suvs, and other gas guzzling cars. If they're stupid enough to do that, then they are certainly stupid enough to buy homes that large and inefficient.
The "american dream" is dying I believe, but it is so thoroughly branded into the minds of so many brainwashed americans that its going to take decades for national changes to really take shape.
Thankfully I see more and more young people (defined roughly as 20 somethings and younger) who are starting to take more interest in urban and green lifestyles and less interest in following in their parents footsteps and settling for suburbia. I'm just hoping this trend continues to increase.
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