We must continually work to make more energy efficient housing. There is virtually no one who disagrees with such a worthy goal. The question becomes; how will we be able to take the next giant leap forward, while maintaining the incremental gains in energy efficient housing. The only way to propel such technologies is to experiment and adapt with new prototypes.

Perhaps what we ought to do is to fund new innovative ideas and concepts. Allow people to submit proposals for new energy efficient home designs for funding with the stipulation that they will do a continuous study for five years on the energy efficiency of the home. These people will live in the home and use it, as they normally would, yet constantly audit their energy usage.

The auditing should be done by the family for the first two years and then by an outside third part energy auditor the next three. This does a couple of things. First, the family learns how to live more efficiently. Second, their normal new lifestyle and usage will be documented for research purposes, giving us a better idea of how such technologies will save money and energy in the future.

Surely, the goal here is not to provide housing, but rather to study alternative energy efficiencies. Those people will not necessarily be getting a free house, rather they will become test subjects from human housing and the future of alternative energy efficiencies. In the last housing boom many homes were slapped together and few had energy efficient materials, this was to save money on the cost to build them - indeed those in the home will be paying for that for years to come.

The Energy Efficient Home and Why You Should Have One

It makes sense to have an energy efficient home and to use solar power if possible. The Earth only gets about 2 Billionth of the energy of the Sun, but that is enough to divide amongst all the homes on the surface of the planet. It is wise for people to get an energy audit, perhaps some infrared photos to see where they are wasting energy. Solar Chimneys are another good idea.

Most of all people need to get into the habit of efficiency and not wasting anything. We need folks to participate in recycling and solar power in the home. Indeed, those who partake in smarter energy solutions for their home will be thinking about other environmental issues too, which our Online Think Tank was recently reminded of. That is a good call indeed, good point.

Of course with any great energy source there are always drawbacks. For instance we are concerned with the batteries that will be needed for solar cell energy storage and where will all those batteries end up? In the bottom of the ocean, I hope not.

There are many ways we can reduce our pollution signatures, how about: "Ocean Wave Energy" and what is your take on Nuclear Energy? Hydro-electric is problematic in some places due to droughts, for instance in Australia.

Perhaps if everyone does their part and we could indeed see some progress and really we have, even corporations and businesses are thinking about energy efficient buildings. There are a lot of interesting "Green Roof Top" initiatives, I believe it will very much help in Urban Heat, rooftops make up a large area in cities. Efficient energy starts at home, so please do your part okay?