> One of the things that has puzzled me for a long time is how little thought we have applied over time towards designing and building better homes. We have th

> One of the things that has puzzled me for a long time is how little thought we have applied over time towards designing and building better homes. We have thought a lot, but the reality is that the market, which we rely on to drive how things like houses are built, has shown that regardless of what they say, people ultimately value a 5th bathroom more than they value energy or water efficiency. The only way to ensure broad efficiency is by raising building codes - which has happened a bit - but raising them to a level that actually can help mitigate climate change faces stiff resistance from the mass production building industry, whose business model is based on building disposable, inefficient housing, and the homebuyers who want both cheap and large homes.