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> Are we going to bulldoze all existing houses to meet this goal? Nah, we can retrofit. There are more efficient means of heating/cooling, like mini-splits and
by 0xbadcafebee 4y ago
> Are we going to bulldoze all existing houses to meet this goal?
Nah, we can retrofit. There are more efficient means of heating/cooling, like mini-splits and heat pumps, insulation, geothermal, etc. With more local and energy-efficient methods (and better insulation) we can get much better efficiencies.
Back in the day, for heating you would have one or two fireplaces. The home was configured so that rooms would get progressively colder away from the heat source. You wouldn't heat the whole home, just one or two rooms, unless there was a special occasion, and then you'd open all the doors. For passive cooling, house facing was critical, as were ventilation, cross-breezes, and later on fans. Homes located in places with extreme temperature shifts were designed to open or close up more or less over the seasons, although they were never "efficient" as they often had no insulation.
- Steltek 4y agoThe best retrofit would be splitting those mega homes into multiple units. We have a housing crisis after all. I can't even imagine what a 4000sq ft home looks like. You would start using olde timey names for random rooms. "This is the Conservatory, where we keep our 4th xbox, just in case".
- bombcar 4y agoHere is a random one: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/339-County-Road-4315-Naples-TX-75568/235164834_zpid/ https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/339-County-Road-4315-Napl... Often the newer ones have large amounts of "waste space" where hallways are larger, entryways are larger, rooms of course are larger.
- danans 4y ago> Often the newer ones have large amounts of "waste space" where hallways are larger, entryways are larger, rooms of course are larger. That house seems to have been built in 1971. In contrast, here is a brand new home in the same city that is only 1200 sqft. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/154-Lt-Rusty-Dr-Naples-TX-75568/2062415557_zpid/ https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/154-Lt-Rusty-Dr-Naples-TX...? It seems like someone is building sensibly sized homes there, however rare.
- bombcar 4y agoYeah, the "newer ones" refers to the general trend of McMansions to expand in size even though not much else changes. Square feet is such a bad measurement of a house, but it's easy to measure and state so it continues unabated. You also have weird economies of scale where the first 1k sq ft of a house is much more expensive than the second 1k, and that continues basically until you're forced to use other construction methods (steel, for example).