Are Big Homes Bad For The Environment?

The most impactful thing that homeowners can do to use less energy and water in their homes is to rethink the size of the house they build and live in. Larger homes will require more energy to heat and cool, more light bulbs for illumination, more appliances, and more stuff to fill up the empty rooms. The average size of a new home in the UK is 76 square meters or about 818 square feet. However, in the United States, the average square footage for new single-family homes increased to 2,641 square feet in 2018 . Simultaneously, the average household size has dropped, resulting in the average living space per person doubling . Even with the latest technologies, the most energy-efficient building strategies and mechanical systems, and the best smart home systems, larger homes will inevitably require more energy and materials than their smaller counterparts. Returning to our comparison with the UK, the average monthly electricity use in the UK is only about 328 kWh (or 3,940 kWh per year ), while in the United States, that number is more than double at 877 kWh per month (or 10,649 kWh yearly ).

How Can Smart Technology Use at Home Reduce Energy?

A report titled " Strategies to Achieve Net Zero Homes " finds that smart technologies that help homeowners actively monitor their home energy performance are essential for lowering energy usage. Easy-to-understand energy-related information can help homeowners become "more motivated to achieve NZE ( net-zero energy homes ) and therefore are more involved in designing their NZE homes if relevant and understandable information and an accepted design process that encourages greater homeowner participation are available." In other words, what gets measured gets managed. Instead of rushing to buy the next smart home product that claims to help you reduce your energy usage, it is essential to take the time to learn how to use it. Not all smart technologies are necessary for every home. Homeowners need to distinguish between products that improve efficiency versus products that don't.

Can Human Behavior Reduce Energy Use?

Homeowners can learn to accept limits and boundaries to their consumption if they choose to. For instance, do you really need an electric can opener when a simple manual option can do the same thing, perhaps in less time? While it might be nice to wake up in the winter to a 75 degree home, might you be able to survive if you turned down the thermostat to 68 degrees? Limitations are often seen as negative in the American mindset and so can be hard to change. Often, people do not want to sacrifice comfort and convenience. However, we argue that sustainable investments in our homes can actually improve our comfort most of the time. The acceptance of limits and boundaries can go a long way towards saving resources. People who live in off-grid homes, for example, understand that the energy available to them through their solar panels or wind turbines is restricted. They then make behavioral changes that allow them to live within the scope of the available energy. Most homeowners will not live completely off-grid. But, this mentality of controlling and constraining our consumption is the most critical behavioral strategy for creating a more sustainable lifestyle.