You wouldn't need as much energy if your home was built better

All the talk about becoming more energy efficient doesn't seem to be filtering down to the home itself yet. What if I told you that the technology exists to construct a home that is so energy efficient that in the dead of winter, it would only need the heat from a hair dryer to maintain a comfortable temperature? Many days of the year, you can literally heat your home with just body heat. This is accomplished using a higher degree of insulation, ultra-efficient windows and a variety of passive heating technologies including solar and geothermal heating. This results in a reduction in energy required for heating by at least 75% to as much as 95%. This technology only adds 14% to the cost of the home's construction.

"In the United States, a house built to the Passive House standard results in a building that requires space heating energy of 1 BTU per square foot per heating degree day, compared with about 5 to 15 BTUs per square foot per heating degree day for a similar building built to meet the 2003 Model Energy Efficiency Code. This is between 75 and 95% less energy for space heating and cooling than current new buildings that meet today's US energy efficiency codes. The Passivhaus in the German-language camp of Waldsee, Minnesota uses 85% less energy than a house built to Minnesota building codes."

Developed in Germany, Passivhaus is a housing construction methodology that exists today. There are around 20,000 Passivhaus homes in the world. There should be much more. We could be saving literally tons of CO2 and oil / gas per home, never mind the energy cost savings.