Size Does Matter
October 21, 2010
If you’re generally concerned about your energy consumption, and are looking to buy, build or rent a home, there’s just one thing that really matters if you want to do it green: size. You cannot buy, build, rent, or otherwise occupy a house that’s too big for your needs and be green. Period. A little history: The average size (in square feet) of today’s American home is roughly double that of a 1950s home. Double! And there are fewer people living in those homes, because there are fewer babies born to the people living in them. Based on census data, one study estimates that the average amount of space in a home, per person, used to be about 214 ft. It’s now around 770! This is an incredible, unnecessary explosion in the amount of space the average American takes up! That’s some context. Now here’s why you’ve got to buy, build or rent a place that’s the size you need and not what you want or think you need.
1. Big homes waste energy. You’re likely going to have to heat and cool the whole house most of the year, but you can only physically be in so many rooms at one time. It’s very likely that the more space you have, the more space you don’t regularly occupy. All that space wastes energy if it’s heated or cooled, or not hermetically sealed from the rest of the house!
2. Be competitive. New energy codes are popping up all over the country, with Washington state leading the way. Soon new rules take effect that tighten up energy codes over time. Beginning in 2013, all new construction in Washington will have to meet code that will, by 2031, be designed to make buildings 70% more efficient than today’s new buildings. If your home is right-sized when you go to sell, it will compete better with the other, new energy-conserving abodes on the market.
3. House or condo? Reconsider your desire for a stand-alone home. On average, people who live in a stand-alone house and drive a non-fuel efficient car consume three times more energy than those of us living in condos or apartments and driving smaller cars. Shared walls and roofs really cut down on energy use AND energy bills. Buying smaller puts money in your pocket for the duration of your ownership! (See Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees. 1996. Our Ecological Footprint. Philadelphia PA: New Society Publishers).
4. Get certified green! A smaller house makes LEED certification easier. LEED for Homes allows for a favorable score adjustment if you build a home that’s smaller than the American average.
5. A life of impact. Consider lifecycle costs, not just the first, monetary cost of buying. The smaller the dwelling, the lower its embodied energy, and the lower its impact on our environment and society. Embodied energy is all the energy that went into the building-from cutting down the trees for lumber, to the fuel used by the trucks transport materials, to the energy it took to create the paint. Procuring all that stuff does a lot of environmental harm. Well, those are some of the hard facts about home-sweet-home, folks. Be excited for your next move or home purchase, but remember, size matters
