In 1950, the average new house size was about 1,000 sq.ft.  Now it is about 2,400 sq.ft.  Over the same period, the average family size has dropped from 3.7 to 2.6 people.  Thus, the house-area per person has increased more than three-fold.

Style changes have raised the average ceiling height and added more windows, further increasing energy consumption.  Although double-pane, glazed windows and better insulation has enabled newer large homes to be more efficiently heated, energy consumption per person for housing continues to rise.

The first energy-saving step is to reduce your personal heated (or cooled) space.  Like food (eat less) and cars (drive smaller cars shorter distances and share vehicles), living in a smaller space is not necessarily easy given our propensity to consume.

Here’s some interesting links:

• 8 Reasons Why Smaller Houses are Better
• Live Simply in a Tiny House
• Living in Small Houses