[falser]

Free, the US is way too deep into a housing bubble to start advertising numbers like that. It would put McMansion homebuilders out of business, and drop values of homes, economic chaos, cats and dogs living together. Won't happen. Maybe in 5 years when everybody realizes that a 4000sft home isn't practical.

[Free]

Well I thought you are a free country with free advertising?

So if I am building super efficient, energy saving homes who can tell me I can't advertise like this? Look, here we have the "Prius" of the houses with and mpg of such and such, compared to a Hummer! Buy now and save tons of money!

Hey, you guys are supposed to be the masters of capitalism, start advertising!

[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Free', 'W')e all know we can easily compare the efficiency of cars with the "mpg" number. How about something like that for houses?

That's exactly what will be mandatory here starting next year, if you sell a house you have to give this number, which is calculated like this:

Kwh / m^2 in one year for heating. A normal value for a new building would be between 60-80, for an old building it should be smaller than 200.

[Free]

No sorry I didn't make this clear: kWh means kilowatt hour (I think?) and is a unit to generally measure energy. Also, but not only electricity. (although this is where we see it most often, because it is measured like that - but it's not practical to say: "Give me 10 kWh of wood please").

For example the energy containment of wood pellets (when burned for heating) is about 4,9 kWh/kg.

You can look up the kWh for all kinds of heating.

[sventvkg]

no end in sight here in NJ that I can see..I work in their yards everyday and I can tell you the gross waste across the board from these people who live in the McMansions is sickening....The people around here have so much money that they think nothing of $3 a gallon gasoline in their huge BMW's with a 6-10K square ft. energy hog of a house..The laugh at it all as the droves of landscapers sculpt their huge yards day in and day out.

[glug_glug]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sventvkg', 'n')o end in sight here in NJ that I can see..I work in their yards everyday and I can tell you the gross waste across the board from these people who live in the McMansions is sickening....The people around here have so much money that they think nothing of $3 a gallon gasoline in their huge BMW's with a 6-10K square ft. energy hog of a house..The laugh at it all as the droves of landscapers sculpt their huge yards day in and day out.

[Revi]

I totally agree with Free. Why not have a rating, like with a car's mpg? A house that gets signifigantly lower "mpg" could use that as a selling point. There was an article in the most recent Realtor magazine saying that "green" houses sell for more now. There's also the style issue. We went on a tour of solar houses around here and I've got to say that they were very cool. Just like it's now cool to drive a prius, the smaller, efficient house is coming into vogue.

[emersonbiggins]

There is a system in place to demonstrate how 'green' a building is, which (of course) includes per capita energy usage.
It is known as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which covers most construction types nowadays. It is an initiative of the U.S. Green Building Council and is highly respected in both green and architectural circles.
Buildings are rated ("silver", "gold", etc.) according to a punchlist of design items integrated within the design of that building.

Visit their website.

[glug_glug]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'T')here is a system in place to demonstrate how 'green' a building is, which (of course) includes per capita energy usage.
It is known as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which covers most construction types nowadays. It is an initiative of the U.S. Green Building Council and is highly respected in both green and architectural circles.
Buildings are rated ("silver", "gold", etc.) according to a punchlist of design items integrated within the design of that building.

Visit their website.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('glug_glug', '
')Seems like that would produce more meaningful numbers than just a rating. Of course there is the problem of taking the buildings intrinsic energy saving qualities (insulation, windows, size, etc) into account which this scheme doesn't address...

[emersonbiggins]

*pd*

[emersonbiggins]

Hilarious house-flipping game on eBaum's World - interesting corollary between a fun game and the actual real estate market...
Enjoy!



Mansion Impossible

[falser]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '[')url=http://www.ebaumsworld.com/games/mansionimpossible.html]Mansion Impossible[/url]

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('falser', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '[')url=http://www.ebaumsworld.com/games/mansionimpossible.html]Mansion Impossible[/url]

[elroy]

I looked up some numbers and found out the average home here is somewhere between 90-120 square meters, round and about 1000 square feet. To hear of these behemoths of 3500-6000 square feet houses.. well it's no wonder americans are so spoiled. And a thousand dollars a month just for AC ? That's insanity.

[gg3]

I'm with you, elroy.

Something I realized today about the whole real estate bubble:

Real estate going up like crazy enabled people to borrow against the supposed value of their houses. This in turn provided them with the illusion of an increasing lifestyle, and bought off discontent that would otherwise have occurred due to the complete stagnation of wages & salaries.

In other words, peoples' real incomes didn't go anywhere, but they were able to increase their lifestyles by going into debt, so they didn't feel as if they were getting screwed. But in fact they were getting screwed frontside and backside: by the wage stagnation, and by the debt.

And now all of that is about to come crashing down. At the same time as the present Administration is taking a big hit, and the whole neocon thing along with it. You can guess where that's going...

[EnemyCombatant]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '"')The last official act of any government is to loot the nation!"
-- Michael Rivero
WhatREALLYhappened.com

[GrizzAdams]

Time to go underground. Well not literally, but earth sheltered homes, are the only option I see for a sustainable future. Unless a lucky individual happens to live in a more forgiving enviroment. Then one might be able to consider other practical options.

[Revi]

I agree with Grizz. the house of the future is an earth bermed, solar and wood heated house that you would never know is there unless you saw the entrance. Like the hobbit's houses in the shire.

[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')url=http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/11/04/amid_housing_boom_log_cabins_sales_grow/]Amid housing boom, log cabins sales grow (link)[/url]
By Laura Zuckerman | November 4, 2005:
...skip... Today's log homes bear little resemblance to the snug cabins of yesteryear. The average size is about 2,500 square feet but the nation's 640 log-home producers also offer multi-level models that range upwards of 7,000 square feet and feature six or more bedrooms, vaulted ceilings and towering windows. ...skip...