[Bill55AZ]

Congress mandated cleaner burning engines, and look at the results. More power, better economy, and far less pollution.
Seems to me that now is a good time to mandate cleaner buildings.
Where I live in Utah the new houses being built are McMansions with mulitple AC units, too many windows facing east or west (where the "view" is) and big enough for 2 families to live in.
BUT, with all the money being spent, there is precious little being offered by contractors, utility companies, local government, etc. to educate the consumer on the many small things that can be done to make the house less of an energy hog.
How do we get the attention of politicians? They are the ones who can mandate new building codes, but unless you have lots of money, as the builders do, you won't get a politician to listen...
Anybody here ever get a politician to listen? about anything?

[jdumars]

BUT, with all the money being spent, there is precious little being offered by contractors, utility companies, local government, etc. to educate the consumer on the many small things that can be done to make the house less of an energy hog.
How do we get the attention of politicians? They are the ones who can mandate new building codes, but unless you have lots of money, as the builders do, you won't get a politician to listen...
Anybody here ever get a politician to listen? about anything?

I believe part of the problem is that there's already too much legislation and red tape involved with trying to be energy or environmentally conscious. Try building a cob house or humanure system or grid-independent house in a place with building codes -- places that purport to be environmentally aware like Portland or Seattle. The costs and approval process (if you can even GET an approval) are completely prohibitive. Just like everything else, you have to be wealthy in order to save money/energy. I appreciate the spirit of the codes and laws, but they have become a revenue stream and not a means to a better infrastructure.

By enacting even more mandates and legislation, I believe the opposite of the desired effect will occur.

[mos6507]

First step: outlaw homeowner's associations.

[alokin]

But.... a proper built house safes really a LOT of energy. I don't know building standards in the US, only from tales, but even in heating areas it seems that low energy double glazing is not mandatory.
The only have to copy there are good standards in Scandinavia, Switzerland and Germany.
However I don't know if these high-tech parts (like windows) can be replaced in future.
The easiest way to safe energy is: built small, heat little.

[MarkJ]

Since many homes and their construction/mechanical system features are custom, quality and efficiency is only limited by how much a customer is willing to spend.

This is more of human value issue than a quality and efficiency issue. Many homebuyers value location, school system, lot size, acreage, views, square footage, garages, decks, granite, marble, tile, hardwood, stainless, landscaping, interior/exterior aesthetics more than quality and efficiency.

Enforcement of professional licensing and codes is also problem in many regions of the country. Tougher building codes won't help if the codes aren't enforced or the developers, builders, general contractors, subcontractors, helpers and code enforcement officials aren't knowledgeable.

The way many homes are built - General Contractor and Lowest Bidding Subs, it's amazing that the quality isn't much worse. Many of the helpers of subcontractors doing the majority of the work have little or no experience in the construction field.

There are tons of homebuilder nightmare stories on the following site.

http://www.hobb.org/

[emersonbiggins]

First step: outlaw homeowner's associations.

^^^
what he said