Comment by kleiba

Interesting article. However, there's one aspect that I find a bit puzzling. I currently live in Germany and Adams' summary of tips how to build a greener house is pretty much a description of how houses have been built here for ages. I mean - the regular houses, not the ones considered particularly green. The general topic seems to be very big in this country, and apparently caters to a huge market. Almost everybody building a new house these days, not only the Earth savers, is trying to implement as many energy efficient measures as possible - that's because Germany, unlike California, is not a very warm place and to save on heating costs means to save big time. I don't actually know what it means, but the term "zero energy house" is a marketing term you see a lot here. Solar energy in private homes is heavily subsidized, too. And Germans don't move as much as Americans, they tend to build their houses to settle and grow old in them, so sustainability is a logical value.