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Good Green Homes: Size Matters


Built-in storage uses space efficiently without increasing a home’s square footage.
Our houses are bulking up. In 1970, the average new U.S. home was about 1,500 square feet. By 2001, it had grown to more than 2,300 square feet, even as the average number of people per household continued to shrink. Even manufactured houses-once known as mobile homes-are joining the bigger-is-better game, with the occasional triple-wide exceeding 3,000 square feet! Call them what you will -- McMansions, trophy houses, monster homes, starter castles, muscle houses-very large homes have become a formidable trend in home building today. They offer specialized single-use spaces that pile on the square footage: en suite bathrooms for every bedroom; master suites with wet bars, refrigerators, and cappuccino machines; butler's pantries, home theaters; exercise rooms; meditation spaces; gift-wrapping rooms. Where do we draw the line from an environmental perspective? Can a 12,000-square foot home ever be considered green? How about 5,000 square feet, or 4,000?


These excerpts were reproduced with permission from Good Green Homes by Jennifer Roberts:

  1. Seven paths to a good green home
  2. Size Matters
  3. Right-sized Living

You can buy the whole book from the Oikos Bookstore.

Green building guidelines usually start with the premise that smaller is better. Sounds reasonable, but isn't there something about this principle that rankles just a bit? Could it be that “small” evokes images of cramped office cubicles, closet-sized Manhattan apartments, and airline seats with too little leg room? And who decides how small a home should be? Are we going to legislate the amount of square feet each person is entitled to, or place a luxury tax on homes over a certain size, or require people with unused bedrooms to take in boarders?

Perhaps it won't come to that, thanks to growing awareness of the benefits of homes designed to a more livable size. Compared to very large homes, smaller homes are typically gentler on the environment and on the people who live in them. They require fewer materials to build, create less waste during construction, and eat up less land. They are easier and less expensive to heat, cool, furnish, clean, and maintain. Whether you're renting, buying, or building a home, consider how much space you really need. You may be surprised by how little your home's square footage has to do with the things that really make you happy. Is it truly more and bigger rooms you're longing for or do you desire a different kind of home -- a home that expresses your values, a home with heart?

More Good Green Homes: Right-sized living >>
 
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