Green Wombat

Home may be where the hearth is but it’s also where 17 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are generated in the United States, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. So depending on your perspective, it’s either heartening or appalling that just 12 percent of new single-family homes built in the United States in 2006 qualified for the EPA’s Energy Star high efficiency designation. The 200,000 homes winning the Energy Star rating last year are 20 percent to 30 percent more efficient than standard dwellings. That brings the total Energy Star homes in the U.S. to about 750,000. The states with the most Energy Star homes are Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Vermont. The EPA’s report does not indicate the average size of an Energy Star house but as the 3,000-square-foot McMansion becomes the tract home of the 21st century, the housing obsesity crisis will continue to blunt efforts at energy efficiency. After all, installing a high-efficiency air conditioner tends to lose its impact if you need two of them to cool your abode.