SUV HUMMER HOMES

Do you live in a SUV home ?

I wish they had rating like a vehicle with their mpg and pollution levels. I think many people live in an SUV type home and don't even realize it.

A friend recently wanted to put solar panels on his home. We checked and found he had very thin sigle pane windows. He also has 2x4 walls so there was only 3 1/2 of insulation and in the attic are almost no insulation. The duct work for the air conditioning was also very poor flex tubes.

His energy bills are high and we can see the reasons. He could add solar but the least cost items would be to get better duct work and an efficient heat pump.
Then add lost of attic insulation. Also put a new layer of foam insualtion board on the outside walls to add more insulation.
Last replace the windows with double pane with non conductive frames , reflective convering or awnings on the sunny side.

Then a solar PV system could make a real difference.

Many people in our area are building new 5,000 + sq ft homes for 2 retired people. Why so big ?
They also build with materials that out gas toxic fumes.

If I was building new today I'd build a small zero energy home. It will save energy and money for years to come. It's only 5-15% more to make it super efficient. That is money well invested.

What have you done to make your home less toxic or more efficient ?