A tangential item of note that’s come up a few times is that the size of the average American home is on the rise — in fact, up almost 30% since 1970. And that’s averages — new homes are up 60% compared to the early 70s. One interesting side effect of this is that we’ve effectively wiped out all of the energy gains we’ve gotten from more efficient appliances, insulation, etc… However, Vox has an interesting take on this. It turns out, there are other factors at play, as well.
