Our solution for housing is Home Retrofitting, a plan to make improvements in the energy efficiency of existing residential homes to reduce energy consumption and increasing energy costs to operate buildings. With more than 20% of America’s energy used to operate its 100 million existing residences, retrofitting is a critical strategy to conserve energy.

The "Green Building" movement in this country has had minimal effect on the consumption of energy in buildings. Green building councils and similarly named groups abound but have had only limited impact on actual construction practices. The LEEDS certification program for commercial buildings has made only marginal progress and its parent organization has acknowledged that its position on energy consumption has not been a strong defining one. Green committees in home building organizations have focused mostly on new building; few are looking at the existing building problem. New green or energy-efficient buildings are being construction in the thousands per year, small numbers when compared to the 1.6 million new homes built yearly. In 2005 the National Association of Home Builders defeated a proposal to make the minimum thickness framing of walls 5 ½ inches versus the current standard of 3 ½ inches. The building industry has not yet realized the magnitude of the energy and CO2 problem.

The average home lasts 75 years. Homes being built today will still be in use after all oil has been used and possibly all natural gas. Thus the problem facing society is not so much changing current codes and practices for new construction but how to deal with the energy inefficient homes built in the last 75 years.

Home Retrofitting would focus on making the changes with the greatest energy savings and least cost such as window coverings and/or replacements, finding and fixing leaks, and adding insulation. All changes are based upon an assessment of the home, and may include:
• Installing insulated window coverings (interior or exterior) to reduce heat loss at night
• Installing new heating systems utilizing a point heat source (rather than forced air)
• Double framing exterior walls to increase R–factor
• Replacing appliances with more efficient versions, such as thick-wall, SunFrost type, refrigerators and freezers as well as smaller appliances.

The reduced energy use would conserve scarce resources, an important priority in the post-peak oil world, so the project would produce more benefits than costs over the long term. An initial specification is currently being developed as well as preliminary research into home energy efficiency retrofitting.

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