Paul's Passive House 1950's Retrofit Ep. 15: European Edition

[@BlackOTR1]

I know change will take time, probably a century 🤣. I like to think the USA is moving in the right direction 😁. I generally think the cost of housing will push the housing markets into the passive area/high performance as well as home battery back up needs, due to rising power usage. Matt Risinger (Build Show) is a great example of this, in the custom home building sector. As well as, Steve Baczek, Jake Bruton, Corbett Lunsford (Home Performance) and more. I hope things get better for the future 🤷🏿‍♂.

[@EarSeduction]

@@BlackOTR1 You are more optimistic than I am for sure. Those guys you listed are great builders but they are not building houses for average people. They are million dollar homes for millionaires. Even the budget builders are building bigger homes and selling at higher prices because they make more money per house. That century comment was genuine. If you compare us to Europe, the difference is so huge it’s hard to comprehend.

[@iOsasu14]

The last point about no one caring really hit home. I’m born and raised in NYC, but I grew up in a more suburban, car-dependent part of Queens with limited transit options. Anytime I suggest expanding transit, adding light densification, moving building codes closer to passive house, or promoting mixed-use development, most of my family and friends look at me like I’m crazy 😂. It’s wild how other countries have smart, efficient ways of designing cities, yet we keep repeating the same mistakes over and over agin, WILLINGLY! I blame American exceptionalism, it blinds so many people from even considering alternatives. Anything different automatically gets uncritically branded as "un-American".

[@EarSeduction]

@@iOsasu14 I’m sorry that you’re having that experience. It’s so frustrating having to deal with people that just don’t get it. BTW, I love Queens! I try to visit there every year. It’s my favorite place in the US. If all goes well I’ll be moving there in the next few years.

[@db5250]

Nailed it, just like Paul did in this video. There is some more mixed use in areas of my state, but with that comes exuberant pricing that few can afford, or worse yet out of country investors snatch up those live-in-units and let them sit unoccupied, or rent them out at even higher prices... so the locals aren't even living in them. I get the same odd looks when I go down a rabbit hole talking about how I want to build or enlist a builder who gets it for my next house. Yeah, it's more expensive but why wouldn't everyone want to push for a better, healthier, and less expensive-to-live-in house. Yeah, I want the break even / return / or cost to not take 20 years to get to, but a better informed public helps get us there quicker. Apparently getting an energy audit in your new-to-you home is so rare for some realtors they let you know you're the only person they've ever known to get one, even with a decade of experience under their belt.