The fetishization of &quot;energy efficiency&quot; in this context is weird, like the old joke about a machine whose only specification is that it should run noiselessly. Houses don&#x27;t exist to be energy efficient; they exist so that people can live in them. If those people want big houses and can pay for them -- as well as the additional energy they require to operate, of course -- why shouldn&#x27;t they have them?<p>If there&#x27;s an argument here at all it&#x27;s for having energy prices take into account whatever externality Vox is specifically concerned about, not for forcing people to live in smaller homes.