The relationship between energy use and size of a home is hardly linear.<p>The area goes up by the power of two compared to circumference (which is what matters for heating&#x2F;cooling).<p>&gt; US homes have gotten huge — offsetting the gains from energy efficiency<p>Quite the opposite, I actually see the data in reverse - energy usage per square foot goes down BECAUSE houses are larger! Since energy usage is pretty much constant (per family), if you increase the size of the home your ratio looks much better.<p>They should actually measure energy per person to see if energy usage went down.<p>I suppose a second refrigerator would consume more energy but I don&#x27;t agree that a larger home and a second refrigerator necessarily go hand in hand.