That net zero passive house, euro spec, Swiss German style, beyond step code type of housing is only ‘marginally’ higher cost than conventional housing. The reality is a lot of these projects are unlimited cost art projects, or secondary vacation homes for warehousing wealth and only inhabited for a few weeks of the year while the owner visits exotic markets like Whistler or Aspen. The massive embodied energy involved in fabricating the components brought to site from foreign lands is unlikely to be factored into the environmental equation. Some of these projects will feature kitchens that cost as much as entire homes elsewhere in lower cost communities. These homes are the equivalent to a Ferrari with an added battery pack so they can use less gas yet offer the same performance as an older gas guzzling model. The green features incorporated are as much egotistical hubris to compensate for the true impact of building somebodies third vacation home as a meaningful demonstration of decarbonizing housing. This type of work has almost no commonality with conventional budget based housing to supply to the broader society, it is much closer to commercial construction found on a publicly funded institution like a research lab or art museum. The wages and consultant expense to design and execute these homes can exceed $1000 per square foot, and only the finest and best available craftspeople can attempt them. This offers very little as scalable lesson to the broader housing industry.
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