Sustainable living is not only a growing business and news trend, it is also the direction home design and construction must move towards as valuable, limited resources become increasingly sparse for our growing population. Energy efficiency in the home building industry will remain the focus of some progressive, forward thinking companies, but not all of them. But when will this focus on efficient design become a commonplace reality of modern home design? The conservation of energy, as part of the design process itself, is not the main focus or even a standard practice in the site built home construction industry or in the manufactured, modular and pre-fabricated home industries. Comparing these two categories of home building, I am confident that if the average consumer compared major site built home companies to the high-end factory built home builders, their ultimate conclusion would be that the factory built home builders put more emphasis on energy efficient design, and have a much more inherently efficient building process, than their site built counterparts. If the future of home construction will be heavily influenced by efficient design, why, then, aren’t more site built and factory built home construction companies currently working towards this end?

There are three main reasons why more homebuilders, factory built or otherwise, are not working swiftly towards energy efficient design within every home they build. These reasons are: first, the cost of new design plans that are energy efficient is greater than sticking to standard practices; second, many of these homebuilders do not have the technical aptitude or interest to undertake energy efficient design, and lastly, consumer demand has not reached a fever pitch. As a homebuilder, it takes serious commitment of financial and human resources to develop a new product line or commit a company completely towards green design. Those in charge of making these financial decisions must determine if their new energy efficient design will easily fit within the framework of existing building codes. They must also consider whether or not the commitment to energy efficient design will be rewarded by a consumer base willing to pay for an extremely efficient home. Consumer demand, therefore, is extraordinarily important in making these decisions. » Read more: Is Energy Efficient Design Really Just a Fad?