Europe Way Ahead in Terms of Green Building

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=europe-shows-the-way-to-energy-effi-2010-01

"Europeans now have half the carbon footprint of Americans, so we can learn how it’s done from them. It won’t kill us to get our energy from renewables and efficiency. It might even be quite pleasant"

So, what is the reason for this gap between the EU and the U.S.? It might have something to do with certain standards being implemented in Europe, such as feed-in-tariffs paying homeowners to install solar panels on their roof (Germany and Spain), using triple-glazed windows as standard in the building code (Norway and Sweden), and developing an energy efficiency standard where a net-zero house is required (Germany's PassivHaus standard).

Obama's "Cash for Caulkers" program is a start, but more inventive standards is needed, to catch up to our European counterparts.