> we - all of us - will continue to invent new demands for energy and continue to trend towards more energy used per person per unit time.

I'm personally in the process of designing my house and I'm going for maximal energy efficiency: 38cm thick brick walls + 20cm thick rock wool insulation, basic rectangular shape, 80% of the windows to the south, triple pane, heat recovery unit coupled with a air/earth heat exchanger to avoid needing a resistance to pre warm the air in winter, heat pump water heater, catalytic wood stove

Although I would agree that overall people don't give a shit and I probably am in the minority