Another thought:

Behavior trumps virtue signaling. If you choose to be efficient, you will, even in less than ideal circumstances. 

This calls to mind the video from the old Top Gear where Clarkson drove the piss out of a Prius and then dawdle around the track at the same average speed in a BMW. Beating on the Prius yielded a worse average fuel consumption than just driving well under the performance envelope of the BMW. 

I find myself doing these calculation often in my own living situation, especially since I want to be able to sustain living off-grid for a while.  

 And we can't forget that the more-efficient homes have spent energy in the renovations and building materials. And they tend to be larger, overall. I know people moving out of 150 m² homes into custom-built 350 m² and bragging about the energy efficiency. 😂

Remember Al Gore, with his environmentally-friendly mega mansion? 

 And they don't last as long and are very likely not as healthy with soy-based foams and awful particulates and other gross VOCs from the insulators and treated woods. 

My home will be built with none of that.