This might be a bit controversial. But it’s a bit revolting that USians do not generally even know what a passive house is. I asked an award winning real estate agent if they had ever bought, sold, or even encountered a passive house. I then had to explain what a passive house is. The realtor said: no, I don’t think a single passive house exists in the state.
That was around 2022. The US does quite poorly on the GHG footprint per capita. And embarrassing that it does so poorly despite its wealth. There is also a massive trend of working from home. Which means instead of heating one insulated building with 1000 people we are heating 1000 separate buildings many of which are not insulated.
So new rule: every new build must be a passive build.
There is a housing shortage in the US right now with prices out of control. This means we can probably expect lots of building projects in the near future. It’s important that new builds be energy conserving. A passive house is also more costly, but the increase of housing supply will still lower housing costs overall anyway.
BTW, IIRC some more forward thinking countries already have a passive house mandate in place.
(update) I guess the housing shortage calls for motivation to build new homes. So:
Amendment: if you earn more than double the per capita income, you must pay double the property tax for any non-passive house you both own and live in. Don’t like it? Go build a passive house so your non-passive house can become affordable housing.