It's a constant 50-55deg under ground. Berm houses, geo-heat exchange loops, thermal mass sinks, etc.. are all sources of free heat that can be incorporated into existing designs.
Check out
www.ourcoolhouse.com and
http://www.earthshelters.com I saw one university project covered in snow which never turned on their furnace.
Soy-based foam insulation can keep the heat in, and radiant floor heating makes it more efficient. Inefficient incandescents can be replaced with LEDs.
Planned community growth and intelligent architecture make a huge impact on the running cost of a structure. The San Francisco water treatment plant supposedly runs its pumps off the the methane collected.
There are plenty of new cheapo stick-framed cookie-cutter housing subdivisions (out in the country by where I live), right next to a row of homes for sale. A whole lot of family farms could have been saved.
Denser population centers don't necessitate the energy to move people and materials which is important for an after-peak-oil economy. Energy costs from the bottom line subtract from company perks like health care and loose consumer spending cash.
Here's a car that runs on soybean oil:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/17/eveningnews/main1329941.shtml
Here's a canola vs. petroleum oil comparision:
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ncnu02/v5-029.html
Dr. Ferdinand Porsche designed a Hybrid in 1899:
http://www.hybrid-vehicle.org/hybrid-vehicle-porsche.html
The problem isn't technology, it's (corporate) greed and (consumer)stupidity. All that "alternative" stuff has been around since the 1974 OPEC oil embargo and before. Brazil learned, and made long term planning commitments while the U.S. 3-monkey culture has been actively running the other way in hopes of perfecting the tough guy yuppie image. So Americans want a dragstrip-king SUV as transportation, so the commercials keep telling me.
Hmm, but I can't figure out why Toyota is starting to lead in sales......