[cromulent]

I had a look through your sources and they convinced me that you were wrong about water conservation. Even if lots of places have low density and plenty of water, there are negative effects.

Surely using as little as necessary, most of the time, is a good policy.

"Per capita residential water use in the United States is more than four times as high as in England and five times as high as in Germany."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_...

There are many conclusions you can take from that, but a common one would be: Many people in the US use more water than necessary.

In terms of buildings, my experience with houses in Australia (almost zero insulation, single glazing) and northern Europe (astonishing volume of insulation, triple glazing standard) also suggests that there is something to think about here.