[heurist]

The upfront investment on a mortgage is the down payment, which can be as high or low as you want these days. Buying a house for $310k vs $300k works out to ~$100/month going from on a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage, $10k down (depending on interest rates). About $30k difference on total loan payments, or $1k/year, which at least for me in Texas is at the low end of much I pay for energy anyway. Plus you're not paying for residential energy (system maintenance aside), and maybe not gas if you're using an electric vehicle. You're not thinking about fluctuations in oil prices either, which will certainly increase over the next 30 years.

The societal benefit is a separate bonus, as you stated, but not one to ignore.