how green can a household of 3 be, realistically?

Answer 1

Plant a tree on your property (or 2, or 3).

I have 3 trees for my family of 2. I heard that 1 tree can provide enough CO2 scrubbing and O2 generation for 4 people.

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Answer 2

reallty it depends on the vallue system of the family. a family of 3 living as subsistance farmers in an impoverished area in Africa are 'fantastically' green when compared to a US family. They use no gasoline, no heating fuel, no electricty for air conditioning. they don't use hardly any manufactured goods (some clothing and plastics).
That said, some areas of northern europe are doing great things in terms of average 'eco footprint' while maintaining a decent lifestyle. The house size is usually smaller, and probably only own one or less than one vehicle per household. Check Holland and Norway as good examples.
so the real question is what are you willing to give up, especially if your neighbor doesn't.
just off the record, i don't think the US is ever going to be a front runner in that field.

Answer 3

I believe this is about as green as it gets, if one were to build a new house and was looking for a design. And your existing house can at least be retro greened to be as close to this ideal as possible, so that's what makes me say it's as realistic as possible and would be reasonably affordable if the extra costs were added to the mortgage and it was done as cheaply as possible it wouldn't be too expensive for middle class families to afford.
Plus electronically tinting windows have been invented by other people so as to make all those windows completely obscuring for privacy when one wanted and could be double or triple pained to keep out the heat and the cold.
Plus it looks cheaper in materials then regular new houses, at least around here anyway. Of course it could be designed to look more contemporarly.