How much house do I need?

When we were first married, DH and I were living in a 2-bedroom 700 sq. ft. apartment. The other bedroom was occupied by my husband’s brother for awhile. The apartment made great use of space and I didn’t really feel cramped at all. The apartment was really old and had mold problems so I wasn’t sad to leave the place.
Then upon graduation, we moved to an 1100 sq. ft. apartment. The apartment seemed so big at the time. By then we had added a son to our little family and the apartment still seemed to have plenty of space to fill our needs. Although the apartment was a newer construction, it was not well-insulated. Our utility bills were large (usually around $200.00 and once even closer to $400.00) considering I kept the thermostat at 82 degrees F in the summer and 68 in the winter.
When we bought our first house, I anticipated that we would stay for some time so we bought a 2300 sq. ft. house with 3 good-sized bedrooms and a “bonus room.” It seemed extravagant by my standards, but I was anticipating having room to grow. The floor-plan made very good use of space so the house seemed much bigger than it really was. This home was very energy efficient. I kept the thermostat at 78 degrees F in the summer and 70 in the winter. Our bills rarely exceeded $120.00 in the summer and with the natural gas heating, well less than $100.00 in the winter.
Unfortunately, we were relocated by my husband’s company so we had to sell our house. We now live in a rental house that is roughly the same size as our last house. We have since added one more child to our brood. I have been mulling over the question of when we do buy another house, do we need a bigger home since we have more children now? My answer is no. I like the size of homes that we have been living in for the past few years. The children share rooms. I shared a room with my siblings growing up and enjoyed it. My husband also shared a room with his brother.
I believe that being conservation-minded entails knowing the difference between our needs and our wants. I really liked the Less Is More...Especially When Being Green post on MyGreenHomeBlog since I think it basically summed up my thoughts that quantity need not trump quality and comfort when it comes to our homes. I am going to check out Sarah Susanka’s book ‘The Not So Big House.’
The U.S. produces 1/5 of the world’s CO2 emissions and buildings (homes, office buildings, warehouses, malls) not cars, emit the most CO2. Homes today are roughly 45% larger than what they were some 30 years ago. DH says that most people are not conservation-minded, nor do they care about the environment. The following is from an article in National Geographic entitled It Starts at Home: "In a 2007 survey of Americans, 60 percent said they didn't have enough savings to pay for energy-related renovations. If given an extra $10,000 to work with, only 24 percent said they would invest in efficiency. What did the rest want? Granite countertops.”
I guess that survey shows where our priorities are. DH might be right about most people not being conservation-minded, but I say it doesn’t hurt to live more sustainably and to encourage others to do the same.