The best green energy people in the world can design the most efficient home possible but if a bunch of know-nothings move in and live as they have always done, the energy savings will be minimal.
This is the fundamental problem with reducing energy use: most people simply don't know what behavior to change or how to change it. Innovation and technology are only useful if the average consumer knows enough to make them work.
The society in which we live is both a help and a hindrance. On the positive side, more people know about and are interested in doing their bit for the environment (especially if it doesn't cost them too many of their luxuries), younger people are far more comfortable with technology encroaching into every part of their life and each subsequent generation is better versed in the importance of recycling, reusing and repurposing.
On the other hand, each generation also becomes less familiar with household maintenance – partly because the technology gets more and more compartmentalized, specialized and complex and partly because there is less encouragement to understand, only to use and consume. In some ways, economic difficulties affect this in a good way: when consumers cannot afford to pay someone to do the maintenance, they are more likely to learn to do it themselves.
In practical terms, the energy efficient homes being built right now are too complex for most homeowners and must come with instructions. This doesn't just mean a complete and concise user manual, although that's important. With concentration spans diminishing as lives get busier and information easier to access at a moment's notice, a complete hands-on tour to familiarize the homeowner, with instruction in how to use and maintain all the energy-saving equipment, is absolutely necessary.
Design and Consumer Behavior
The flip-side of the education coin is design that supports existing consumer behavior. This puts the onus firmly back on the manufacturer by demanding that their efficient systems continue to save energy even if the homeowners are too lazy or stupid to use the equipment properly.
Simple occupation sensors and motion-operated faucet systems are a great example of this: the user does not need to understand the technicalities of how to use the system "properly" (to save as much energy as possible) as the design allows them to just do what they've always done. Left the lights on? No problem, the system detects that you've left the room and switches them off. Don't know that you should turn the tap off while you're brushing your teeth? No problem, the system switches it off for as long as your hand is away from the faucet. The savings are reduced but at least they're still savings.
Realistically, the energy-efficient systems of the future will combine elements from both sides of the fence. As time goes on, consumers will become more educated about the systems in their homes and learn to use them better; designers will continue to create innovative ways of simplifying our lives that also save energy.