Humans never willingly decrease their footprint. Even technology that is supposed to "save money" won't be used to decrease overall footprint. People want to save money so they can get more in other areas. Technology that simply reduces overall footprint doesn't sell. Technology will not save us.
Which is largely driven by government regulation. This is not people doing it willingly just for the sake of reducing consumption. Governments have the power to do things like this. But even then, it remains to be seen if this will actually reduce overall energy usage. It could simply mean people keep their houses warmer/cooler all year round and energy usage stays the same. Or the "saved" energy merely gets diverted to some other use.
