As noted earlier, most studies of practices have focused on consumption, as witnessed in the specific field of inhabitation by the research on housing consumption through homemaking practices discussed in Chapter 5. However, as was argued in Chapter 3, there is no reason why the practices approach cannot be applied to the production of housing and generate important insights that may be relevant to housing outcomes and policy concerns. The importance of the topic has been recognised in the studies of energy use in the home because of the realisation that the built form locks in future energy use. Horne (2018: 2) argues that: ‘Houses are obdurate structures, yet they are constantly being remade and reformed. Form and fabric are significant investments that, once made, tend to “lock in” future energy use throughout occupation of a dwelling.’ Also, the building of houses involves substantial embodied energy in materials and construction, although, as Horne points out, this is only small proportion (10–20 per cent) of total energy usage during the lifetime of a home as measured through life-cost accounting (LCA). However, as higher standards of energy efficiency in use are achieved, this proportion could increase to 40–60 per cent, which is said to be the current norm for high energy, low energy use buildings today (Horne, 2018). Imrie (2021) argues that the construction industry has the world’s largest ecological footprint and impact by using materials like concrete with high levels of embodied energy. He further argues (2021: 32): ‘Building is a disruptive and violent process, ranging from the destructive extraction of non-reproducible materials from the earth, to the colonisation of land from nature, and disturbance of socio-ecological systems.’ Imrie (2021) also argues that much new construction is inappropriate because it does not enable the stability of settlement (or inhabitation in the terminology used in the book) particularly because of its relationship to the environment in which it is often placed such as in areas at high risk of floods or fires and the encroachment of building into the edges of wild areas with the increased risk of disease.