Often I wonder why Saving@Home or Eco-Renovator don't get more attention.
Just like cars need glass and rubber, a house needs more than a weather shell. Here are two things I've seen lately, one high- and one low-tech:
phys.org:Solar power advances possible with new 'double-glazing' device
cleantechnica.com:Scientists Channel Tesla & Einstein To Invent New Double-Glazed Solar Panel
Bucky Fuller proposed triangular vacuum glazing in his 1928 Dymaxion house. It turns out Argon gas is better.
THE DYMAXION HOUSE: Dymaxion Developments
Then there is what you can do with plane trees and stainless steel screws.
Compared to the massive steel scaffolding they use with their in-the-box thinking, one could make an edge vertex half-icosahedron with planters on two full height tripods and two half height posts.
[place to add a picture when I find it]