Ban Porches and Ferraris from the road? It's an argument being floated across the pond in Europe, where environmentalists say that the threat of global climate change is making such vehicles a luxury the planet can no longer afford on account of their higher emissions and poorer mileage compared to the average European automobile.

The automobile industry is an easy target for environmentalists. The American auto industry is an especially prime target, as Detroit largely built it's business model around selling thirsty sport utility vehicles and continually resisted increases in corporate fuel economy standards, known as CAFE. Thanks to Detroit, the CAFE requirement for cars has remained unchanged at 27.5 miles per gallon for 17 years. Worse, if one calculates the fuel economy of the new cars sold by the domestic automakers, fuel economy actually peaked in 1987.

Sounds abominable? It is. And yet a potentially starker picture exists when it comes to buildings. Even with all the inefficient cars and SUVs on the road today, buildings still consume more energy. When broken down by sector, buildings (commercial and residential) are responsible of 39 percent of domestic energy consumption. Transportation consumes 29 percent, according to statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Those numbers aren't aberrations. They are part of a trend. Given the numbers, such proposals to ban performance cars are misplaced at best. On a weekly basis, I can see the lights blazing away during the daytime in various parking lots. Or see empty buildings fully illuminated during off hours. Or I can walk into a commercial building at night only to find the air conditioning still running because the building's setpoints weren't adjusted properly.

And while the U.S Green Building Council has made headway with it's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program for new construction, the number of projects certified under its existing building (LEED-EB) program still lags. So until the building industry gets its house in order relative to energy efficiency, I see no reason to target performance cars, which sell in comparatively low volume.