This blog was created to assess the economic benefits of applying green retrofits to your shelter (if you have one) and assess whether it actually makes economic sense at all of having a shelter in the first place (or whether it's cheaper to rent instead). This, as there are often substantial taxes levied on the real estate you own (house, ....) It also looks on whether it is cheaper to own a different kind of shelter (caravan, recreational vehicle, houseboat, ...), and whether it isn't cheaper to simply move to a different climate to be able to slash your heating costs.
Now that the project has progressed, some answers to those questions above have been found:
Owning a shelter or renting ?
A lot depends on whether you all ready have a house (i.e. inherited from your parents, uncle, ...) or whether you'd need to buy/construct a new house. If you have a house, it might be cheaper to keep the existing house, definitely so if you are unable to sell it at the actual value thereof (this will depend on the market value, at that moment).
If you don't have a house, then buying a mobile shelter may be much cheaper if you really want your own place. Often, it will allow you to eliminate real estate taxes you would otherwise be subjected to. If you rather have a regular house, then renting is an option.
Moving to a different country
This seems like an intresting option for many, and it might be, but a lot depends to where you want to move to, and whether it's indeed legal to move to that particular country. First of all, the economics: yes, you would be able to eliminate your heating costs partly or even completely (depending on what country you pick). That said though, the energy costs for heating aren't all that high even in northern countries and you might only be able to save say 500 euro or so. If you also count in the co² offsets, you might be able to save another 500 euro, so say 1000 euro/year in total. You might however end up needing to spend even a lot more on other things (say anti-malaria medicine, ... if you go to countries where malaria is endemic).
Another thing to consider is the legal issues: generally, you are allowed to stay for 1 month or a few months in another country untill you need to leave it. If you have a job by then, you would be able to attain a visa to stay several years or indefinitely. So, this option often won't work for many when picking exotic destinations. However, for some people (like people in the EU), you are able to move from say a northern country in the EU to a southern country thereof (say Italy, Greece, Portugal, ...) without having any legal issues to deal with. You'd also not need to worry about things like malaria, ... and still be able to slash your heating costs by a huge amount. The same goes for people living in large countries like the USA, China, ... By simply moving within the country from the northern part of it to the southern part of it, the same benefits can be attained as for the people in in the EU.