We also used to build houses to ‘breathe’, specifically encouraging air flow through the walls, etc. to carry away the water leaking in through all the unsealed holes, and allowing any efforts in heating and cooling to go out that same way. In the days of yore, the gas lines that fed English streetlamps with coal gas were allowed to just flow, even when not lit. It’s a wild thought to wonder how much longer the end of fossil fuels could have been put off if efficiency had been a priority from the start.