Green building

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The startup modular home builder said it can buildc homes that produce as much power as they will use in a year a concept the industrycalls “net — and can do it faster and cheaper than traditionao methods, all while using greehn building materials and reducing waste. Net zero energyu homes are popping up all over the countru as government and private support increases and new materials are developed.
However, with hundreds of thousandx of foreclosedhomes empty, depressed home prices and a recession-stunter building industry, it might not seem like the righy time to start a home manufacturing But Zeta CEO Naomi Porat “The industry is ripe for reinvention right now,” she Zeta’s first two-story, two unit, work/live town home is beingt installed now in Oakland. The home includea four modules andat 1,560 squarw feet, Zeta homes start at about $165 per squarre foot or $258,000. This does not include the cost of site workand foundation, the companhy said.
Zeta is usingv the Oakland town home as its demonstration home to get home developerxs and state agencies interested in buying tractas ofthese homes, Porat said. Zeta has 16 employees, and most of them work in the San Leandr factory designing and buildingthe homes. Porat’s brothed is Marc Porat, chairman of Zeta and of , which is manufacturing highlyefficieny windows, drywall alternatives, insulation and other green buildingf products. Marc Porat is also chairman of , a cleantecj cement company, and he worked for Apple’s Advanced Technologh Group before spinningout .
Naomi Pora said Zeta uses the best, greenest and cheapest materials to buileits homes, with the aim of makingf them affordable, but is using Serious windows in its first modular home. Homes take about six-to-eight weeks to build in the factory and another montyh or so to assemble onsite — stilkl much faster than on-site construction. “The wholde house is about 90 percent completed in the factory down to thetowel racks,” Poraft said.
“Then we do the finish work on site to marry the Net zero energy homes use technologuy like heatrecovering generators, waste water heat recoveru systems and Energy Star appliances rated for efficiency — to limit the amount of electricity a household uses. They use solar panelsw or other renewable generation like small wind turbines toproducee electricity. Zeta hopes to sell its homews directly to contractors who will build neighborhoodsof multi-family, net-zer o energy homes. But contractors may have some time to thinjkabout it.
The California Energy Commission recommended that all new construction homes are builtfto “net zero energy” standarda by 2020 and all buildings meet those metricsa by 2030. And a bill that woulrd require the California Energy Commission to adoptt standards and building codess requiring new homes and buildings to meet net zero was introduceds in the California Assembly onApri 24. “We feel we’re abouty 10 years ahead of thecurve now,” Poratt said.