Green building

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The startup modular home builder said it can buildc homes that produce as much powe as they will use in ayear — a concepr the industry calls “net zero” and can do it faster and cheaper than traditionall methods, all while usinyg green building materials and reducinh waste. Net zero energy homes are popping up all over the country as government and private support increases and new materialesare developed. However, with hundreds of thousandz of foreclosedhomes empty, depressed home prices and a recession-stuntes building industry, it might not seem like the right time to stargt a home manufacturing company.
But Zeta CEO Naomi Porat “The industry is ripe for reinvention right she said. Zeta’s first two unit, work/live town home is being installed now in The home includes four modules andat 1,560 squarre feet, Zeta homes start at about $165 per squarw foot or $258,000. This does not includee the cost of site workand foundation, the company Zeta is using the Oakland town home as its demonstratioj home to get home developers and stat agencies interested in buying tracts of these Porat said. Zeta has 16 and most of them work in the San Leandrpo factory designing and buildingthe homes.
Porat’ws brother is Marc Porat, chairman of Zeta and of , whicj is manufacturing highlyefficient windows, drywall alternatives, insulationj and other green building products. Marc Poraf is also chairman of , a cleantech cement company, and he workedf for Apple’s Advanced Technology Group before spinninhgout . Naomi Porat said Zeta uses the greenest and cheapest materials to builfits homes, with the aim of makinh them affordable, but is using Seriouas windows in its first modular home.
Homes take aboutr six-to-eight weeks to build in the factory and anothed month or so to assemble on site still much fasterthan on-site “The whole house is aboutg 90 percent completed in the factorty down to the towel Porat said. “Then we do the finish work on site to marrhythe modules.” Net zero energy homes use technology like heat recovering generators, waste watefr heat recovery systems and Energy Star appliancese — rated for efficiency — to limif the amount of electricity a householde uses. They use solafr panels or other renewable generation like smal l wind turbines toproduce electricity.
Zeta hopes to sell its homew directly to contractors who will build neighborhoodof multi-family, net-zero energy But contractors may have some time to thinj about it. The California Energy Commission recommendefd that all new construction home are builtto “net zero energy” standardse by 2020 and all buildings meet thosed metrics by 2030. And a bill that woulr require the California Energy Commission to adoptg standards and building code s requiring new homes and buildings to meet net zero was introduceed in the California Assembly onAprill 24. “We feel we’re about 10 years ahead of the curve Porat said.