Media

Win-win: energy savings + historical renovation. Updating an older home, without destroying its architectural integrity
Palo Alto Weekly December 15, 2009
“When Marc Porat walks the renewable-energy walk, he’s serious about cutting back on his carbon footprint.

As chairman of Serious Materials, a Sunnyvale-based developer and manufacturer of green-building materials, he decided to retrofit his 1936 home on University Avenue in Palo Alto, with the ultimate goal of “net zero” energy. That means he won’t be using any more energy to run his house than can be created on site through solar panels — giving back to the grid in some months and buying renewable energy through Palo Alto Green in others, but netting zero by end of year.

His home … presented an intriguing challenge: How does one seal the “leaky envelope” without destroying the very walls, windows and features that make the home architecturally significant?”

Adam Winter demonstrating storm wintersThe Net Zero Home
TechPulse360 November 6, 2009
“He (Marc Porat) also turned his Palo Alto home into a showcase for environment conservation – a so-called zero energy home. Only a few homes in the country can truly claim that distinction. “I wanted to go all the way to the edge,” he said during a Thursday evening tour of the home. “In the future, this will be the new normal.”

The Energy-Neutral Home
Forbes.com November 6, 2009
“You might think that a home using zero net energy would be chilly inside. I visited one last night, and it wasn’t. It was a pleasant 72 degrees. The Palo Alto, Calif., home owned by Marc Porat, an IT-turned-clean-tech entrepreneur, is a showcase of the latest technologies that can be used to ratchet down the amount of energy that homes consume.”

sjmnphotoEntrepreneur turns his house into a green-tech showcase
San Jose Mercury News, August 9, 2009
“At first glance, Marc Porat’s Palo Alto house might resemble a number of other 1936 English Tudor Revival gems tucked into the leafy neighborhoods of the Bay Area’s pricier communities. But a closer look reveals that his multimillion-dollar home is a unique blend of old and new. Behind its historic stucco-and-timber facade is hidden an array of state-of-the art technologies that makes the sandy brown structure one of the greenest buildings on the planet.”