Green Building in Marin and the Quest for Zero

Kentfield resident Kiki Goshay wanted to build a green home. But not just any green home. She wanted it to sustain itself, or to come as close as possible, by taking advantage of all that the site had to offer: sun, shade, rain, natural beauty. The home turned out beautifully (see the accompanying photos), but its energy use wasn't net-zero and its water use, at least initially, was pretty massive. So Goshay set about tweaking the home to reduce its energy and water use, increase efficiency, and move ever closer to net-zero. After two years she realized it wasn't going to happen, but by then her second home, situated right next door, was already underway. Learning from her mistakes the first time around, she's likely to achieve it on the second project, and will certainly have plenty to teach others hoping to build huge, high-end homes with small-time footprints. Read more about her "quest for zero" at Marin Magazine. (Note: The bit about the second home was struck from the final copy, unfortunately. The story covers just the first one.)