Marrakesh House

The purpose of Marrakesh House is to provide an example of a 21st century sustainable home in action. We have attempted to create a private residence that doubles as venue for art, music and culture in the surrounding community. Our environmentally-friendly remodel is here to provide a working example of sustainable technologies in action.

All of these decisions below reduced the total carbon footprint of Marrakesh House.

• Solar Energy
• Lighting
• Electric Vehicles
• Organic Living Food Garden
• Landscaping
• Lumber
• Insulation, Drywall, Paint
• Water

Solar Energy

One of the most inspiring features of the house is its use of solar energy. The solar energy is generated by a sleek 6.66kW DC grid-tied photovoltaic system on the roof that is comprised of 36 Mitsubishi Electric-sponsored panels that use 100% lead-free solder and produce an estimated 11,000 kWh of clean electricity every year.

The photovoltaic panels, installed by co-sponsor REC Solar, who also sponsored chargers for the electric vehicle and plug-in hybrids, power the house and garage.

Any excess solar electricity the system produces feeds directly back into the grid.

Inside the house, educational kiosks set up by Mitsibushi Electric and REC Solar teach visitors about solar energy by displaying real-time data about the sun’s energy collected on the roof.

On the south side of the roof, another two-panel solar thermal array uses the sun to heat water for two full bathrooms and one half bath. A two panel solar thermal array heats enough water for four people. The water is stored in a 97% efficient stainless steel water tank. On-demand tankless water heaters supplement the thermal array.

Lighting

The solar electric generating system is complemented by the home’s high energy- efficiency.  As lighting often accounts for up to 25% of a homes’ electricity use, it is important to reduce this load to reduce the number of panels needed for the photovoltaic (PV) solar electric generating system. Consequently, the lighting here uses some of the most recent innovative light bulb technologies: non-dimmable compact fluorescent (CFL), dimmable cold cathode (CCFL), and dimmable solid-state, light emitting diodes (LEDs).

“As electricity-saving goes, energy-efficient lighting represents enormous potential to reduce the production of climate changing carbon emissions. So, the better it looks and works, the faster it will be embraced by the public,” says Chris Myers, Principal of enLIGHTen, the energy-efficient lighting design firm.

Inside, state-of-the-art, warm, dimmable LED striplights grace the kitchen cabinets, using 50% less than typical fluorescents and 92% less than xenon or halogen tasklights. In the Moroccan Room, 5-watt “cold cathode” screw-in lamp technology in the sconces provides sensual ambiance with lamps that use over 85% less electricity and that last an astonishing 25,000-hours or 25x longer than a normal 40-watt bulbs.

Outside, nighttime visitors are greeted at the entrance by the broad canopy of the grand-father palm illuminated with only 15-watts of LED lamps that will perform their inviting magic every night for the next 13 years before they burn out. And the entire 1,000-square-foot courtyard landscape is dramatically illuminated using only (10) 3-watt LED lamps that allow a savings of 94% of the electricity.

Lighting controls also increase the savings and energy-efficiency. As the most efficient and least polluting light bulb is a light that is off, user-friendly motion sensor switches turn off some closet lights when not needed, and a motion sensor turns the powder room fan off when its job is done. Selected dimmers throughout also allow greater control of ambiance while reducing energy use, and like surge-protectors on computers, the dimmers help protect the lamps (light bulbs) so they last longer, meaning fewer bulbs in the landfill and fewer trips to the store for more.

Electric Vehicles

As a residence for the director of Who Killed the Electric Car? no garage would be complete without solar powered plug-in electric vehicles. During the remodeling, three 220volt chargers were installed to charge on-site and visiting plug-in vehicles, whether electric scooters or plug-in hybrid conversions. “Of course, you can plug almost any electric car directly into a regular wall socket – it just takes longer that way,” notes Paine.

There are three car charging systems and three electric vehicles currently in the garage of Paine’s “plug-in mecca.” The first is his trusty 2002 Toyota Rav4-EV, the second his brand new 2008 Tesla Electric Roadster (both of which have cameos in his upcoming film Revenge of the Electric Car). The third is his custom built electric scooter that he uses every year at Burning Man. “Electric Cars make powering your car with renewable energy off your house easy. You just can’t do that with a gas car.”

Organic Living Food Garden

There is an organic living food garden with a variety of edible plants and three seasons of crops to take advantage of Los Angeles’ climate and low-water irrigation. The organic garden is a year-round “Victory Garden” designed by Christy Wilhelmi of co-sponsor Gardenerd. “Having an organic garden in an urban environment means we’re less reliant on non-organic foods trucked into our cities. It supports both neighborhood and environment, just like the ‘victory gardens’ during World War II,” says Wilhelmi. The yard also features shade and fruit trees selected by arborist John Lyons including mandarin, plum, apricot, avocado and lemon, to complement the garden.

The fall garden included broccoli, peas, herbs, lettuces and an abundance of other greens. The spring garden features tomatoes, squash, eggplant, and corn, along with permanent crops such as artichokes, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and 3 fruit trees. Other garden elements include a drought tolerant entryway featuring succulents, sages and lavenders. This food garden will save Marrakesh House residents hundreds of dollars a year in grocery bills for salad greens alone.

Landscaping

The project’s commitment to ‘reduce/reuse/recycle’ continued beyond material selection and construction. Landscaper Clayton Winans and his team removed one of the two pre-existing lawns and transformed it into a side-yard catering area. They created outdoor flooring by choosing permeable decomposed granite over concrete.

The property’s eucalyptus trees were pruned to reduce fire hazards, and the larger branches were then repurposed as fencing around the property. A neighbor offered cuttings from his giant cactus plants for the property’s western front, and original hedge areas were restored with a mix of species to increase plant diversity.

We resolved to retain as many existing plants as possible in the remaining yard, only introduced new flora that required minimal or no irrigation, and selected as many native species as possible. To conserve water, high-efficiency nozzles and drip irrigation systems were installed across the grounds. Six area zones are timed specifically to conserve water. All of the plants used either need no water, are native, or are edible trees and bushes. A neighbor’s overgrown cactus was trimmed and the trimmings replanted along the edge of the house.

Lumber

In building areas where new lumber was needed, the team chose wood that was Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified. “We’ve talked to many sources,” says Shellie Collier, our LEED AP, “and FSC lumber is really worth the small amount extra you pay.” Reclaimed barn wood was used for gates and privacy partitions. Non-treated lumber from Trex and post-consumer milk crates were used to create the planters in the garden. The original trees on the property were pruned and the pruned brances used to create fences around the property. The original kitchen cabinets were recycled into bathroom cabinets.

Insulation, Drywall, Paint

All insulation is fiberglass BATTS, a silicon-based formaldehyde-free material. Formaldehyde-free drywall paper is also used. Formaldehyde-free construction materials, including insulation, drywall paper, cabinets and veneer, were employed wherever possible, which improved indoor air quality.

We only use paint that doesn’t contain any VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). Pittsburgh Paint donated VOC-free (volatile organic compound free) paint for much of the entire floor plan.

Water

Low-flow valve irrigation is used outside to water the edible and native plants that require water. (Many of the landscaping plants on the property do not any require any water at all.)

With Southern California’s desert topography and drought conditions in mind, plumbing co-sponsor Toto-USA donated dual-flush toilets and low-flow faucets including a model that automatically shuts off after use for all bathrooms. Toto-USA showroom coordinator and interior designer Allan Dallatorre served as the bathroom design product specifier, working to make all the baths more sustainable.