INSIDE TUCSON BUSINESS:  Mon., Oct. 27, 2008

Energy Dept. honors Pepper Viner Homes

Members of the U.S. Department of Energy visited the Pepper Viner Homes community at Civano North Ridge last week to recognize the development as the first in Tucson where every home will meet the department’s Builders Challenge.
The Builders Challenge was issued earlier in the year. It is a voluntary effort that seeks to galvanize the housing industry into moving 220,000 high performance homes into the marketplace by 2012.

The EnergySmart Home Scale runs from zero to 150. A zero indicates a home is a zero net energy home. The average new construction home is 100 on the scale. The EPA EnergyStar rating falls in at 85, or it will use 85% of the amount of energy a typical home will use. The home certified by the DOE last week, came in at 36.

“We are the first production builder in Southern Arizona to reach this milestone and earn this accreditation,” said Bill Viner, CEO of Pepper Viner Homes. “We have changed the way we build homes. To meet the strict savings standards, our homes have to be built better. They are tighter, quieter and offer better indoor air quality.”

The home was Pepper Viner’s Washington model. It is a 2,600 square-foot, two-story home. It had only one air conditioning unit with multiple thermostats where priority can be given based on where you are in the home. It had solar water heater as well as a photovoltaic system.

All 78 Pepper Viner models in Civano will fall below the DOE’s number of 70.