Tucson, AZ -- Pepper Viner Homes has been honored by the United States Department of Energy and their homes at Civano North Ridge have been certified as meeting the EnergySmart Home Scale, which requires total energy savings of at least 30%. The Civano North Ridge homes exceed this standard and offer total energy savings of 40% to 50% . The heating and cooling energy savings in each home are 50% or more.

The EnergySmart Home Scale is part of the DOE’s Builders Challenge, which has set a goal of building 330,000 high performance, energy efficient homes by 2012. It is estimated that by 2030 this effort will result in 1.3 million homes and will save an estimated $1.7 billion in energy costs or the carbon equivalent of taking 606,000 cars off the road annually. Ed Pollock, from the Department’s Builders Challenge, presented the EnergySmart Home Scale (E-Scale) to the company for qualifying their homes as part of the Challenge. Only ½ of 1% of the nation’s builders have been able to achieve this status.

The Department of Energy officials were in Arizona for the annual Energy and Environmental Builders Association (EEBA) Conference and Expo which was held in Phoenix. Richard Barna, the Director of Green Building and Building Science for Pepper Viner Homes, was one of a select few builders chosen to participate on a Conference panel.

“Pepper Viner Homes has proven that it possible to build an energy-efficient home, fill it with the most-desired options from granite slab countertops to luxurious master retreats and sell it at a price that is competitive with homes of a similar size that don’t offer the energy savings. We are giving our homebuyers lasting energy savings that will mean lower energy bills,” said Bill Viner, CEO.