Mar 29 2009
Centex Corporation today announced that construction is under way on Centex Energy Advantage homes across the Minneapolis metro area. Collectively, the Company's 63 new homes currently scheduled are projected to avoid thousands of tons of carbon emissions over time, preventing more than 100 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in just the first year of occupancy.
Centex Energy Advantage is now available in all to-be-built homes ordered in 10 neighborhoods around the Minneapolis metropolitan area. The first, a single-family home located in Carver's Spring Creek neighborhood southwest of Minneapolis, is scheduled for delivery in May. Please visit any neighborhood sales office for more information or see centex.com/energyadvantage.asp for details and centex.com/minnesota/ for details about homes and prices.
"In today's economic conditions, our customers are just as concerned about the cost of living in a house as the cost of buying it," said Marv McDaris, division president for Centex Homes in Minnesota. "These standard energy-efficiency features put more control over energy costs in their hands from the minute they move in. Avoiding surprises in the monthly utility bill is good for our customers -- avoiding the greenhouse gas emissions is good for the whole community."
Centex Energy Advantage homes are up to 40 percent more efficient than a typical 10-year-old home (as defined by the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America Program), according to a study commissioned with the NAHB Research Center. Each Centex Energy Advantage home avoids 1.78 fewer metric tons of carbon dioxide per year than a comparable new home, according to the NAHB Research Center. That's roughly the same as the greenhouse gas emissions from the family automobile over four months or the CO2 emissions from about 183 gallons of gasoline consumed.
Features of the Company's standard energy-efficiency package in Minneapolis include:
- Energy monitor: real-time information about electricity usage and expense can lead to a 4-15 percent reduction in electricity use; Centex is the first national homebuilder to announce the installation of an energy monitor in every home it builds
- Whirlpool brand ENERGY STAR(R) qualified appliances
- Lennox high-efficiency HVAC system
- Programmable thermostat(s)
- Low-emissivity windows
- R-49 insulation in the attic
- Compact fluorescent lights in high-traffic areas
- Information for maximizing energy efficiency and minimizing the impact of home operation on the environment