| [February 10, 2012] |
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Net-Zero Energy Option Now Available at KB Home in Houston
HOUSTON --(Business Wire)--
They may say everything is bigger in Texas, but at KB Home (NYSE:KBH)
your energy usage doesn't have to be-in fact it could be zero. KB Home
unveiled its first net-zero energy home in the Houston area during a
special event held today at its Lago Vista at Westheimer Lakes community
in Richmond. At the event, KB Home employees and local elected officials
hosted a group of area school children for an exclusive guided tour of
the innovative new home, dubbed ZeroHouse 2.0, that is designed to
produce as much energy as it consumes.
KB Home already builds 100% of its new homes to U.S. EPA's ENERGY STAR (News - Alert)®
standards, but now homebuyers in Houston, and other select KB Home
markets, are able to choose a ZeroHouse 2.0 that may eliminate their
monthly electricity charges entirely, and is estimated to save a
Houston-area homeowner over $2,000 annually on energy utility costs when
compared to a typical existing home.
"At KB Home, each of our buyers gets their home Built to Order. This
means they get to select everything from the lot on which their home is
built, to the color of their carpeting, to the style of their front
door," said Jim Widner, regional president for KB Home. "And now, with
the introduction of the ZeroHouse 2.0, they can further customize their
home's potential energy efficiency. They can select features that could
reduce their monthlyenergy bills to next to nothing, giving them
greater control of their total cost of homeownership and a new home
tailored to fit their lifestyle, taste and budget."
The higher efficiency of the ZeroHouse 2.0 is the result of a whole-home
approach, from the inside out, that begins with increased insulation,
upgraded HVAC systems and dual-pane, low-e windows and ends with solar
panels on the roof. The new model ZeroHouse 2.0 home at Lago Vista also
showcases innovative new technology, including an energy monitoring
system and automated home controls.
During the morning's special event, students from nearby Harmony Science
Academy were among the first to discover what goes into the ZeroHouse
2.0 at Lago Vista and enjoyed presentations from KB Home employees and
partners. At the conclusion of the event, KB Home presented the school
with a check for $2,028, or approximately the same amount of the
estimated annual savings that the owner of a ZeroHouse 2.0 would enjoy
over a typical existing home.
The ZeroHouse 2.0 at Lago Vista opens to the public for tours tomorrow,
Saturday, February 11 at 10 a.m. KB Home's ENERGY STAR qualified home
designs, as well as ZeroHouse 2.0 efficiency options, are available at
communities throughout the Houston area. To learn more, and locate a
community near you, visit kbhome.com or call 888-KB-HOMES.
About KB Home
KB Home is one of the largest and most recognized homebuilding companies
in the United States. Since its founding in 1957, the company has built
more than half a million quality homes. KB Home's signature Built to
Order™ approach lets each buyer customize their new home from lot
location to floor plan and design features. In addition to meeting
strict ENERGY STAR® guidelines, all KB homes are highly
energy efficient to help lower monthly utility costs for homeowners,
which the company demonstrates with its proprietary KB Home Energy
Performance Guide™ (EPG). A leader in utilizing state-of-the-art
sustainable building practices, KB Home was named the #1 Green
Homebuilder in a 2010 study by Calvert Investments and the #1
Homebuilder on FORTUNE magazine's 2011 World's Most Admired Companies
list. Los Angeles-based KB Home was the first homebuilder listed on the
New York Stock Exchange, and trades under the ticker symbol "KBH." For
more information about KB Home's new home communities, call 888-KB-HOMES
or visit www.kbhome.com.

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