Beazer Homes launches eSMART program
Beazer Homes USA has launched eSMART by Beazer Homes, a comprehensive program designed to increase energy and water efficiency and improve indoor air quality in new housing.
The program combines high-performance products from General Electric, Honeywell, Moen and others with industry-approved green building practices, and is designed to reduce the home’s annual operating costs. The new eSMART features will be made available at no additional cost to buyers.
“Our goal is to provide affordable everyday solutions that can make a difference right now in terms of environmental impact and operating costs,” said Tony Callahan, senior vp-purchasing, planning and design at Atlanta-based Beazer Homes, one of the nation’s 10 largest single-family home builders. “Consumers want to do their part for the environment, but they also need to save money. With our eSMART homes, they can do both.”
Every new Beazer home will include products designed to increase energy and water efficiency, including Honeywell FocusPRO Programmable Thermostats, GE EnergySmart compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), GE Energy Star dishwashers and MOEN water-saving bathroom faucets and showerheads. Additionally, each new Beazer home will incorporate products designed to improve indoor air quality, including air filters with a higher minimum efficiency rating value (MERV) and carpets and paints that emit lower volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
eSMART by Beazer Homes will provide homeowners immediate annual energy savings when compared with a similar home built without these features, the company said. For example, converting the typical 3-bedroom, 2-1/2-bath Beazer home to EnergySmart CFLs will save homeowners approximately $331 in annual energy and replacement costs.
According to Callahan, 66 percent of consumers polled by Beazer Homes in March 2008 report being more conscious of the environment and the need to conserve natural resources today than they were five years ago. And nearly three-quarters (73 percent) said that builders need to do more to make an affordable “green” home available to the average American. In addition, two-thirds of survey respondents ranked the importance of energy-saving features, such as programmable thermostats and CFLs, on par with higher-end kitchen features when making a new home purchase decision.
“As a national home builder, we have a responsibility to find practical, sustainable and affordable solutions for our home buyers,” Callahan said.