KB Home (NYSE: KBH), one of the nation’s premier homebuilders, announced that it is significantly expanding its popular solar initiative by making solar power systems a standard feature of homes in nearly all of its communities across Southern California. Including the high-efficiency SunPower® solar power systems – now available at 28 communities – with a new KB home can help KB homeowners reduce their monthly energy bills by as much as 80% and lower their cost of homeownership for years to come.
“Consumers who buy a Built to Order™ KB home get the value of a custom home-like experience plus the tremendous energy efficiency of our latest advanced building techniques. And now, having solar included is like having the sun help pay their energy bills,” said Jeffrey Mezger, president and chief executive officer of KB Home. “The response to our solar initiative has been overwhelmingly positive and we are excited to expand our program so that many more homebuyers in Southern California can take advantage of this unique opportunity.”
To illustrate the potential benefit of solar power systems and the many other energy-efficient features of its homes, KB Home provides consumers with its Energy Performance Guide® (EPG®), which shows an estimate of monthly energy costs for each home as designed. For example, at KB Home’s Newbury at the Enclave in Eastvale, Calif., a one-story, four bedroom home without a solar power system has an estimated monthly electric and gas bill of $108. With the expansion of KB Home’s solar power initiative, this home will now include a 3.15kWp system as a standard feature and the estimated monthly electric and gas bill will be $27. Compared to a typical resale home, this new KB home is estimated to save a homeowner about $2,000 annually on energy costs.
“SunPower is proud to be a part KB Home’s industry-leading commitment to offer solar power systems as a standard feature in 28 of its Southern California communities,” said Howard Wenger, president, regions for SunPower. “As the world’s most efficient and reliable solar technology on the market today, SunPower technology delivers proven performance that can provide long-term significant savings.”
KB Home launched its solar initiative in March 2011 when it began including 1.4 kWp SunPower systems with homes in 10 of its Southern California communities. Based on consumer interest and the desire to provide additional savings on homeowners’ energy bills, the builder decided to increase both the number of communities participating and the size of the solar power systems included as standard. The smallest solar power system included as standard is now 1.8 kWp, with over half of the 28 participating communities including a 2.25kWp or 3.15kWp system as standard.
For more information on KB Home’s new home communities throughout Southern California and building your new KB home with a solar power system included, visit kbhome.com/socalsolar (need to verify that this URL will be updated to reflect expanded commitment) or call 888-KB-HOMES.