Aliante hosts energy demonstrations

As outside temperatures peaked around 110 degrees last week, inside a model home at The Fields, an Astoria Homes neighborhood within the North Las Vegas master-planned community of Aliante, visitors watched a demonstration.

Ron Kock, an expert in energy efficiency from Energy Inspectors, showed guests the blower-door test, which his company performs on homes in the neighborhood. The test proves how tightly sealed a well-built home can be, he said.

"These homes perform well beyond the benchmarks even for Energy Star," Kock said, referring to the Environmental Protection Agency program to promote energy efficiency. The difference is substantial, according to Annette Bubak, an executive with Astoria Homes. She pointed out that a well-designed, well-built and well-equipped residence can save homeowners hundreds of dollars per year on their heating and cooling costs -- a powerful incentive to look for the Energy Star seal.

"With temperatures like we have experienced this summer, the savings add up. It can save as much as $500 over a new non-Energy Star home per year, and much, much more compared with an older home," Bubak said. "The additional costs of building an Energy Star home very quickly pay for themselves. On top of that, these are more comfortable homes."

Bubak said the demonstration was part of Summer Showcase, a series of events sponsored by Energy Star Partners to promote energy conservation. Astoria Homes is a founding member of Energy Star Partners, a local coalition of companies committed to energy efficiency.

Also joining the promotion was a representative of Nevada Power Co., who made a presentation on ways to save energy around the home, as well as giving free samples of compact fluorescent bulbs, which consume less energy than a standard incandescent bulb.

The event was an opportunity for Astoria to show prospective buyers some of the newer Energy Star features of their homes at The Fields. They include SunCoatMax windows, which outperform the low-e windows found in most Energy Star homes, as well as a radiant barrier, which better seals off the home from hot spots in the attic, Bubak said.

"There are new features coming out all the time to improve the energy efficiency of homes," she said. "Once we research and confirm how effective they will actually be as part of our homes' overall design, we incorporate these new technologies as soon as we can."

Astoria is in the process of switching all the bulbs in its model homes in Southern Nevada to energy-saving CFL bulbs, according to Bubak.

The Fields is one of two neighborhoods by Astoria under construction within Aliante, the other being Prominence less than a block away.

To visit, take U.S. 95 Highway to Interstate 215, the Las Vegas Beltway, Exit East. Head east on the I-215, exit at Aliante Parkway and go south. The office is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. For more information, call 866-787-2951 or visit Aliantehomes.com