APS Donates Environmental Showcase Home to ASU.

Business Editors

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 10, 2000

APS today announced its donation grant of the company's Environmental Showcase Home to Arizona State University and the College of Architecture and Environmental Design.

The Environmental Showcase Home, which was completed in 1994 in northeast Phoenix, showcases many of the environmentally sensitive building materials and home products on the market. The Home, designed by Jones Studio Architects was a cooperative effort between APS, the Arizona Environmental Strategic Alliance, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and ASU.

"This is a continuation of our commitment to ASU and the community. By giving this showcase to the University, we are able to share the environmental lessons we have learned while enhancing and advancing a new generation of architects," said Bill Post, CEO of Pinnacle West.

Ed Fox, Pinnacle West Vice President, Communications, Environment and Safety added, "We wanted to show architects and homebuilders that they could incorporate environmentally friendly concepts into their homes while keeping their prices competitive."

More than 30,000 individuals, architects, designers and students have visited the Showcase Home and learned about the many options available for sustainable building design. "As our preparations for utility industry competition progressed, we felt the Showcase Home would be better served by an educational facility like ASU," said Fox.

"We are extremely grateful that APS has decided to donate the Environmental Showcase Home to this College. Many of us have been involved in the development of the house, and its subsequent use for environmentally responsible education purposes. We have published a book about it and anchored a television series on local public television which became a video that is shown in architecture schools all over the country," said John Meunier, Dean of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design. "We plan to continue to use it for both educational and research purposes, where it will be an extraordinarily valuable asset as both a laboratory and a demonstration."

The College plans several research projects. Many of the materials used in the house incorporate recycled products; they will be evaluated. The innovative energy and water systems will be monitored in a comparison with the standard systems used throughout the Valley. And the landscape will be evaluated for its environmental impact by both faculty and students.

APS, Arizona's largest and longest-serving electric utility, serves more than 827,000 customers in 11 of the state's 15 counties. APS, with headquarters in Phoenix, is the largest subsidiary of Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (NYSE: PNW).