Terravita Golf and Country Club Goes Green

MEDIA CONTACT: Tom Forbes, Terravita General Manager (480) 437-9261 or [email protected]

Terravita Golf and Country Club Goes Green North Scottsdale country club implements environmentally-conscious program SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – August 5, 2010 – It’s not just the Terravita Golf and Country Club golf course that’s green. The Terravita community is embracing a leading edge, environmentallyfriendly “go green” approach to managing the North Scottsdale gated residential community. Terravita Golf and Country Club, an award-winning master-planned community of nearly 1,400 homes located in North Scottsdale, has implemented a multi-year plan to save energy, reduce community expenses and improve the carbon footprint of Terravita. “We’re always looking for ways to reduce the costs to our members and this initative made sense for a number of reasons,” said Tom Forbes, general manager of Terravita Golf and Country Club. “Not only did we accomplish our overall goal of cost-savings, we are saving energy and reducing our carbon footprint at the same time.” The club’s Energy and Capital Improvement Committee, created by Terravita’s Board of Directors, works to investigate and evaluate opportunities to meet the goals of saving energy and expenses for the country club, while improving the carbon footprint. Terravita’s board has completed two major initiatives to date. The club invested more than $200,000 to replace all HVAC equipment with higher efficiency, energy-saving units in three separate buildings, including the club house, fitness center and community center. The community pool, which is utilized by nearly 3,000 residents and guests each year and is heated to 82-84 degrees daily, was another focus of the energy-reducing and cost-saving effort. “The custom-designed 4,000 square foot thermo-insulated pool cover system will reduce natural gas consumption by as much as 25 percent,” explained Forbes. “We also designed and built a one-of-a-kind solar panel system that will save an additional 25 to 30 percent in gas consumption. The combined gas savings of these two undertakings is estimated to exceed $600,000 over the next 15 years.” The community received a 30 percent rebate for the cost of the solar panels from APS under the Renewable Energy Incentive Program to offset the initial costs, Forbes added. -more-

Terravita Golf and Country Club Goes Green, cont. 2-2-2-2 To expand on the initial program, the club has hired a local energy consulting company to evaluate and design programming regarding lighting retrofitting, additional solar applications and total multi-building envelope energy usages. “Terravita is committed to make a difference with these and future green initiatives,” said Forbes. “The country club Board of Directors plans to allocate future capital improvement funds for long term environmentally friendly programs.” About Terravita Golf and Country Club Terravita is a gated-community of nearly 1,400 households located in North Scottsdale, just south of Carefree, Arizona. It offers world-class amenities in an elegant desert setting, including a full-service restaurant, an award-winning, private 18-hole golf course, a tennis facility, fitness center and community center. Terravita was named the top master-planned community and number one private golf course by st Arizona Business magazine in 2009. Terravita’s golf course received 1 place honors in the 2010 Ranking Arizona – The Best of Arizona Business Magazine’s listing of the state’s top 10 private golf courses – its fifth such award in six years. For more information, please visit www.terravitascottsdale.org.

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