Innovation in manufactured housing energy-efficiency programs

The manufactured housing industry has undergone some major changes in the Pacific Northwest. Drafty mobile homes with a reputation for low quality and energy efficiency performance may become a thing of the past thanks to some innovative programs to upgrade manufactured housing sponsored by Northwest utilities and the Bonneville Power Administration. Utilities started paying attention to manufactured housing in the mid 1980s when they learned that up to 50% of new houses sited in their areas were manufactured homes. Preliminary studies indicated that huge energy savings were possible in these homes, more than 50% over the life of the home! Bonneville`s first coordinated effort to study the situation was the Manufactured Housing Work Group which was established in the fall of 1986 and included manufacturers, utilities, the Northwest Power Planning Council, Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), trade associations, and regulatory agencies. The Work Group recommended energy programs for manufactured housing based on Bonneville`s conservation programs for site-built homes: the Super Good Cents Program (SGC) and the Residential Construction Demonstration Project (RCDP). Research results from the RCDP/SGC Manufactured Housing Program included collection of metered energy end-use data and cost data on individual conservation measures, cost effectiveness analyses, and computer modeling. This research is giving Bonneville the data it needs to recommend the best tactics for keeping the manufactured housing industry on its newfound course of energy efficiency, a direction that is sure to mean higher quality homes for the consumer and energy savings for regional utilities.