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Bonneville Power Administration built a new, high-performance manufactured home for a family in Bothell. Washington, as demonstration project with the latest in energy-saving features incorporated.
“Manufactured homes built to this new high-performance spec have durability and performance features that could change opinions about factory-built homes and be an integral part of our super-efficient 21st century utility system,” said Christopher Dymond, senior product manager with Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance.
The Bothell Reporter tells Manufactured Home Living News that the prototype home includes a ductless heat pump, heat pump water-heater, efficient lighting, triple-glazed windows, foam sheathing on exterior walls and added insulation, among other standard energy saving features. The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance is a group of 140 Northwest utilities and energy efficiency organizations.
200,000 manufactured homes are in Washington State, and an estimated 500,000 in the northwest region covered by the alliance. Bothell Reporter says that perhaps 20% of those homes were built before 1994 and the more recent construction and energy standards.
“This new high-performance home creates a ‘good/better/best’ option in the manufactured home market,” stated Mark Johnson, a residential energy conservation specialist at the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA).
The Norahun family shown in the photo received this home as part of a project in connection with Habit for Humanity. Of course, the same types of super energy savings manufactured homes are available to the general public, from a variety of factory crafted home-builders in virtually any state in the U.S..
The NEEA website says, “Historically, the Northwest has been very active in supporting advancement of manufactured homes.” noting too that the U.S. Department of Energy and the manufactured housing industry are working together to produce ever more energy savings homes and standards.
In a webinar, NEEA’s Dymond, said these high performance manufactured homes represented the lowest cost of ownership in a home. ##
(Editor’s note: An article on a ‘near off grid’ manufactured home is linked here.)
(Image Credits: Northwest-Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), Bothell Reporter, SolarFlare)
