Renewable Revolution

 
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Jul 15, 2021



The Department of Energy may update energy efficiency standards for manufactured homes for the first time since 1994, Utility Dive reports. Strengthened standards for new homes could dramatically benefit the disproportionately low-income population who live in them because manufactured homes use 70% more energy per square foot than traditional houses. 

A 2016 draft DOE rule would have saved those living in manufactured homes thousands of dollars in energy bills over the lifetime of the home, but the Trump administration did not publish the rule.

The DOE's approach would use a tiered system with stronger efficiency requirements applied to more expensive units in order to limit upfront cost increases and ensure strong cost/benefit savings over the life of the unit. Utility Dive

Agelbert NOTE: Energy use per square foot is the WRONG way to look at manufactured homes. I live in one (see picture above 🤠) and, not only do I use far less energy overall than the average stick built (i.e. "traditional") home in the US, but I use less per square foot as well. Sure, I may be more frugal than most in energy use, but the point, from a national energy use perspective, the one the DOE SHOULD be basing their standards on, is that the average home in the US has TWICE (or more) as much area in square feet to heat and cool and run pipes and wires through (and so on) as the average manufactured home. Consequently, traditonal homes (average size in US is 2,301 square feet) use FAR MORE energy per home than manufactured homes. The "per square foot" metric is 😈 statistical sleight of hand similar to the gamed stats the EIA (Energy 🦕 Information Adminstration) publishes.

My home has 980 square feet. That is LESS than HALF the 2,301 square feet size of an average home. The point is that the larger sized homes should be targeted for tighter standards first, simply because they are the biggest energy use hogs in the US. The 'per square foot' use is a ridiculous metric because ALL homes have a kitchen and a refrigerator and a water heater from the getgo. That means that, as you add square feet of building, your added energy costs are from heating or cooling ONLY, NOT cooking and food refrigeration (NOTE: Energy use on lighting in extra rooms is minuscule compared with kitchen and water heater energy demands.). Thus, as the home square footage increases, the AVERAGE energy use per square foot DECREASES, while the the OVERALL energy use INCREASES.

Anyone with an elementary knowledge of energy use in homes could figure that out. I am certain that the DOE would figure that out if they took the trouble to compute energy use per square foot of KITCHEN (and water heater space) in ALL American homes. THEN those giant freezers and oversized appliances (see: refrigerators, water heaters, etc.) in traditional homes would prove that traditional homes are the ones that actually use more energy (BY FAR MORE THAN 70%!) per square foot.

That said, I agree tighter standards for ALL homes are a good thing. If the government will subsidize solar panels, improved insulation and heat pump installation for the owners of manufatured homes, who are, like me, low income folks, that certainly would be a welcome action.

We manufactured home owners are the least economically able of all home owners to pay the cost of making our homes carbon neutral. Making us the whipping boy of the DOE is exactly the wrong approach to reducing energy use per square foot in homes in the USA.