Advancing Energy Efficiency in Manufactured Homes Through High Performance Envelope
Advancing energy efficiency in manufactured homes.
Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.
Recipient
Palo Alto, CA
Recipient Location
13th
Senate District
23rd
Assembly District
$1,656,468
Amount Spent
Active
Project Status
Project Update
As of the end of 2025, the team has finished monitoring the energy use of all three homes and collected survey responses from all residents. Work is underway to finalize reporting on all phases of the project in 2026. The team continues its outreach efforts to inform policy makers, California regulatory agencies, utilities, HUD, and other researchers about project findings and learnings.
The Issue
Current manufactured housing in California is subjected to national HUD standards, which are significantly less stringent than CA Title 24 requirements, disproportionately increasing the energy burden of the low-income families common among manufactured homes. When compared to Title 24 compliance, HUD construction falls short and increases energy consumption while likely reducing occupant comfort. Additionally, plant acceptance and product cost remain as key barriers. Unless mandated, plants see little value to add more costly, unfamiliar technologies into their manufacturing processes. Unless the technology is clearly more cost-effective, plants will likely not pursue the technology further.
Project Innovation
The project integrates several advances in manufactured home design and construction that taken together provide a model for how the industry can cost-effectively achieve the state's energy and fire safety goals. To achieve these goals, the project consists of two parallel and overlapping design-development tracks: innovative envelope systems and comprehensive solutions for meeting requirements of Title 24. The team focused on advancing envelope innovations that hold the promise of improving thermal performance and fire resilience without adding substantial cost. Outreach was held to the industry throughout the project, including to the top five major producers of manufactured housing in the United States, the primary national regulator HUD and California utilities and regulators.
Project Goals
Determine the least cost and scalable pathway for manufactured homes to meet Title 24
Project Benefits
Advancing the energy efficiency from national HUD standards to CA Title 24 zero net energy standards while keeping both first costs and utility bills low will create efficient and healthy manufactured homes that could substantially transform the need for housing in the State and help address the affordability crisis. When adding in the costs of health impacts, resulting from better indoor air quality by eliminating combustion, it provides even greater benefits to the society and its occupants as a whole. These innovations improve competitiveness of manufactured homes against standard single family homes, and provide ratepayers with an attractive option for housing that will simultaneously reduce energy bills.
Affordability
Affordability
The increased energy efficiency of the home due to improved envelope measures significantly reduce heating and cooling costs. Also, high efficiency systems include the heat pump water heater, heat pump HVAC, low amperage appliances, LED lighting contribute to lowering the base electric load. This home also features a smart panel deployment which limits and optimizes building loads.
Safety
Safety
The project exceeds the HUD standard for fire safety incorporating non-combustible materials and Wildlands Urban Interface standard approaches into the building envelope design, augmenting the occupant's defense and timeline to escape in the case of a fire, while simultaneously providing extra energy efficiency and a higher performing thermal envelope to maintain internal comfort and safety through outages and extreme weather events.
Key Project Members
Andra Rogers
Program Manager
Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.
Agatha Kazdan
Principal Technical Leader
Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.
Mazen Daher
Engineer/Scientist III
EPRI
Subrecipients
Match Partners
Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.
Systems Building Research Alliance
