Energy-efficient and Grid-interactive Zero Carbon Manufactured Homes
Institute of Gas Technology dba GTI Energy
Recipient
Davis, CA
Recipient Location
$27,456
Amount Spent
Completed
Project Status
Project Result
This project is under a stop work order as of the end of 2025. The project team is working to replace lost project demonstration sites for the manufactured homes. Once sutiable sites are identified the project team will seek CEC approval to restart the project.
The Issue
Manufactured homes are built quickly and more affordably in a factory setting compared to standard construction. However, manufactured homes are built to meet the U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) efficiency standards, which are less energy efficient than the Title 24 Building Energy Efficiency Standards. As a result, ratepayers in this sector, who are often low-income, pay more in energy costs than those who live in homes built to current Title 24 Standards.
Research and innovation are needed to demonstrate how manufactured homes can be made energy efficient and to develop pathways to cost-effectively integrate various energy efficiency measures. Education and stakeholder engagement are needed to enable broad adoption of manufactured homes.
Project Innovation
The project will demonstrate Zero Carbon Operation of advanced, all-electric manufactured homes with integrated PV and battery in low-income communities. We will show the benefits of these homes in drastically reducing electric utility costs and lowering emissions. We will also evaluate affordability with respect to first cost and 10-year cost of ownership, considering operational energy costs. The specific objectives are to:
Build and commission energy efficient, all-electric manufactured homes with integrated PV and battery energy storage.
Perform field validation of Zero Carbon Operation.
Perform techno-economic analysis.
Demonstrate a pathway to a 10-year cost of ownership of the advanced manufactured homes to be equal to or lower than HUD homes, considering energy cost savings.
Solicit and consolidate the input of community and regional leaders and to build capacity with planning and permitting authorities to enable advanced manufactured housing.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
This project will demonstrate benefits from energy efficient design of manufactured homes, PV and energy storage for grid flexibility and backup power during outages, and use of building materials with enhanced fire resistance. Combination of energy efficiency, PV and energy storage will enable lower energy demand and drastically lower energy bills via time-of-use rates.
Affordability
Combination of energy efficiency, PV and energy storage will enable lower energy demand and drastically lower energy bills via time-of-use rates.
Reliability
On-site PV generation, battery energy storage, and potentially thermal energy storage (TES) will be implemented for demand response and providing back-up power to critical loads during grid outages, including the ability to operate the homes in islanded mode.
Key Project Members
Kaushik Biswas
Subrecipients
Frontier Energy, Inc.
Rocky Mountain Institute
WattTime
Dvele, Inc.
Civicwell
Four Waters Media
Match Partners
Institute of Gas Technology dba GTI Energy
Dvele, Inc.
