State Energy Offices, NASEO, and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) launched the Manufactured Housing Energy Efficiency and Affordability Initiative to improve access to energy-efficient manufactured homes across the United States. Initiative members are sharing best practices and collaborating to:
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Address the high cost of heating and cooling manufactured homes;
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Create lower-cost, public-private financing options for energy-efficient manufactured home purchases;
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Identify opportunities for existing manufactured homeowners to replace their homes with more efficient manufactured homes, or improve their homes’ energy efficiency to lower energy costs; and,
Upcoming Meetings for the Manufactured Housing Energy Efficiency and Affordability Initiative:
Event details TBA.
Past Meetings for the Manufactured Housing Energy Efficiency and Affordability Initiative:
March 22, 2024, 2:00-3:00 PM ET - This State and Territory Energy Offices-only meeting featured presentations from the State Energy Offices of Colorado, Minnesota, and New Hampshire on pilot projects funded through the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) Energy Innovation Grants in 2023, to support weatherization, energy efficiency, and electrification measures in existing manufactured homes and manufactured home parks. Amidst the ongoing implementation of these projects, the State Energy Office presenters discussed lessons learned and best practices around topics including community engagement, developing eligibility criteria, managing energy burden, and project management. The presentation slides can be found here.
January 26, 2024, 2:00-3:00 PM ET - The NASEO Manufactured Housing Energy Efficiency and Affordability Initiative convened a State and Territory Energy Office-only meeting to present new resources and innovative proposals around electrification and increasing the energy efficiency of new and existing manufactured homes. This webinar featured presentations from the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC) and AESC on a manufactured home characterization study conducted in California through the CalNext program, and from E4theFuture on a scalable incentive program proposal to increase the uptake of the Zero Energy Ready Homes standard across newly purchased manufactured homes.
October 27, 2023, 1:00-2:00 PM ET - This meeting featured presentations from ACEEE and partners of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) around federal funding opportunities that State Energy Offices and their fellow state agency, non-profit, and/or utility partners can pursue to improve the energy efficiency of manufactured housing. The presentations detailed the latest guidance from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on 45L tax credits for manufacturers, as well as forthcoming funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and other federal agencies for states to expand or establish programs to support eligible energy improvements on existing manufactured homes or facilitate replacements among aging manufactured homes facing compounding energy and structural performance issues that would result in energy savings.
August 25, 2023, 1:00-2:00 PM ET - This meeting featured presentations from Efficiency Maine on the Maine Whole Home Heat Pump Solutions Pilot and the Oregon Department of Energy on the Oregon Rental Home Heat Pump Program, statewide programs that both advance the adoption of all-electric heat pumps for heating and cooling within manufactured homes through direct installation and incentive measures, respectively. The Florida Solar Energy Center also presented on their Photovoltaic (PV)-powered, Grid Enhanced Mechanical Solution (GEMS), a whole building retrofit measure being developed for manufactured homes and other housing types.
April 28, 2023, 1:00-2:00 PM ET - This meeting featured a presentation from NASEO on an upcoming resource on state program considerations for establishing a loan loss reserve to support the affordable replacement of aged manufactured homes with more energy efficient units. This meeting also prefaced future topics for convenings of the Manufactured Housing Energy Efficiency and Affordability Initiative and upcoming one-on-one technical support for states participating in the Initiative.
February 24, 2023, 1:00-2:00 PM ET - This meeting featured a presentation from inclusive Prosperity Capital on their support for the Connecticut Smart-E Loans program, a loan loss reserve program to help homeowners access low-cost financing for home energy upgrades, as well as a presentation from NASEO on updated website resources, the applicability of loan loss reserves to replacement programs for manufactured homes, and the intended DOE and NASEO technical support for manufactured housing programs in states participating in the Manufactured Housing Energy Efficiency and Affordability Initiative.
February 3, 2023, 1:00-2:00 PM ET - This meeting, moderated by the Maine Governor's Energy Office, featured presentations from Northwest Energy Works, Mitsubishi, and Johnson Controls on the feasibility of heat pumps as an electrified heating and cooling systems for manufactured homes. These presentations led to a detailed discussion of challenges around product availability and installation challenges, with mention of a successful and scalable cold-climate heat pump pilot in the state of Maine.
January 6, 2023, 1:00-2:00 PM ET - This meeting featured presentations from DOE and NASEO that provided an overview of credit enhancement financing mechanisms for the purchase of new manufactured homes, specifications from the new DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes recognition program and EPA ENERGY STAR Manufactured Homes v3.2, and a summary of Section 40502 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the Energy Efficient Revolving Loan Funds Program, as a potential funding source for credit enhancement financing programs.
Opportunities for State Energy Offices
Newly built units: The graphic below is a representation of the stakeholders involved in the sales and distribution of newly built manufactured homes. These connections are an opportunity for a program or policy.
Existing units: Weatherization and electrification programs have emerged as priorities for State Energy Offices. The following are resources and funding opportunities for State Energy Offices to consider under each of these topics.
- Weatherization and efficiency
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Electrification
Replacement: NASEO has compiled a webpage on existing state-run loan loss reserve programs for improvements to existing site-built and manufactured homes.
Tax Credits for Manufacturers
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) amended Internal Revenue Code Section 45L to provide manufacturers with $2,500 in base-level tax credits for new manufactured homes that meet the ENERGY STAR Manufactured New Homes National Program Requirements, or up to $5,000 in tax credits for new manufactured homes that meet the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Zero Energy Ready Homes (ZERH) Program requirements. These new 45L rules apply to qualified energy efficient homes acquired after December 31, 2022, and before January 1, 2033, for use as a residence during the taxable year.
Sources for State-Specific Manufactured Housing Data
Data Tables: This is a link to the published data sets from the Manufactured Housing Survey administered by the U.S. Census Bureau. This contains information on shipment volumes, sales prices, size of shipped units, and other selected characteristics.
2022 Manufactured Housing Institute Quick Facts: This infographic was developed by the Manufactured Housing Institute and provides is an overview of the manufactured housing industry in 2022.
Annual Production: This is a link to annual state-based data published by the Manufactured Housing Institute on shipment and manufacturing volumes for manufactured homes.
ENERGY STAR Manufactured Homes Market Share Report: This report by Systems Building Research Alliance (SBRA) captures 2020 data on the market share of ENERGY STAR Certified manufactured home shipments by state.
Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Maps: This is a link to an interactive map by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) that details home purchase loan origination types and application statuses by state for both manufactured homes and site-built homes.
A Slight Increase In the Supply of New Manufactured Housing Communities: This article published by Fannie Mae includes a heat map capturing the number of Manufactured Housing Communities by county.
Mobile Home Parks: This is a link to a map of all mobile home parks in the U.S. from the Homeland Infrastructure Foundation Level Data (HIFLD) database.
U.S. Energy Information Administration: This is a link to the 2020 Residential Energy Consumption, with publicly accessible microdata that include anonymized responses from residents of manufactured homes on housing characteristics, fuel use, thermal comfort, and energy affordability.
Additional Resources
Supporting Energy Efficient Manufactured Homes with Loan Loss Reserves
A NASEO-authored report from March 2024 that offers program implementation guidance for designing a loan loss reserve fund that supports affordable financing of energy-efficient manufactured housing.
Manufactured Housing in Rural America
A NASEO-authored report from April 2021 on how states are supporting the access of energy efficient and affordable manufactured homes for low-income and rural residents.
DOE’s Role in Manufactured Housing
The U.S. DOE funds research, demonstration, and field validation of energy-efficient construction methods; supports adoption of energy-efficient technologies and construction practices by manufacturers; and is collaborating with other federal agencies, states and utilities to support initiatives that make energy-efficient manufactured homes affordable for homebuyers.
Energy-Efficient Manufactured Homes
A DOE blog post that suggests energy efficiency improvements measures for manufactured homes, including strategies for optimizing insulation and installing renewable energy systems.
ENERGY STAR Manufactured New Homes
The ENERGY STAR label for manufactured homes is based on specifications that would make a home at least 10% more efficient than a model built to minimum HUD manufactured housing code.