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Biden standard for manufactured homes will leave low-income households with high energy bills
(ACEEE blog, 18 May 2022) Biden administration standards for manufactured homes will boost the efficiency of more than half of new units, but in a major shortcoming, will require little improvement for smaller models, leaving future low-income residents with high energy bills.
Finalized today, the long-awaited standards from the Department of Energy (DOE) will require a majority of new manufactured homes (often known as mobile homes) to have significantly more insulation than they must today, as well as other energy-efficiency improvements. But all of the homes will still be allowed to be far less efficient than site-built homes in states with up-to-date codes. And the smaller “single-wide” models delivered on a truck in just one section—representing about 45% of today’s new manufactured homes—may still be made with only thin insulation or with single-pane windows. The efficiency requirements for those homes will be only slightly stronger than those in place since 1994.
“Residents of poorly insulated manufactured homes have paid high energy bills for far too long. This rule gives manufacturers the green light to keep building models with the same problems,” said Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). “It’s going to leave many of the lowest-income households paying painfully high utility bills for even more years to come. Going forward the administration certainly shouldn’t make a habit of letting manufacturers make more-wasteful homes and products for lower-income people.”
ACEEE blog, 18 May 2022: Biden standard for manufactured homes will leave low-income households with high energy bills
