In Eatontown, N.J., the owners of the Pine Tree Manufactured Home Park, along with the Affordable Housing Alliance (AHA) launched a net-zero home project to reduce overall homeownership costs for residents.
Nonprofit Next Step brought together builder Champion Homes with the AHA for the project. Once the homes were built, ductless heating and air conditioning solutions from Panasonic were installed to bring down utility costs. "The ductless unit was installed at the factory, so the refrigerant lines were fully charged, and was shipped to site ready for use," Victor Flynn, product manager for Panasonic heating and cooling solutions, tells ProudGreenHome.com. Testing on the homes will continue until mid-2018.
The trailer park already had older manufactured homes already on it, but they were out of date and inefficient. The Alliance knew that utility costs were a large part of what made older manufactured homes expensive for residents. Depending on the season, residents were paying $400 to $500 per month in utilities and oil and propane costs were on the rise. A lack of insulation meant the homes were wasting vast amounts of energy to maintain a comfortable temperature. Because of this, the new models needed to be well insulated and have energy- efficient and cost-effective utilities.
Advertisement
Related Stories
Off-Site Construction
New Study Examines Barriers and Solutions in Manufactured Housing
The study from Harvard's Joint Center looks at the challenges faced by developers using manufactured housing and how they're overcoming those barriers
Affordability
The Disappearing Act That Is Middle-Income Housing
An expert weighs in on the diminishing supply of middle-income housing, which is particularly acute in California, and what to do about it
Off-Site Construction
Utah Passes Bill to Regulate Modular Construction at the State Level
Goals for housing innovation and affordability meet in Utah's passage of a new bill that establishes a statewide modular construction program
