New Mexico’s Attorney General Hector Balderas has joined several states in urging the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to adopt cost-effective energy efficiency standards for manufactured houses (commonly known as mobile homes).
In a letter submitted in response to an August 2021 DOE proposal, the states, along with local government officials, request that DOE apply minimum energy standards across the board, including to the lowest priced homes. DOE has proposed two potential approaches – uniform minimum standards for all models, or a “tiered” approach that would apply less stringent standards for units below a certain price threshold.
“Living in low income housing and mobile homes throughout my childhood in Wagon Mound, I have felt the burden of unpredictable energy costs,” said Balderas. “New Mexico has twice the national average of manufactured homes, and while they are an affordable housing option for many New Mexicans, higher energy costs should not be imposed on Consumers trapping them in a cycle of debt.”
The proposed rules are in response to a Congressional mandate in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Manufactured housing accounts for about six percent of all homes in the United States. Because the average energy cost per square foot of a manufactured home is 70 percent higher than a site-built home, applying energy efficiency standards to them would save households billions of dollars in energy costs, while reducing the carbon footprint of this important sector of the affordable housing market.
The standards imposed by the rule will vary according to climate zone. The comments also point to evidence in analyses performed by DOE and by affordable housing experts showing that manufactured houses will remain affordable for the lowest income buyers under a non-tiered rule. This is due in part to the availability of federal and state tax incentives and loan assistance to these buyers, and in part to the fact that homes are typically owned for longer than the period required for energy cost savings to exceed the increase in purchase price, which is a little more than 10 years on average.
To read the full letter, click here.