1. Energy Efficiency

    Prefab Fore: Manufactured Housing Prioritizes Next-Gen Energy Efficiency within Mobile Home Industry

    March 26, 2025
    At close to 95,000 units annually, manufactured homes are a solid part of the national housing economy, and many home buyers also are demanding state-of-the-art energy efficiency assets within the wheeled domiciles.
    Image credit Champion Homes website
    67d9ade52380d8a7490132a1 Champion Homes

    Whether you call them mobile homes or trailer homes or, modern manufactured housing makes up close to 10% of new, single-family housing starts and plays a key role in residential living for many Americans.

    Although they lack the status and perhaps permanence of foundation-built residential homes, prefabricated housing builders produced close to 95,000 units per year. The residences are a solid part of the national housing economy, and many manufactured home buyers also are demanding state-of-the-art energy efficiency assets within the wheeled domiciles.

    According to the National Association of Home Builders’ 2021 “What Home Buyers Really Want” report, energy efficient features are one of the most-crucial features in a home. The survey stated that 83 percent of buyers require ENERGY STAR Certified windows, 81 percent of buyers need ENERGY STAR Certified appliances and 80 percent of buyers look for energy efficient lighting.

    Sustainable prefab homes focus on green and clean energy while utilizing low VOC (volatile organic compounds) or non-toxic materials. A sustainable home uses the newest recycled construction materials for internal walls, roofs, and insulation. For instance, recycled materials and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified timber are used for internal and roofing panels.

    Manufactured homebuilder Champion Homes Inc. recently launched its EcoWise series of units. These homes are designed to upgrade energy efficiency to a level that adding renewable energy assets can reportedly offset most or all of the home’s annual energy use, according to Champion’s release.

    Showcasing what Champion Homes called its most energy efficient designs to date, EcoWise™ homes meet or exceed the federal government's most rigorous guidelines for high-performance homes as a part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Zero Energy Ready Home program. EcoWise™ is available now in the Northeastern United States for homes built by Champion Homes’s Sangerfield, N.Y., manufacturing facility.

    “We’re thrilled to launch EcoWise in the Northeast region as a demonstration of Champion Homes’s commitment to sustainability,” said Champion Homes Regional Vice President, Northeast, David Reed, in a statement. “EcoWise homes are exceptionally high-quality houses that offer buyers lower utility bills and an overall more comfortable living environment.”

    DOE has a website on Affordable and Energy Efficient Manufactured Housing. This page includes info on high-efficiency heating and cooling systems as well as ENERGY STAR-certified appliances. For the Champion Homes’ EcoWise line, the ENERGY STAR appliances and fixtures include Whirlpool washers and dryers, a programmable thermostat, Rheem Heat Pump water heaters and Airquest furnaces.

    Today's manufacturing housing also deploys high-efficiency windows and high-performance insulations in walls, floor and roof. Groups such as Electric Power Research Institute are working on all-electric and net-zero-friendly manufacturing housing projects. 

    An article in market publication Mobilehomesell.com ranks its most energy-efficient manufactured home lines, including the Imperial, TNR, Clayton Homes’ Satisfaction model, The Delight and the Mon Reve.

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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