Last Month, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced 15 research and development partnerships to help dramatically improve the energy efficiency of American homes. Representatives from the manufactured housing industry were selected as one of those partnerships, who will share in $30 million for the initial eighteen months of the projects to deliver innovative energy efficiency strategies to the residential market and address barriers to bringing high-efficiency homes within the reach of Americans.

Advanced Residential Integrated Energy Solutions (ARIES) led by the Systems Building Research Alliance (SBRA) will focus on energy solutions for new and existing affordable housing including factory- and site-built homes. MHI and the Manufactured Housing Educational Institute (MHEI) are members of the team. Mark Ezzo, V.P. of Clayton Homes will chair a steering committee composed of organizations that represent the affordable housing industry and will be responsible for reviewing ARIES activities and guiding the focus and scope of proposed efforts. Fifty organizations including implementers, product suppliers, and trainers will participate and will be primary partners in developing, evaluating, and conducting teams research. Among the organizations represented are manufactured and modular homebuilders, land-lease communities, non-profit affordable housing organizations, lenders and utilities.

A technical team headed by Emanuel Levy of SBRA will be responsible for facilitating and completing contracted tasks. The team includes NTA, Inc, the Energy Corp., Southern Energy Management, and Syracuse Center of Excellence will be primarily responsible for managing the work, assembling the project partners, performing the technical tasks and overseeing contract administration. Emanuel Levy and Jordan Dentz will be responsible for facilitating the work of the ARIES team.

If you are a member and have questions, contact MHI Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Lois Starkey at lstarkey@mfghome.org.