MHMSM.com presents News at Noon with Erin Patla
Coming up, Virginia Tech’s Prefab Lumenhaus Wins Solar Decathlon Europe
But first…these stories.
Deer Valley Corporation Increases
Production Rates to Stabilize Growing
Backlog
TAMPA, FL–(Marketwire – 06/28/10) – Deer Valley Corporation today is informing shareholders that the Company’s average production rates for the 2nd quarter have risen to 25 floors per week, a 30% increase in comparison to production rates for the 1st quarter of 2010 and 41% in comparison to the second quarter of 2009. As of June 28, 2010, the aggregate value of orders in the Company’s backlog has also increased to $3.6 million as compared to $2 million at the end of the 1st Quarter of 2010 and $1.2 million at the end of the 2nd Quarter of 2009.
When asked about the relatively rapid increase in sales activity, Mr. Chet Murphree, Deer Valley’s vice-president of marketing, observed, “As our shareholders are well aware, we are living through complex economic times which have brought particular stress to our industry. We believe a number of factors have played a part in contributing to Deer Valley’s recent success. First, the Company’s new financial arm is providing critical inventory financing for growing number of our independent dealers. Secondly, Deer Valley’s finished drywall product line is targeted toward a market segment which appears to have been less affected by the tightening of retail mortgage underwriting criteria. Finally, many buyers in our targeted market niche were able to take advantage of the federal government’s recent tax credit program. When taken all together, our company has been blessed to see a significant upturn in our business level even as the nation’s credit challenges continue.” Mr. Murphree went on to caution, “The expiration of the tax credit program combined with high unemployment rates in our market area can be expected to continue to have a dampening effect on sales throughout the remainder of 2010.”
Deer Valley is a growth-oriented manufactured home builder with headquarters in Tampa, Florida and operations in Guin, Alabama. The Company is stated they are dedicated to offering high quality homes that are delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, and personal pride. The Company also owns one idle plant in Sulligent, Alabama.
The corporate offices of Deer Valley Corporation are located at 3111 W. Dr. MLK Blvd., Tampa, Florida 33607
Maryland family to win free new house –
on TV
A little more information on a story reported yesterday, Excel Homes, the manufacturer of custom modular homes, is partnering with the Maryland Community Builders Foundation to provide a new home for a Baltimore-area family. The work and presentation will be aired on the ABC home improvement show, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”
Excel’s Maryland partner, builder Artisan Fine Homes, will help complete the modular-style home in six days, starting July 10. Construction and custom work to the home will broadcast on ABC in the fall, according to the Home Builders Association of Maryland for which the Maryland Community Builders Foundation raises funds.
Excel will manufacture modules for the home at its plant in Avis, Pa., then deliver them to the site for assembly. An “Extreme Makeover” team then will complete and customize the home.
Organizers have been “sworn to secrecy” regarding details of the home and its recipient, but an announcement on the Home Builders website said that several families are being considered.
“Up next, Virginia Tech’s Prefab Lumenhaus Wins Solar Decathlon Europe”
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and “Now, back to the news…”
Program’s goal is to improve energy efficiency of homes
Winston-Salem Journal
BOONE — The N.C. Energy Office is introducing a $3.7 million program to improve energy efficiency in homes, designating Appalachian State University’s Energy Center as one of two centers to work with the state.
The center and Systems Building Research Alliance, a nonprofit consortium of electric utilities and manufactured- and modular-home building companies, will work toward improving energy efficiency in nearly 2,500 single-family houses, 480 multifamily units and 1,700 manufactured homes.
The program is intended to demonstrate energy improvements make homes more attractive to buyers, generate demand for energy-efficient homes and result in long-term energy savings.
This program is financed by the federal government as part of the economic stimulus program.
Virginia Tech’s Prefab Lumenhaus Wins Solar Decathlon Europe
The prefab homes of the future won’t just be relatively cheap and easy to build on the fly–they’ll also be ultra-sustainable. For evidence of what these homes will look like, we need only direct our attention toward this year’s European Solar Decathlon, which asks teams to “clearly demonstrate that solar houses can be built without sacrificing energy efficiency or comfort, and that they can be both attractive and affordable.”
This year’s winner of the 10-day competition was Virginia Tech’s Lumenhaus, an 800-square-foot solar-powered home inspired by architect Mies Van Der Rohe’s Farnsworth House. Virginia Tech’s zero-energy home comes with electronic systems monitored by an iPhone app along with LEDs, photovoltaic panels covering the roof, and multiple glass walls for maximum sun exposure. The modular design also features “plug-in stairs and entryways” that can be stacked up to create a two, three, or four-bedroom home.
The Lumenhaus team explains its design approach:
Where most energy-conscious houses are closed with strategic openings to resist heat transfer, LUMENHAUS has open, flowing spaces linking occupants to each other within the house and to nature outside. The fully automated Eclipsis System, comprising independent sliding layers, permits a revolutionary design in a solar-powered house, while filtering light in beautiful, flowing patterns throughout the day. LUMENHAUS epitomizes a “whole building design” construction approach, in which all the home’s components and systems have been designed to work together to maximize user comfort with environmental protection.
Lumenhaus was one of only two U.S. teams competing in the European decathlon–the University of Florida’s RE:FOCUS house came in 8th place. The Virginia Tech home beat the University of Applied Sciences in Germany’s Ikaros project by a single point.
Next year, we’ll be watching the U.S. Solar Decathlon for hints of what’s to come in the European version–Lumenhaus placed 13th out of 20 in last year’s competition before the Virginia Tech team updated the home for this year’s competition across the pond.
You can check out a video of Lumenhaus at http://mhmsm.com/10/309.
You can find more news every day, 24.7/365 at the MHMSM.com factory built housing trade journal website.
“On behalf of Production and IT Manager Bob Stovall, Editor Tony Kovach and the entire MHMSM.com writing and support team, this is Erin Patla, G’day!”
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