Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in partnership with Champion Enterprises, Precision Panel Structures, Premier Building Systems, and other partners, have built what may be the most energy-efficient manufactured home ever constructed. The manufactured home is the first to be built using energy-efficient foam core panels. You can find out more about our partners in the Project Team section.

This demonstration project, sponsored by DOE and industry, marked the first assembly-line construction of a manufactured home with a shell made entirely from structural insulated panels (SIP). Champion built the home at its Redman factory in Silverton, Oregon. Two SIP producers, Premier Building Systems and Precision Panel Structures, provided the panels and hardware for the home, and sent work crews to help train Champion’s production line crew. The Photos section shows the house coming together through set up. Champion has set the house up at its factory in Silverton.

After construction the house underwent a 300 mile road test. The best indicator of the house’s structural performance was the presence (or lack) of cracks in the gypsom board finish materials used on the walls and ceiling. The house’s exterior walls, made with SIPs, had fewer cracks than would be expected in typical manufactured homes. Although this finding is difficult to quantify, the Oregon State inspector, Champion technicians, and PNNL staff were in agreement that typically stressed locations where cracks would normally be found, were devoid of cracks.

Prior to construction, Champion had received third-party approval for the SIP-based plan, which documents that the home meets HUD code. This documentation amounted to a significant first-time approval for a SIP-based approach in manufactured housing.

Computer analysis conducted by PNNL shows that the demonstration home should have heating and cooling costs up to 50 percent lower than a manufactured home built to the minimum HUD code. The Technical Information section includes a rendering of a SIP manufactured home, plans for the Champion home, and information on preliminary computer modeling of the SIP home’s energy consumption.

This site is maintained by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the U.S. Department of Energy.
Last modified: February 11, 2003 1:29 PM

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