Plunge into the "Green" Pool

by Steven Lefler

How can the manufacturing and modular home building industry surpass the conventional home builders during this economic window of opportunity in house construction business?

Everywhere you turn, the TV, Radio and Print Ads are "Green" this and "Green" that. Energy Saving, Cleaner "Green" cars, trucks, buses; household products, light bulbs, waste, and laundry detergent. What is a consumer to do, where to go, which product to choose? Many homeowners are bombarded with new "Green" remodeling ideas. Tune in and watch "HGTV" channel for these kinds of shows.  There are new products for cleaning, for home improvement, that are better for the environment and improve the convenience of living. Where and how does one decide to change their present lifestyle to find a "Green" one?

The manufactured and modular home building industry is capable of jumping and passing the conventional home builders during this economic window of opportunity in the house construction business. Their choice is simple. These manufactures can start by building to the California's Title 24 code >15% (Tier 1). In my opinion, These homes may exceed certain aspects of HUD in construction, can be placed into communities and are energy efficient.

For example, Modular Lifestyles took the plunge into the "Green" pool by demanding that its Oct 2009 Ojai Project home be built to exceed this code. This development is 22 spaces in a gated community of seniors and the County of Ventura required a 62+ age restriction when the community was completed in 2007. Though the factory was resistant at first to build to these standards, the engineering department reviewed them and successfully built the home to the 2005 Tier 1 standard. The request for the factory to use "Green" building materials to be used was granted. If you are not familiar with CA Title 24 Tier 1 standards, the home must calculate 15% above standard constructed houses and be compliant to receive the "Energy Star" designation. This is an excellent way to distinguish your home's current as well as the resale value versus a neighbor's manufactured home or typical house.

The question is, what would the buyer of an "Energy Star," energy efficient, small solar system home expect to achieve? No one could possibly know when they try and sell one. So the selling technique "Under-promise and Over-deliver" was used to fullest advantage.

The Ojai Project home is now 9 months old. The home exceeded Title 24 by 19%. The customer lives normally in Climate Zone 9 of Ojai, CA and has successfully paid the year-to-date electrical bill with the electrical credits generated from his small solar array system. So the electric bill is "0." The natural gas bill to date is $143.00 for the same period. The neighbors have spent (to date) over $830.00 on their combined utility costs. This is still the summer and the neighbors are in for four more months of A/C costs. Ojai summer months are typically over 90 degrees. The Ojai project home has no furnace or A/C. It has an energy-efficient high-seer heat pump. The home is now at the peak of electrical generation; even with the heat, the duration and credits of the solar array generation will offset the cooling electrical needs of the heat pump. The home has pre-plumb solar thermal and a rainwater collection system.

The manufacture builder/retailer need to look to the future, review its choices and sell the customer on the idea to build this "Green" kind of home. One Ojai homeowner is 62+ in age, lives in the home 24/7, paid cash, has a space rent of $595 and is on fixed income. The home's cost is several hundred thousand dollars below the remaining 9 homes on the tour. Those patrons will be surprised on the tour.

The manufacture builder/retailer may sell the buyer "Green" as a laundry list item in an option package and say, "This home is green," but frankly cannot confirm or offer to validate the energy efficiency of that home. They must first build one. There is even a retailer's green-homes website that contains a "You Tube" video of some other builder's green home. The manufacturing company does not much care about the performance of a home after it is built. Their involvement is limited to the customer purchase and after-market warranty items. The sale of the home is usually dictated by the builder/retailer. The energy efficiency of the home usually rests with the homeowner, once given the keys, to live into the experience with belief in the salesperson's "Green" pitch.

Modular Lifestyles has even built a home for "Demo" at the recent "Green Expo" in Sacramento, CA. This home calculated at 25.3% of Title 24 for climate zone 12, energy star, CA Advanced award and was the featured attraction. This home was an AARP- and ADA-inspired floor plan. The home was pre-plumb for a "Grey Water Simple System" where only the kitchen sink with garbage disposal and the toilet drained to the sewer pipe. The shower/tub bath sinks and the washer drain out to the yard through our filter box. We even introduced the "Laundry Pure," where soap, dryer sheets and hot water are not needed for the washer. The "Ecojohn" toilet was presented showing "Off Grid" capabilities for no sewer/no septic needed. The Solar array was 2 KWH with a 500 WATT "Energy Ball" wind turbine. The home had on display both a Glycol and Water "Sunmaxx" solar thermal water heater setup. The electrical calculations for the home were 61 AMPS for 100 AMP service. No furnace. No A/C; just plumbed for a heat pump. The 3000+ visitors had never seen an affordable home with this number of "Green" technologies on display.

Learn more about how to make energy efficient homes for manufactured home communities.

Steven Lefler attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, obtaining a degree in B.S. in Natural Resources Management with a minor in Business Administration. Steve is presently serving as the Vice President for "Modular Lifestyles, Inc." He holds a California "HCD" Salesperson license and 22 years as a "REALTOR" with the DRE. Modular Lifestyles, Inc. (a subsidiary of Newport Pacific Capital Corporation), is a leader and winner of awards for "Green" homes, customer service, new home sales, used home sales, home planning, acquisition, home warranty service and site construction for manufactured housing for both customer land and Mobile Home Parks throughout the State of California. Steve recently became Advanced Certified "Green" building professional with BuildItGreen.org and is now building towards a self sustaining (Net Zero), solar powered, wind powered, factory built, energy efficient affordable manufactured house for seniors and families in the California market. He has been featured in newspapers and magazines on his passion for affordable "Green," for his willingness to try new ideas and his "out-of-the-box" thinking.