Lead Performer: Slipstream – Madison, WI
Partners:
-- University of Central Florida – Orlando, FL
-- Washington State University – Pullman, WA
DOE Total Funding: $992,212
FY20 DOE Funding: $124,249
Cost Share: $250,050
Project Term: July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2023
Funding Type: Advanced Building Construction Funding Award
Project Objective
Manufactured housing (MH) represents one of the most affordable paths to home-ownership for American households. The heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems installed in manufactured homes can currently be characterized as low-cost systems that deliver expensively conditioned air through ductwork prone to leakage. This project team will facilitate feasibility assessment discussions and conduct proof-of-concept and field trial testing of various HVAC-related innovations for new manufactured homes.
The Slipstream team will evaluate, refine, and field-test new approaches for delivering space heating and cooling in manufactured homes to improve energy efficiency, durability and indoor air quality without significantly increasing production and MH siting costs. Objectives for the project:
- Implement a feasibility assessment of several duct-sealing and high-efficiency heat pump innovations and identify the most promising innovations based on market drivers and barriers, energy impacts and cost effectiveness.
- Implement proof-of-concept testing and field trials on the most promising innovations to further demonstrate feasibility.
- Provide detailed guidance to the MH industry for widespread adoption of HVAC-related innovation.
The project team has assembled a panel of expert advisors and enlisted the support of many industry partners to support the effort and ensure it produces results that will help the industry tap potential savings and deliver a superior product to its customers.
Project Impact
Project innovation around duct sealing seeks to address a significant shortcoming of current construction practices, and innovation with heat pumps seeks to introduce an inherently more efficient technology into this housing segment. In manufactured homes, duct leaks generally represent a direct loss of conditioned air to the outside and thus a large direct penalty on overall system efficiency. Obtaining consistently tight ducts that maintain their tightness over time—or eliminating the need for ductwork entirely—is a tremendous opportunity for improving the energy performance of MHs.
Modern inverter-driven air source heat pumps are significantly more efficient than older heat pump technology—and vastly more so than the electric-resistance heating that ships with many MHs. They are also capable of operating under much colder conditions than previous generations of heat pumps.
The project will focus on the hot-humid, cold, and marine climate regions that represent about 90% of MH shipments, and results are expected to be applicable nationwide. The combined innovations have potential for 57% reduction in space-conditioning primary energy, or 10.3 Tbtu of aggregate savings for the estimated 800,000 MHs that will be produced between 2023 and 2030.
Contacts
DOE Technology Manager: Eric Werling, Eric.Werling@ee.doe.gov
Lead Performer: Scott Pigg, Slipstream