(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) At the end of the month, the Biden administration will implement harsh and nigh-useless energy demands for mobile-home manufacturing companies, effectively raising costs for low-income home buyers.
The rules—which will go into effect on May 31—will force insulation and sealing updates, along with other efficiency standards for manufactured homes.
According to the Daily Caller, the updates may save consumers $177 to $475 per year on utilities, but they were expected, nonetheless, to have an “adverse” impact on potential buyers as prices for the homes will increase by an estimated $4,100 to $4,500.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm claimed that the lowered cost of utilities and benefits to the environment were a win–win for both consumers and climate change; however, several industry experts disagreed.
“According to the DOE’s own estimates, over a 30-year period, the new rule will reduce CO2 emissions by 80.4 million metric tons,” said Jonathan Lesser of the Manhattan Institute, citing the DOE’s regulatory analysis.
“By comparison, according to the 2022 BP Statistical Review of World Energy, U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions were 4.7 billion metric tons,” he added. “So, over a 30-year period, the new rule will reduce CO2 emissions by the equivalent of 150 hours of US emissions in 2022. Obviously, this rule will have zero impact on climate.”
Other industry researchers asserted that the new regulations, coupled with already sky-high home prices and mortgage rates, will further deter buyers.
“Not only does [the DOE rule] increase the upfront cost of buying a home for lower-income families, but by the time these additional costs pay themselves off, a new generation of heating and cooling equipment will likely be available, which will use less energy,” said Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni. “That means the energy savings over the life of the home will not be as high as projected.”
Lesser asserted that the rule seems to have been “designed to force more low-income consumers into rentals, rather than being able to own their own homes.”
The Manufactured Housing Institute partnered with other companies producing mobile homes to levy a lawsuit against the federal government, calling the one-year compliance date “arbitrary, capricious, and impracticable.”
When the rule goes into effect, the companies will no longer be able to manufacture homes that cannot comply with the new standards. Several of the corporations expressed a willing desire to work with the government to find reasonable compromises between price and environmental regulations.
