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Freelance Photographer, Camera-Operator, Editor and Visual Designer

Clayton, a leading single-family home builder, recently made big #environmental news by deciding to convert nearly all of the 42,000 modern manufactured homes it builds annually to be certified ENERGY STAR and Zero Energy Ready Homes (#ZEHR). These certifications mean that its manufactured homes will be much more efficient, save homeowners money on their utility bills (up to 50%) and provide premium #energyefficient appliances that are often considered unaffordable to the average family. Clayton’s switch to ZERH also means nearly all of its homes now come with a #heatpump water heater (HPWH), which likely represents the single largest procurement of HPWHs in the history of the technology. To put it in context, the entire HPWH market in 2022 shipped 141,000 units, and Clayton alone will increase this total by 30%! Sales of heat pump water heaters have grown steadily since becoming certified by ENERGY STAR in 2009. Clayton’s decision to install them in approximately 42,000 manufactured homes a year will be a huge boost. Image courtesy of New Buildings Institute. The Reasons Clayton Made This Move Clayton’s decision to switch to heat pump water heaters is a success story for the #InflationReductionAct (IRA). The IRA increased the #taxcredit home builders receive for both ENERGY STAR-rated homes (from $1,000 to $2,500) and Zero Energy Ready Homes (from $2,000 to $5,000). Heat pump water heaters proved to be one of the key technologies that helped Clayton qualify for the full ZEHR tax credit. Ron Powell, president of manufacturing for Clayton Home Building Group, said, “Based on how we built ENERGY STAR 2.0 homes, one of the easiest ways to meet 3.0 standards was to swap the traditional dual element water heater for a heat pump water heater and add a heat pump for electric homes. But once we committed to the heat pumps, the conversation then turned to, ‘Why don’t we go all the way by building DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes?’” Clayton is calling its new Zero Energy Ready home eBuilt®. The company had 39 of its 40 home building facilities certified to produce to this standard by May 2023, and today 96% of all new Clayton home orders are eBuilt®. The homes feature LED lighting, smart thermostats, low-e windows with argon gas, insulated doors and thermal envelope, additional insulation, a heat pump water heater, and many of the homes have a heat pump for space conditioning as well. Thanks to the IRA tax credits, Clayton was able to offer a total of 25 efficiency features without raising its prices to the end consumer. Clayton’s eBuilt home. Heat pump water heater to the far right. Image courtesy of Clayton  36,000 eBuilt homes have already been manufactured, and in the first 6 months of production, Clayton built more ZEHR certified homes than all the other ZEHR certified homes built by other home builders since 2013.

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