(NECN: Jack Thurston, White River Junction, Vt.) - Advocates for energy efficiency and affordable housing in Vermont unveiled a new, high-performance manufactured home design Wednesday. They hope, long-term, homes like it could offer low-and-modest income homeowners a more efficient and valuable housing option.

Mobile homes amount for 7 percent of Vermont's housing stock, according to Gus Seelig of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. That would work out to be more than 20,000 mobile homes. Many are aging, and their designs waste heating fuel and electricity, added Efficiency Vermont, the state's energy efficiency utility.

Joel Ferris of South Royalton, Vt. is set to own the manufactured home shown to reporters Wednesday. He told New England Cable News he has lived on a very limited income since suffering a stroke nine years ago. "Nobody was expecting me to live," he remembered.

Ferris's new place to enjoy his second chance at life will be a big upgrade from his current, drafty 26-year-old mobile home, he said. "This is well-built," Ferris noted, explaining its thick, insulated walls, glazed windows, and appliance selection will save him money.

Ferris’s energy-efficient manufactured home is one of 10 to be constructed under a pilot collaboration called the Vermont Manufactured Housing Innovation Project. The idea emerged from Vermont's experience in Tropical Storm Irene back in 2011, when more than 500 mobile homes were damaged or destroyed in floodwaters. Mobile homes comprised 15 percent of the damaged or destroyed homes in Vermont, Seelig said.

The main question for the innovation project was, as opposed to just replacing the homes in ruined parks with other ones just like them, is there a stronger design? One that could better withstand extreme weather? One that doesn't guzzle expensive fuel oil and leak heat through thin walls and flimsy windows?

The result is a property that Efficiency Vermont says is 70 percent more efficient than a typical, brand-new mobile home.

"This is a real game-changer," said builder Steve Davis of Vermont High Performance Homes in White River Junction, which is building the initial round of homes.

Davis's work is one possible glimpse at the future of affordable housing, advocates for cutting power waste and for low-and-modest income people said. "Everyone, no matter your income demographic, has the right to live in something that doesn't price you out of being able to determine, 'Should I have medicine thus month? Should I have food this month? Or am I going to pay my heating bill?'" said Jim Merriam of Efficiency Vermont.

"I think trying to bring something to market that is more durable and more energy efficient is not just good for Vermont but good for other parts of the country as well," added Gus Seelig, who noted that mobile homes have suffered disproportionately in natural disasters including Tropical Storm Irene and the recent flooding in Colorado.

Tax rebates, subsidies from non-profits, and fixed bank rates will help folks like Joel Ferris afford the first 10 homes in the project. Their price tag is about $100,000. That is, according to materials included in a press release announcing the new project, about $30,000 more expensive up-front than traditional mobile homes. The same $30,000 figure is what is available in subsidies to the buyers of the first 10 homes, organizers added.

The theory behind the innovation project is that the manufactured homes will pay back their owners long-term and provide a better quality of life immediately. "I'm very excited," Joel Ferris beamed, looking around his future home.

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