Manufactured Home Energy Audit (MHEA)Users Manual (Version 7)
The Manufactured Home Energy Audit (MHEA) is a software tool that predicts manufactured home energy consumption and recommends weatherization retrofit measures. It was developed to assist local weatherization agencies working with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program. Whether new or experienced, employed within or outside the Weatherization Assistance Program, all users can benefit from incorporating MHEA into their manufactured home weatherization programs. DOE anticipates that the state weatherization assistance programs that incorporate MHEA into their programs will find significant growth in the energy and cost savings achieved from manufactured home weatherization. The easy-to-use MHEA uses a relatively standard Windows graphical interface for entering simple inputs and provides understandable, usable results. The user enters information about the manufactured home construction, heating equipment, cooling equipment appliances, and weather site. MHEA then calculates annual energy consumption using a simplified building energy analysis technique. Weatherization retrofit measures are evaluated based on the predicted energy savings after installation of the measure, the measure cost, and the measure life. Finally, MHEA recommends retrofit measures that are energy and cost effective for the particular home being evaluated. MHEA evaluates each manufactured home individually and takes into account local weather conditions, retrofit measure costs, and fuel costs. The recommended package of weatherization retrofit measures is tailored to the home being evaluated. More traditional techniques apply the same package of retrofit measures to all manufactured homes, often the same set of measures that are installed into site-built homes. Effective manufactured home weatherization can be achieved only by installing measures developed specifically for manufactured homes. The unique manufactured home construction characteristics require that each of these measures is evaluated separately in order to devise a package of measures that will result in high energy and dollar savings. MHEA stands apart from other building energy analysis tools in many ways. Calculations incorporated into the computer code specifically address manufactured home heating and cooling load trends. The retrofit measures evaluated by MHEA are all applicable to manufactured homes. Help messages describe common manufactured home weatherization practices as well as provide hints on how to install retrofit measures. These and other features help make MHEA easy to use when evaluating energy consumption and the effects of weatherization retrofit measures for manufactured homes. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory originally developed MHEA for the U.S. Department of Energy Weatherization Assistance Program. Conversion to a Windows-based program with additional modifications has been performed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Many energy consumption and economic calculations resemble those found in the Computerized Instrumented Residential Audit written by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the National Energy Audit written by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The calculations are similar in structure but have been altered to more accurately represent a manufactured home's unique energy use characteristics. Most importantly, MHEA helps meet the DOE Weatherization Assistance Program goals to increase client comfort and use federal dollars wisely.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 885727
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/TM-2002/186; TRN: US200617%%154
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Validation of the Manufactured Home Energy Audit (MHEA)
Weatherization Assistant NEAT/MHEA