Solar mobile homes

To the real estate editor: A reader asks if there are any mobile-home manufacturers now producing units with solar heating.

In 1979, Dave Schleiger, Steve Gilmore, and Tom Schlageter won a special commendation and first-place award in the passive design competition sponsored by the governor's office and the energy commission in California for a passive-solar envelope for mobile homes. They now are principals in Contextus Corporation of Chico, Calif.

The passive solar envelope for mobile homes will be available for both new and existing mobile homes by the summer of 1981.

We are currently evaluating both manufacturing processes and test data. A test envelope is being built to measure both heating and cooling efficiency of the envelope on a mobile home in northern California, where summer temperatures reach 110 degrees F. and drop to 30 degrees F. in the winter. George Forester Chico, Calif.