AHRI opposes ACES Act
The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute doesn't favor the 2009 Clean Energy and Security Act, stating the law will waste energy and eliminate jobs.
Source: AHRI -- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 5/29/2009 2:25:20 PM
The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) has announced its opposition to H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES Act), in its current form. If the bill is passed into law, it would, among many other onerous provisions, eviscerate the federal preemption provisions of the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA) and the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct).
AHRI president Stephen Yurek said that the ACES Act allows too much freedom to states in creating their own energy policy via perspective building codes, which would limit the services of air conditioning, heating, and commercial refrigeration manufacturers. That would threaten thousands of jobs, according to Yurek, due to adjusted efficiency levels all across the country that would change the standards for AHRI workers. The president also said that if Congress continues following NAECA and EPAct through 2030, the country will end up saving 54 quadrillion BTUs.
Instead of giving states control, the AHRI believes that Congress should update and expand the tax credits contained in the stimulus bill which give opportunity to more Americans to bring their heating and cooling systems to the federal minimum efficiency level.
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I have to agree with Mark. The public simply can not wait for rebates. Cash is tight all over. No one is buying now, let alone wait for rebates. The average home owner or small business has no use for credits. They need relief now.
The main purpose of the Bill is to move renewable energy forward. To actually create new jobs in a new field. It seems like many existing large corporations are actually against seeing solar heating happen.
Randy Juras - 6/17/2009 12:22:57 PM CDT -
AHRI is disingenuous and is making the same arguments that the auto industry used. And look what that got them. AHRI fights against the most minimum SEER increases at Federal and state levels. AHRI wants to continue having taxpayers/ratepayers fund their cost-premium for high efficiency equipment. The public looses out, because they can't afford this premium (or the wait for credits/rebates) when their equipment breaks down. Because of their past practices, AHRI members will have to deal with states that see through their claims of "Job losses" (read: "profit and bonus losses")
Mark Heizer - 6/17/2009 9:55:52 AM CDT
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