AHRI opposes ACES Act

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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