In response to the California legislature recently voting to pass the California Cooling Act (Senate Bill 1013), which mandates reducing HFC emissions by 40 percent by 2030, many HVACR manufacturers wrote a letter of support to the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The manufacturers – including Carrier, Daikin, Goodman, Lennox, Nortek Global, and Trane -- were joined by refrigerant manufacturers, Chemours and Honeywell, as well as the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), in stating that they support policies that limit the use of HFCs in air conditioning technologies.
In the letter, the group urged CARB to “adopt an additional regulation prohibiting refrigerants with a GWP in excess of 750 in all new air conditioners of all other types and capacities, excluding those covered by SB 1013, starting January 1, 2023 [and to] implement this prohibition based on the date of manufacture, with a sell-through period of six months.”
In a sharply worded dissent, the Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) noted that this proposal was “negotiated by a few manufacturers without input from the HVACR industry at large.” HARDI stated that it abstained from signing onto the proposal “until consensus can be reached on a more realistic sell-through period.”
Specifically, HARDI disagrees with the six-month sell-through period for HFC-using units manufactured prior to the proposed 2023 deadline. The group argues that the manufacturing prohibition with a subsequent restrictive sell-through period would negatively affect HARDI members at the peak of the selling season, adding that “previous experiences with sell-through periods have shown the concept adds complexity to the distribution process. Simply using a manufacturing prohibition is much more effective in ensuring that compliant units are sold to consumers.”
Palmer Schoening, HARDI’s vice president of government affairs, noted, that “the proposed six-month sell-through period ending in the middle of summer is untenable for our members, suppliers, and customers. We favor a plan that does not burden the entire distribution channel at the height of selling season and a process that is inclusive of all stakeholders. AHRI has been leading this consensus-focused version of this plan, and we ask the industry to follow their lead on this issue.”
Publication date: 10/3/2018
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