HARDI supports SMART Energy Efficiency Standards act

SMART Energy Efficiency Standards Act, aiming to change compliance deadlines for regional HVAC standards from installation to manufacture dates has been introduced. HARDI supports the bill, advocating for fair treatment of distributors and contractors in the industry.

SMART Energy Efficiency Standards Act, which would change the compliance deadline for regional HVAC standards from the date of installation to the date of manufacture was introduced by Congresswoman Debbie Lesko. Heating, Air-conditioning, & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) CEO Talbot Gee applauded the introduction, “HARDI has pushed for a fix for this unequal treatment of distributors and contractors since the bill became law in 2007. Regional HVAC standards are the only Department of Energy efficiency standard that uses date of installation to determine compliance. Distributors are asked to risk millions of dollars to have the products the market demands in inventory and this flaw in the statute directly penalizes HVAC distributors and ultimately hurts consumers while doing nothing to actually improve energy efficiency or carbon emission savings. This deep inequality between the implementation of HVAC efficiency standards and every other DOE-covered product should not continue. HARDI thanks Congresswoman Lesko for her leadership on this issue.”

HARDI Director of Government Affairs, Alex Ayers, added, “Using the date of installation is a failed policy that does more to hurt the goals of energy efficiency than it helps. Anyone opposed to ensuring all DOE standards use the date of manufacture is unwilling to see the reality that this equipment does not simply disappear when the compliance deadline passes, the equipment is shipped to an unaffected state, increasing the carbon used to produce and ship the equipment where it is still installed. Congress should look to ensure smart energy efficiency standards are implemented, not wasteful policies that hurt distributors, contractors, consumers and the goal of increased energy efficiency.”

On January 1, 2023, new energy efficiency standards for spit-system residential air-conditioning went into effect using regional standards. Any non-compliant equipment remaining in the Southeast and Southwest regions was banned from installation, creating dead inventory, distirbutors in the northern states were unaffected by this change and can still sell remaining inventory.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has finalized energy and water conservation standards for 60 products, all of which use a nationwide date of manufacture as the compliance deadline, only regional HVAC standards affecting air-conditioning, furnaces, and heat pumps use the date of installation as its compliance deadline. The SMART Energy Efficiency Standards Act would update the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to change regional standards to date of manufacture. The legislation is cosponsored by Congressman Bob Latta.