“During these summer days, having a broken AC is like a nightmare. The nightmare will only get worse in 2024,” notes the Competitive Enterprise Institute:
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) picked the hottest time of the year to announce a 40 percent production cut in 2024 for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a type of refrigerant widely used in AC units. At this time next year, consumers already contending with costly air conditioning regulations will face even heftier prices for unit repairs….
There is a war on appliances [by the Biden administration]. Watch the interview here.
“There are bad regulations in the works for almost every appliance in every room of your house,” CEI’s Ben Lieberman warns. Beyond ACs, Biden’s regulators are going after gas stoves, furnaces, incandescent light bulbs, washing machines, refrigerators, dishwashers, ceiling fans, water heaters, and more.
But air conditioners take the brunt of the assault. The EPA is not the only agency to target cooling systems. In an article for Fox News published Monday, Lieberman points out that the Department of Energy also has a track record of rigid rules for appliances, and that these rules are most severe for owners of ACs. One such rule has caused prices for new central air conditioning systems to spike by as much as $1,000 since January.
With each green agenda regulation, prices increase, product quality decreases, and consumers lose out. Only voices like yours can stop agency bureaucrats from taking even more radical actions.
As CEI’s Ben Lieberman notes, the cost of many refrigerants has already tripled due to Biden’s prior policies, and that price increase is mild compared to what is likely to happen in the future under Biden’s new policies:
The Environmental Protect Agency (EPA) just announced a 40% production cut in 2024 for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)….As it is, the modest 10% cut in force today has already caused many HFCs to triple in price, including HFC-410a which is used in most home air conditioners.
As a result, replacing refrigerant lost from a leak has cost millions of homeowners at least $150-$200 more than it used to. But next summer, stricter production quotas will be in effect, likely sending refrigerant costs through the roof — and repair costs with them.
EPA regulators are targeting new systems too. A pending rule would outlaw all but the most climate-friendly, new central air-conditioners by 2025. Doing so is strongly supported by the air conditioning equipment makers who see an opportunity to skew the market towards their pricier models.
