AHRI Launches Ice Cream Truck Campaign to Modernize 1975 HVAC Efficiency Law
The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute rolled an ice cream truck onto Capitol Hill this month to pressure lawmakers into overhauling the Energy Policy and Conservation Act — a 1975 law that still dictates how efficiency standards are set for every furnace, heat pump, and condensing unit you install.
The campaign's message is blunt: the regulatory framework controlling HVACR efficiency standards was written when Gerald Ford was president, and it hasn't kept pace with how the industry actually develops and deploys technology. AHRI argues that the Department of Energy's current rulemaking process — governed by EPCA — creates multi-year delays, forces manufacturers to redesign equipment based on outdated assumptions, and leaves contractors stuck managing product transitions that disrupt supply chains.
Under EPCA, DOE must conduct lengthy technical reviews, cost-benefit analyses, and public comment periods before updating efficiency thresholds. That worked in 1975 when product cycles were measured in decades. Today, refrigerant transitions like the A2L changeover and electrification incentives are moving faster than DOE can finalize rules. The result: manufacturers design to proposed standards that may shift before final publication, leading to inventory problems and delayed product launches.
AHRI's reform pitch centers on three changes. First, allow DOE to fast-track updates when industry consensus already exists — think negotiated rulemakings that shorten the timeline from seven years to two. Second, align federal standards with state-level efficiency programs to eliminate the patchwork compliance burden. Third, create safe harbors for emerging technologies so manufacturers can bring variable-speed compressors, smart controls, and heat pump innovations to market without waiting for DOE to finalize test procedures.
What contractors should do: expect this fight to play out over the next 18 months as Congress debates energy legislation. If EPCA reform passes, you'll see faster product rollouts and fewer last-minute SKU changes when new efficiency tiers take effect. In the meantime, stay close to your distributor on product availability — the current DOE timeline has a backlog of pending rules for gas furnaces, central AC, and commercial refrigeration that could all land in 2026.
The ice cream truck stunt is designed to make the point visceral: the law governing your equipment is older than the contractors installing it. Whether Congress acts or not, the mismatch between 1975 regulatory processes and 2025 technology cycles isn't going away.
Original source: Contracting Business