MONTREAL — Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada (HRAI) president Warren Heeley and Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) senior vice president Dave Calabrese attended the Canada-U.S. Manufacturing Summit on Sept. 12-13 to discuss the industry’s concerns about the growing problem of local and regional energy efficiency (EE) regulations for HVACR products differing from national or international standards.

Despite advocacy efforts by both HRAI and AHRI promoting harmonization of EE standards by provincial/state and federal regulators, these differences are increasing. This regulatory approach is making it more difficult for manufacturers and wholesalers to respond to these varying requirements.

At the summit, HRAI and AHRI voiced these concerns and called on the joint Canada-U.S. groups formed to deal with regulatory matters to add this topic to their agendas. The summit sponsors, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), were receptive to the industry’s concerns. HRAI and AHRI are currently preparing a formal submission to the Canada/U.S. Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC), the joint group that considers regulatory issues of concern between the two countries.

Publication date: 11/07/2011