In August, the Air-Conditioning, Heating, & Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) and Lennox Intl. Inc. filed a petition asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to review the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) final rule establishing energy conservation standards for walk-in coolers and freezers (WICF). The DOE, AHRI said, did not follow proper protocol when developing the rule and issued standards that many in the industry — including HARDI — feel are neither technologically feasible nor economically justifiable with the technology currently available.
“We applaud AHRI and Lennox’s efforts to hold the DOE accountable,” said Jon Melchi, HARDI’s director of government affairs. “It’s what we, as an organization, have aimed at for quite some time. It’s unfortunate that we have to take matters to the judicial system, but it’s why that branch exists, and hopefully the courts will see it proper to hold the DOE accountable to its own processes.”