The year is more than half over, and air conditioning and heat pump unit shipments are on track to bring 2018 numbers closer than ever to 2005’s record-breaking 8.3 million combined units shipped. Year to date, the combined shipment number surpasses 5.5 million units, which is a 6.5 percent increase over the more than 5.2 million units shipped during the same time period in 2017. Monthly combined shipments rose 7.9 percent in May, 3.8 percent in June, and 7.3 percent in July 2018 as compared to 2017.
According to the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute’s (AHRI’s) historical data, the year of 2005 marked the height of the past 20 years (since 1998) for combined air conditioning and heat pump shipments. Previous to that record-breaking year, combined shipment numbers remained above 6 million. Once the housing bubble popped in 2006 and the Great Recession began in 2007, a steady decline in combined shipment numbers occurred, bottoming out in 2010 at 5,061,354.