In This Podcast:

Cade Clark, vice president of government affairs for the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), gives a brief overview of the latest version of the Shaheen-Portman bill, discusses what AHRI thinks of the energy-efficiency legislation, and shares how it will impact the HVACR industry.

Q: Can you give us some background on the Shaheen-Portman bill?

A: The legislation formerly referred to as S 1000 was passed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee, with broad support through the last Congress. It has bipartisian support and has been endorsed by AHRI and more than 200 other labor and environmental groups. On April 23, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee held a hearing on the bill and Sen. Portman touted the measure as a job creator and revenue generator. He stated its $570 million price tag would be completely offset, would create 80,000 new jobs, and save about $4 billion each year by 2020.

Q: How does the most recently introduced version of the bill differ from the 2011 version?

A: Provisions in the previous bill that would have established a revolving state grant program and expanded a federal loan-guarantee program for energy-efficiency projects were removed and replaced with a state-based private-financing program to encourage industrial efficiency upgrades. It also includes language allowing the DOE [Department of Energy] to suggest efficiency goals to ASHRAE and ICC as they develop standards and codes.

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Publication date: 6/3/2013 

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