More than half of the U.S. Senators are urging the Bush White House to allow more energy-efficient air conditioners. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
More than half of the U.S. Senators are urging the Bush White House to allow more energy
efficient air conditioners. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
The Bush administration proposed reducing the minimum energy efficiency standard for central
air conditioners and heat pumps. It would roll-back a Clinton-era requirement that home air
conditioners be 30 percent more energy efficient starting in 2006. The Bush administration didn’t
want to force the air conditioning industry make the more efficient air conditioners. A federal
court stopped the roll-back to the Clinton rule. The air conditioner industry has dropped its
efforts to overturn the more efficient standard. Now 51 Senators have signed a letter urging
President Bush not to appeal the court’s ruling to the next level. The letter says in part that
making air conditioners as efficient as possible will quote “begin to reduce the stress on the
electricity generation and transmission network and decrease the likelihood of blackouts…” The
Senators indicate that more energy efficient air conditioners is an idea that should be embraced
and encouraged, not appealed.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.