What is the AIM Act?
The AIM Act, or the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act, was enacted into law by Congress and signed by the President in 2020, with its finalization being completed in September of 2021.
The goal of AIM is to reduce the United States’ consumption and production of all hydrofluorocarbon gases (HFCs) which are widely used in air conditioning, refrigeration, and fire protection systems.
R-410A has been one of the most commonly used HFCs in the HVAC/R industry since the early 1990s. As the AIM Act targets gases with high global warming potential (GWP), R-410A along with a list of other gases is being phased down with a target goal of an 85% reduction in their use.
What Is the Industry Replacing HFCs with?
Natural refrigerants take their name from the fact that they are found naturally in our environment. These include natural hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, and ammonia.
These alternatives stand to replace the HVAC/R industry’s reliance on synthetic refrigerants, such as HFCs, along with chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).
Along with their benefits to the environment, natural refrigerants are cheaper than synthetic refrigerants, have lower maintenance costs, and are more efficient.
Who Will Be Impacted the Most?
Most companies that use refrigerant and cooling systems in their facilities will have to transition to using appliances that operate with non-HFC refrigerants or operate within allowances that are determined by the EPA.
There are a few special exceptions, deemed “essential uses” in instances where there are no substitute chemicals like mission-critical military applications, semiconductor manufacturing, medical inhalers, and defense sprays.
The industries that will be impacted the most are data centers and supermarkets. Neither qualify under the “essential uses” exception but still rely heavily on cooling systems.
Supermarkets in particular are considered a massive producer of HFC emissions, with estimates of their annual system leakage as high as 25% across almost 40,000 supermarkets in the U.S. (eia.org)
While natural refrigerants are more efficient and less expensive than HFCs, there will be great costs upfront to businesses, especially those that are slow to transition into appliances that use them.
How You Can Stay on Top of This
The AIM act has equipped the EPA with the authority to:
- Promote rules that assist in phasing down the consumption and production of HFCs
- Establish new standards for recovery, reclamation, repair, and disposal practices
- Set allowances for companies and sectors, limiting their ability to use HFC reliant appliances
With evolving legislature and environmental regulations it’s important that contractors, owners, and operators of facilities with refrigerant and air conditioning systems maintain proper documentation to monitor and adjust their HFC reliance.
This will protect you from fines and penalties in the present, and enable you to project the changes your operations will need to make in the future to keep up to date with the phase down of HFCs.
The industry has shifted its reliance on refrigerants before as we noted earlier with R-410A. In the late 1980s, R-22, the precursor to R-410A, was identified as a harmful gas with high GWP. (goodmanmfg.com) By 2010, the EPA banned it from production and importing into the US.
There’s opportunity for HVAC/R servicers and technicians to adapt and help other industries modernize their cooling and refrigerant systems. Success in the era of AIM will be largely dependent on being proactive versus reactive.