Paying for the CFC Ban

WHEN the air conditioner in his minivan conked out last July, Earl Levy, a retired federal employee from Springfield, Virginia, was shocked by the $450 repair bill. “It was quite a bit more than I expected,” he says, “and the repairman told me the same procedure would have cost $100 to $150 less just two years ago.” About 20 million car and truck owners had similar experiences last summer, spending at least $2 billion more on air-conditioner servicing than in previous years. Future summers will be even costlier.

The reason: new environmental laws aimed at eliminating chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), a class of compounds widely used in air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment. Fears that CFCs deplete the ozone layer, which shields the earth from excessive ultraviolet radiation, have led to legislation requiring a rapid phaseout.

BL

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Ben Lieberman

Ben Lieberman is a senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

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WHEN the air conditioner in his minivan conked out last July, Earl Levy, a retired federal employee from Springfield, Virginia, was shocked by the $450 repair bill. “It was quite a bit more than I expected,” he says, “and the repairman told me the same procedure would have cost $100 to $150 less just two years ago.” About 20 million car and truck owners had similar experiences last summer, spending at least $2 billion more on air-conditioner servicing than in previous years. Future summers will be even costlier.

The reason: new environmental laws aimed at eliminating chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), a class of compounds widely used in air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment. Fears that CFCs deplete the ozone layer, which shields the earth from excessive ultraviolet radiation, have led to legislation requiring a rapid phaseout.