The American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020, or AIM was passed as part of the most recent Covid 19 relief bill. In truth, that bill was really a collection of different pieces of legislation, including the AIM Act. Although you probably would not know it from the title, the AIM Act is about phasing down HFCs. We are kind of late to the HFC phasedown party. Europe has already begun and made significant progress toward reducing HFCs. For American air conditioning and refrigeration equipment manufacturers, supporting HFC reduction is about business because they market products to a global customer base. Although the law has now been passed, the details of exactly how this will affect us are yet to be determined and released. The law gives the EPA 270 days from the date it is signed into law (December 27) to pass a final ruling. That will have all the particulars. However, there are some important things we can learn from reading the law itself.
DOWN NOT OUT
This is a phasedown, not a phase out. Some HFCs will still be available for a long time. The timeline is not particularly aggressive, as you can see from the table below. This does not necessarily mean your favorite HFC will still be available at the levels in the table, the table is an overall HFC reduction. The nitty gritty details will be worked out in the Final Ruling to come.
| Date | % of Production Baseline | % of Consumption Baseline |
| 2020 – 2023 | 90% | 90% |
| 2024 – 2028 | 60% | 60% |
| 2029 – 2033 | 30% | 30% |
| 2034 – 2035 | 20% | 20% |
| 2036 – | 15% | 15% |
What Refrigerants are Covered?
The law lists several specific HFCs, many of which I have never heard of. It actually does not list 410A, or any other 400 series refrigerants because it is regulating the chemical compounds of which they are composed. It does list the two main components of 410A: R32 and R125. It also lists popular HFC refrigerant R134a. The table below shows the HFC compounds that are affected by the law.
| HFCs Regulated by AIM Act | ||
| Chemical Name | Common Name | Exchange Value |
| CHF2CHF2 | HFC–134 | 1100 |
| CH2FCF3 | HFC–134a | 1430 |
| CH2FCHF2 | HFC–143 | 353 |
| CHF2CH2CF3 | HFC–245fa | 1030 |
| CF3CH2CF2CH3 | HFC–365mfc | 794 |
| CF3CHFCF3 | HFC–227ea | 3220 |
| CH2FCF2CF3 | HFC–236cb | 1340 |
| CHF2CHFCF3 | HFC–236ea | 1370 |
| CF3CH2CF3 | HFC–236fa | 9810 |
| CH2FCF2CHF2 | HFC–245ca | 693 |
| CF3CHFCHFCF2CF3 | HFC–43–10mee | 1640 |
| CH2F2 | HFC–32 | 675 |
| CHF2CF3 | HFC–125 | 3500 |
| CH3CF3 | HFC–143a | 4470 |
| CH3F | HFC–41 | 92 |
| CH2FCH2F | HFC–152 | 53 |
| CH3CHF2 | HFC–152a | 124 |
| CHF3 | HFC–23 | 14800 |
WHERE CAN I READ MORE?
Here is a link to the text of the AIM Act. If you are like me, you might find that the legal language in laws can be a bit obtuse. AHRI has put out a helpful overview of the law in more easily understood terms.