our opinions: SERVICE PROVIDERS
In The
Comfort Zone
SEPTEMBER 2016
PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
By Brett Hobson, CEO Comfort Experts
Where were you 15 years ago on that fateful day for
our country? Almost overnight it seems that everything changed, politically, socially and even in the
way we do business.
Everyone remembers where he or she was on that
day and remembers how he or she first heard of the
tragedy. For us, we took every employee off of every
job where they were working and sent them straight
home to their families. Looking at today there are
subtle changes everywhere because of 9/11. Taking
a commercial flight is different; everything from your
telephone to your shoes is suspect. Security at sporting events, schools and large businesses has never
been tighter. But some of the changes that have
occurred in the past 15 years have nothing to do
with safety and security and everything to do with
overreaching government regulation.
Some of the changes have been good ones.
According to the Washington Post the U.S. has
become less dependent on foreign fuel. Our domestic production of natural gas as an alternate fuel is at
its highest level in decades. Much of that is because
of technological changes in extraction of the gas. As
a country we never again want to be dependent on a
region with so much uncertainty for our fuel future.
Other changes that have come about have especially affected the banking industry. In 2001, then
President Bush signed the Patriot Act into law. It was
important legislation that provided banks a wide
range of new tools to combat money laundering and
the financing of terrorism. It requires financial institutions to reasonably collect information and verify the
identities of their customers. The verification records
are then maintained and checked against a list of
suspected or known terrorists. It was disturbing to
many that the 9/11 terrorists had been able to open
bank accounts and make questionable deposits using
falsified information to set up the accounts.
As an air conditioner service company, we are
victims of the cost of the parts and materials we
need. Unfortunately for us, and our customers, when
72
the cost of the parts and materials we use because
changes in regulations, these increases are passed
along to our customers. One of the items that we use
in our business is R-22 Freon. Its cost has increased
over the past 15 years from $30 wholesale to more
th an $600. The reason is because about 25 years
ago, the EPA ordered the phasing out of R-22 (Freon)
as part of the international treaty on protecting the
ozone layer called the “Montreal Protocol,” because
of the refrigerant’s ozone-depleting substances. All
production ended in 2010 for new air conditioning
units that used R-22 and production of the refrigerant
itself was reduced by 75 percent. As of 2015, R-22
production has dropped by 90 percent. By 2020,
it will no longer be produced at all. Wholesalers
in other parts of the world have warehouses full of
the refrigerant, but because of current regulations, it
can’t be shipped here in the quantities it’s needed so
prices rise as the supply dwindles. According to the
Hartland Initiative, the government is replacing the
old R22 Freon with a more “environmentally safe”
R410a fluid so as to protect the ozone. Not surprisingly, R410a is incompatible with the older A/C
systems. For homeowners, this means that should
they choose to “upgrade” to the new system, they
will have to replace not only their A/C unit, but the
interior lines and coils in their central air unit inside
the house. The cost can reach into the thousands.
I agree with more regulations being put on
flight schools that teach foreign students how to fly
airplanes. I agree that banks that allow them to launder money and finance terrorism should be made to
face the consequences, and also with changes in the
oil and gas industry to make us more energy independent.
But I don’t think raising tariffs and limiting
supplies of a bottle of Freon that your older model
air conditioner uses to keep your house cool is
necessary to keep us safe. We all need to look
around us and see how much added regulation costs
us all as consumers.