Shipments of air conditioners and air source heat pumps topped a record 7 million in 2004 and increased for the third consecutive year, according to the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI). The number rose 8% to 7,401,067 from 6,801,262 units in 2003.
In addition, central air conditioners and air source heat pumps shipments last June reached 1,081,147, a single month record and up 14% from June 2003. As a historical comparison, only 1.6 million units were shipped during the entire 12 months of 1982. Annual shipments have exceeded 5 million units every year since 1995, and more than 85 million central air conditioners and heat pumps were produced for use in the United States during the last 20 years.