HVAC wholesaler Munch Supply Co., New Lenox, IL, participated in Congresswoman Melissa Bean’s Environmental Roundtable June 2, which included 20 companies involved in energy efficiency and environmentally-friendly products and services. The companies were asked to share their successes and challenges since enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“the Stimulus Bill”) in mid-February.
Pictured (left to right): Robert Munch, president; Congresswoman Melissa Bean (IL-8); and Keith Kramer, sales manager at Munch Supply. Munch Supply employs 120 people in its six Illinois locations and has been helping HVAC contractor customers take advantage of the expanded residential HVAC tax credits and weatherization funding authorized by ARRA.
At the meeting Robert Munch and Keith Kramer of Munch Supply explained how the residential tax credit has helped homeowners upgrade to high efficiency furnaces in the Chicago market, but that the prohibitively high qualifications for central air-conditioning and heat pump systems may limit the stimulus bill’s effectiveness. They also stressed the need for faster allocation of weatherization funding so HVAC distributors and contractors can prepare for these projects with certainty that they will be fully funded.
Munch Supply also assisted HARDI in urging greater industry involvement in energy efficiency and climate change policy to ensure that incentives, targets, and standards are achievable and reasonable. Munch and HARDI teamed to stress the unintended consequences of overly aggressive energy code efficiencies that could deter new construction and other permitted projects during an already depressed construction market.
