Appliance makers want Congress to ease energy efficiency standards that they say are unrealistic and costly for air conditioners, refrigerators and other equipment — even allowing for future rollbacks.

The industry is lobbying to amend a decades old conservation law that sets minimum efficiency standards for many household and commercial appliances and bars them from being weakened. Manufacturers say regulators should be required to negotiate requirements with them and that some set by the Obama administration are too costly and will drive up prices.

“We thought they went too far in pushing the efficiency too high and not looking at the economic costs for the consumers,” said Stephen Yurek, president of the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute, which represents companies such as Ingersoll-Rand Plc, which makes air conditioners and heaters. “I think we are going to see a dial back. There is a different philosophy and that is very clear.”

Read more (Bloomberg)