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Junk yard plan angers Gilbert neighborhood
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This Week
COMMUNITY ....... 10 Doctors: Don’t substitute ride-sharing services for ambulances
BUSINESS . ................ 14 Sotheby opens realty office for East Valley in Gilbert
SPORTS ...................... 18 Elite East Valley players to show skills at Nike football competition
EVENTS ..................... 22 Rawhide goes all-out for Fourth of July festivities
BUSINESS.....................14 OPINION.................... 16 SPORTS........................ 18 FAITH............................ 20 CLASSIFIED................. 27
‘Harry Potter’ game goes pro in East Valley
EAST VALLEY
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FREE ($1 OUTSIDE THE EAST VALLEY) | EastValleyTribune.com
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Summer deals EV a double-whammy Banned gas Vanilla prices poses costly AC dilemma
soar for cake, ice cream
BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
BY WAYNE SHUTSKY Tribune Staff Writer
A
s temperatures soar across the East Valley, so is the cost of keeping aging heat pumps working for area homeowners. Whether homeowners try to hang on to their existing heat pump till its last blast of cold air or are replacing it, they’re digging deeper into their wallets. The choice: buying a new, more expensive heat pump or paying far more for a oncecheap refrigerant called R-22 to keep the old one hanging on. A target in the war on climate change since the U.S. ratified the Montreal Protocol in 1988, the gas is being phased out because it depletes the ozone layer around Earth. New heat pumps using it have not been manufactured since 2010. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has declared that since a heat pump lasts an average 10 years, R-22 can no longer be produced at all starting Jan. 1, 2020. The EPA has already ordered severe cutbacks in its production as part of the phase-out and a transition to new units that use the less offensive R-410 refrigerant, a chemical that depletes the ozone at a lesser rate. Meanwhile, the law of supply and demand is driving up the price of R-22 for homeowners who are holding on to their
T
(Kimberly Carrillo/Tribune Photographer)
The rising price of vanilla beans is driving up the cost of many sweet treats, such as the cake that 3-year-old Aristotle Fister recently enjoyed during the 30th anniversary of the Dobson Ranch Library in Mesa. For a look at the anniversary party, see PAGE 10
older units. While the R-22 is still widely available, the price has more than doubled, according to a Phoenix air conditioning contractor and the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, which represents the heat-pump industry. The EPA ordered a steep, graduated step-down in R-22 production from 51 million pounds in 2014 to only 13 million pounds this year. Only 9 million pounds will be allowed to be produced in 2018, and less than half that amount during its final production year in 2019. While the price of R-22 is rising, consumer advocates are urging homeowners to resist scare tactics some air-
conditioning businesses are using by telling them that the gas is no longer available and that they need the new and costlier heat pumps that use R-410. Francis Dietz, a spokesman for the Air Conditioning Heating and Refrigeration Institute, said the rising cost of R-22 can motivate some homeowners to consider a higher-efficiency, R-410 unit. “I would say it’s not as plentiful as it used to be and more expensive,” he added. Dietz said it might be possible for someone to keep an older, less-efficient heat pump operating “if it is running fine See
AC on page 8
he vanilla ice cream cone is in danger. The quintessential summertime treat may be harder to find in the East Valley this summer as local purveyors feel the effects of a global vanilla bean shortage. Based on estimates from local business owners, the price of vanilla bean products – including extracts and pastes used to create ice cream — began to rise dramatically six to 10 months ago. The source of the price spike is a shortage of vanilla beans from Madagascar. It provides roughly 80 percent of the world’s supply. The price that Chandler’s Ice Cream Sammies pays for its vanilla has gone up “by hundreds of dollars” in less than a year, employee Asia Caldwell said. Chelsea Mellor, owner of the Iced for Life bakery in Gilbert, said "the price has gotten so expensive." "About six months ago," she said, "I decided to alter my vanilla recipe to require less bean in order to save on costs but ensure the flavor. Our vanilla bean cake is one of the most popular, so it is crucial we still use the vanilla bean. But if it continues to rise, we may have to find an alternative." The price is not the only problem. The vanilla bean scarcity also means that vanilla is harder to find for local businesses. Ice Cream Sammies staff has See
VANILLA on page 6