Combined U.S. factory shipments of central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps for November 2006 totaled 336,027, down 47 percent compared with shipments from the same month in 2005, ARI said.

The Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute also reported that heat pump shipments for November 2006 totaled 114,342, down 32 percent compared with the same month the previous year.

Year-to-date U.S. factory shipments of unitary air conditioners and heat pumps totaled 6.6 million, down 17 percent from the months of January through November 2005.

Year-to-date heat pump shipments totaled 1.9 million, up 0.6 percent for the same period of January through November 2005.