Environment
THE Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) with support of UN Environment Programme has held a workshop in Lagos to boost capacity of stakeholders on energy efficiency and climate cooling.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the objective of the workshop is to advocate for seamless transition to energy efficient air conditioners with climate friendly refrigerant in public, residential and commercial buildings.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Mr Lawal Ismaila, an Engineer and Group Head, Electrical Electronics, SON, gave a background on the Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for air conditioners.
Ismaila noted that standards were reviewed when there was a government policy change or advancement in technology.
On the MEPS for air conditioners, he said that SON, leveraging on the benefit of research, realised that the old air conditioners consumed so much energy and electricity.
He said that for the sake of energy management , there was need to manage the energy consumed to be in compliance with international standards.
“The international standards have been reviewed and Nigeria cannot be an exception.
“So, we have to key into it so that Nigeria is not left behind and our country is not turned into a dumping ground.
“We have participated at the IEC level and we are ensuring that we domesticate it, such that our air conditioners manufactured in Nigeria have to meet international standards.
“Whether you are a local manufacturer or you import air conditioners into the country, you have to meet the new international standards which we have adopted.
“What is important for us is that we have to do the needful for us to review the standards to make sure the manufacturers, importers and all stakeholders comply with it as soon as it is approved for implementation”.
He added that a major consideration in reviewing the standard remained to protect the environment and the refrigerants used for air conditioners.
He explained that as soon as a standard is approved for implementation, it became mandatory, adding that any violation of requirement of the standards would be penalised.
Also speaking, Mr Samaila Zaku, Deputy Director, Energy Commission of Nigeria, said review of the standards was in response to mitigate the impact of climate change.
According to him, efficient generation and use of energy that is environmentally sustainable will help to reduce the impact of climate change.
He noted that the project is on energy cooling and refrigeration and that there are modern equipment and technology that worked on the principle of energy efficiency.
Wasiu Abiodun, National Secretary, Nigerian Association of Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Practitioners (NARAP), said the new policy on energy efficiency, when implemented, would greatly impact on air conditioning and refrigeration subsector and environment at large.
Abiodun noted that the subsector had been facing a lot of challenges as a result of substandard products used in their operations.
“Gas is one of the challenges, even the one we see the logo of SON, we find out that it is a bad product,” Abiodun said.
NAN reports that stakeholders from the air conditioning and refrigeration sector, including manufacturers, importers and government agencies attended the workshop.
The energy efficiency advocacy aligns with Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) to combat climate change in a cost effective and sustainable manner. (NAN)
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July 5, 2024
Tags: ECN SON UNDP
