The United Nations Environment Programme, (UNEP), says Nigeria will save roughly $1.3 billion a year by ceasing to use air conditioners and refrigerators with energy efficiency ratios that fall below accepted Minimum Energy Performance Standards around the world.
In its most recent report, “Project Overview of Scaling-Up Energy-Efficient and Climate-Friendly Cooling in Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contribution Revision,” it made this disclosure.
The Programme Management Officer, UNEP, Brian Holuj, highlighted that Nigeria’s energy savings would be strongly impacted by the achievement of its NDC concerning energy efficiency in the report that our correspondent acquired from the Energy Commission of Nigeria in Abuja on Friday.
According to the report’s early research of the possible effects of room air conditioners on the MEPS in Nigeria, by 2040, the power used by ACs would have increased by 590%.
However, it also said that “simple regulations can reduce this increase in electricity demand to 410 percent. Strict regulations might reduce this increase in electricity usage by 275%.
Read Also:
It added, “Annual savings in 2040 is 12TWh (12 Terawatts-hour, that is 12,000,000 megawatts-hour) of electricity consumption, which is equivalent to five-plus power stations of 500MW each; 7.5 million tonnes of CO2; and $1.3bn on electricity bills.”
The report stated that the objectives energy-efficient and climate-friendly cooling project was to conduct a market assessment on air conditioners and leverage existing data, recommend monitoring, verification, and enforcement protocols, and conduct an awareness campaign for vendors and consumers.
It stated, “It is to update AC MEPS and energy labels to enhance energy efficiency and address refrigerant global warming potential, provide capacity building to strengthen compliance, train technicians on energy-efficient and climate-friendly room ACs, and recommend cooling targets in the Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris Climate Agreement.”
It outlined that key components to transforming the AC market include the sales of energy efficiency of products in the market, financial incentives to support the adoption of the best products, monitoring the market, testing to verify compliance, and enforcing rules.
Story adapted from Punch
