The federal government, United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP have disclosed that plans are underway to transit to energy-efficient air conditioners (ACs) and climate-friendly cooling systems in Nigeria.
The director of linkages, research and consultancy at the Energy Commission of Nigeria, Engr Okon Ekpenyong, disclosed this recently when he led the team of Scaling Up Energy-Efficient and Climate-Friendly Cooling in Nigeria’s NDC Revision Project on a courtesy visit to the Director General of National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, Prof Aliyu Jauro and the Department of Climate Change, federal ministry of Environment.
During the visit, Ekpenyong emphasized the importance of collaboration towards using low Global Warming Potential refrigerants in Nigeria’s residential, commercial and public buildings, thereby contributing to meeting the climate change objectives.
He noted that the project is executed by the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and supported by the Clean Cooling Collaborative (CCC).
He said a partnership with NESREA would guarantee the required enforcement and legal framework to make the project successful.
He added that the project is ready to build capacity on ways to achieve its objective.
“This project will also be conducted training for monitoring and enforcement. So, in this way, NESREA will also come in, in the project in terms of verification and enforcement,
“We need to ensure that everyone involved in the project understands what we’re trying to achieve and how they can contribute. We must also ensure the project’s progress is transparent so everyone can see what’s being done.”
Responding, Prof Jauro pledged support for the actualization of the project.
Jauro said: “The harsh economy is impacting the country; we need to be energy efficient to save money. It is economically feasible to consider the project. We always emphasize energy efficiency. We issue permits to some industries. We will be involved in implementing this project”, he stated.
In a related development, the Iniobong Abiola-Awe, a director at the Department of Climate Change, federal ministry of Environment, harped on the need to rally around traditional methods in achieving Nigeria’s energy efficiency objective.
“There are many traditional methods that Nigerians have used to conserve energy for centuries. We need to study these methods and see how we can incorporate them into our modern energy efficiency efforts”, he stated.
Abiola-Awe urged that there is a need for continuous collaboration and communication if the goals of the project must be actualized.
She said: “We can’t afford to be working at cross-purposes. We need to be able to share information and resources. We need to be able to work together as a team”.
Meanwhile, the national project coordinator, Etiosa Uyigue stressed the importance of the project.
According to him, many ACs in Nigeria are not energy efficient.
“We are looking at the electrical characteristics of ACs in Nigeria. We are looking at the stocks; we are doing our stocks from 2015 to 2022; the other aspect is Monitoring Verification and Enforcement”, he stated.