SON to enforce standards on energy saving appliances

With energy supply in the country remaining inadequate to sustain manufacturing activities and home use, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has unveiled plans to begin enforcement on the use of energy-saving appliances in the country.

Already, the SON having reviewed the minimum standards for low energy saving equipment seeks to implement effective utilization of the paltry energy supply from the national grid in the most efficient and sustainable manner through enforcement of energy saving standards in the production or importation of appliances.

The Head, Electrical and Engineering Department, SON, Richards Adewunmi, explained that most countries of the world who have sufficient energy power supply are working towards reducing energy consumption, maintaining that ‎Nigeria cannot afford to be left out of this trend.

According to him, if the minimum energy consumption standards is implemented, Nigerians will be able to achieve about 30 per cent reduction in energy consumption, saying that SON is aiming to save about 1800 kilowats a month.

Adewunmi, during a technical committee meeting on standards and labels for air-conditioner in Nigeria on the Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP), stated that the technical meeting seeks to prepare a minimum energy consumption standards for electronic appliances, and it will form part of the agency’s SONCAP requirements when approved by the technical committee.

“When the standards are implemented, it will form part of our SONCAP requirement. Before any importer can bring in electronic appliances, they must conform to the minimum energy requirement of the standards”, he added.

According to him, Nigeria is yet to generate up to 40 per cent of its energy needs, saying that for Nigeria to migrate to renewable energy, Nigerians must minimise the usage.

“Renewable energy as we all know is not cheap. If we want to migrate to renewable energy, we need to ensure that people that consume the energy, minimise the usage. We identified several electrical appliances that are frequently used in the household and we decided to start with lamps. Previously, ‎you need a 60 Watts lamp to lighten your house, but now what is needed now is just 15 Watts‎.

“Today, we are looking into air conditioners because we believe there should be a standard for air conditioners. We are also going to set a minimum energy performance standard. This means that if any refrigerator or air conditioner is coming into the country, there must be minimum energy consumption for that air conditioner to be allowed in Nigeria. We have found out that most of these used air conditioners consume double of what an efficient air conditioner will consume. So once the standards are approved, the implementation commences. So if you are importing any electronic appliance into Nigeria, it must be in compliance with the minimum energy consumption we have set.”

Also, Head of Unit Energy Efficiency, NESP, Charles Diarra, ‎said in its energy efficiency survey, about 50 per cent of electronic appliances coming into West Africa, come into the sub-region through Nigeria, stating the need to formulate standards in Nigeria.
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“‎So if we are able to have sustainable standards for Nigeria, it is going to be useful not only for Nigeria, but also for the sub-region. This is like an awareness creation programme for people to know about the standards and we also have some capacity building of the programme, which will come after the approval of the standards,” he said.

Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Engineers,‎ Engineer Afolabi Esan, said Nigerians should be paying less for the equipment they will be using, adding that buying an inefficient equipment and with the trend in the nation’s metering system, Nigerians will have to be paying more for the energy they consume.