The Federal Government, Thursday, inaugurated a National Technical Committee on Sustainable Cooling in Nigeria, saying that it has set a conditional target of a 2.5 percent per year reduction in energy intensity.
The Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI), Dr. Adeleke Mamora inaugurated the committee at the National Stakeholders’ Consultative Workshop on Energy Efficient and Climate-Friendly Cooling in Nigeria, organised by the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) in Abuja.
The committee comprises the Energy Commission of Nigeria, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Federal Ministry of Environment (Department of Climate Change (DCC) National Ozone Office (NOO), Nigerian Customs, and representatives of the organised private sector.
Mamora, who noted that Air conditioners (ACs) utilised in the country have less energy efficiency ratio (EER), warned that substandard ACs would not be allowed into the country.
He said: “It is a fact that Nigeria is the largest market in Africa and this applies to the cooling sector also. With the current growing population, combined with improving lifestyle, urbanisation, and rising global warming, Nigeria will continue to experience growing demand for ACs, refrigerators, and other cooling devices.
“Unfortunately, most of the ACs utilised in the country have energy efficiency ratio (EER) below internationally acceptable minimum energy performance standards (MEPS)”.
To achieve an energy-efficient, and climate-friendly cooling in Nigeria, he said an unconditional greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction target of 20 percent and a conditional reduction target of 47 percent below the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario by 2030 have been set.
He said: “To achieve this, energy efficiency best practices across all sectors, as one of the climate change mitigating priority measures, has set a conditional target of 2.5 percent per year reduction in energy intensity”.
Earlier, the Director-General of the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) Professor Eli Jidere Bala explained that the energy audit conducted in 2017 revealed that over 60 percent of electricity consumed in public buildings was from space cooling.
He said: “It may interest you to know that the Energy Commission of Nigeria with the support of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) had 2017/conducted an energy audit of selected buildings in Abuja. The study showed that over 60% of electricity consumed in public buildings was from space cooling. It should be noted that 80% of the electricity supply in Nigeria is from fossil energy, the greater emitter of CO2 emissions”.