Industrialisation and Enterprise Development Principal Secretary Wilson Songa said this was intended to increase the uptake of energy efficient appliances and equipment and better manage energy practices/FILE
Industrialisation and Enterprise Development Principal Secretary Wilson Songa said this was intended to increase the uptake of energy efficient appliances and equipment and better manage energy practices.
Songa said about 20 to 30 percent of primary energy goes to waste due to use of inefficient technology, equipment and appliances despite the country’s inadequate energy resources.
“In addition to energy wastage, inefficient energy consumption leads to increased green house gas emissions thus contributing to climate change and hence global warming. With the full implementation of the standards over nine million tonnes of carbon dioxide savings will be realised annually,” he said.
The products targeted include compact fluorescent lamps, domestic refrigerators, commercial display refrigerators, air conditioners, industrial motors and ballast for fluorescent lamps with plans to add more products.
The products will be labeled with their estimated energy use which will give consumers a range of choices available to buy by comparing how much energy a product uses.
“Energy standards and labels will promote market transformation towards higher efficiency by providing a basis for consumers to make informed purchase decisions,” Songa said.
He said that the ministry was in talks with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to develop relevant regulations to guide the implementation of the new standards that are set to effective in June.
He says that this will benefit the Kenyan industrial sector as efficient appliances imply lower energy consumption and thus reduced production costs for industries.
The programme engaged international consultants to analyse existing Minimum Energy Performance Standards and procedures which charted the path for development of the relevant Kenya Standards.
“In 2012, three technical working groups were constituted for lighting cooling and motor appliances and for a period of the groups met every two weeks to discuss and fine tune the draft standards. These drafts were then forwards to Kenya Bureau of Standards which produced the final standards.” he said.
