SON to Enforce Use of Energy Saving Appliances

By Raheem Akingbolu

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has announced plans to begin enforcement on the use of energy saving appliances in the country, as part way for conserving its energy resources.

This is coming against the background of opinions that Nigeria needs to use only energy-efficient equipment as a way of checkmating current wastage of scarce power resources.

The  acting Director General of the organisation, Dr. Paul Angya, explained that even energy-endowed countries of the world are working towards reducing energy consumption, maintaining that ‎Nigeria cannot afford to be left behind.

Angya, who was represented by the Head, Electrical and Engineering Department, Mr. Richard Adewunmi, spoke at  the technical committee meeting on standards and labels (MEPS) held under the auspices of the Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP) for air conditioners in Nigeria in Lagos, recently.

Angya said that the technical meeting aimed at preparing what he called a minimum energy consumption standards for electronic appliances, adding it will form part of the agency’s SONCAP requirements when eventually approved.

 “When the standards are implemented, it will form part of our SONCAP requirement. The implication is that before any importer can bring in electronic appliances, he must conform to the minimum energy requirement of the standards,” he said.

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

He added: “Renewable energy as we all know is not cheap. If we want to migrate to renewable energy, we need to ensure that people maximise its 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 is just 15 Watts.”

Furthermore, he said that the initiative will help to conserve over 30 per cent of energy when fully implemented monthly‎.