Tunis- Twinning Workshop on Energy Efficiency of Air Conditioning in Africa

From 2 October 10 to October 11, 2024, Tunis hosted a Twinning Workshop on Energy Efficiency of Air Conditioning in Africa. African Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Professionals and Ozone Coordinators from nearly 30 African countries participated to smooth things over and speak the same language.

D. MBaye, Journalist

Africa has its own realities in terms of air conditioning and refrigeration. Mr. Madi Sakandé, President of U-3ARC, and Ms. Raoudha Massaoudi, Secretary in charge of Gender Promotion and Women's Mobilization for the refrigeration and air conditioning professions, gave a presentation at the Twinning Workshop on Energy Efficiency of Air Conditioning in Africa, organized by UNEP, to first confirm an African reality that shows that 90% of installed air conditioners are energy-intensive. In their opinion, the least expensive energy is the one we do not consume, to then outline the ways to improve the performance of a refrigeration installation, namely optimizing the use of equipment, adopting good practices and finally choosing the equipment carefully.

To the seminar participants, who came from some 27 African countries, these experts from the RAC sector worked on "How to improve the energy performance of air conditioners". To do this, they demanded to focus on education and training. By focusing on staff training, it will be easier to raise awareness and train operators on best practices for using refrigeration systems to optimize energy use. Of course, these actions can only be sustainable by encouraging a culture of energy efficiency. This is the point of view developed by President Madi Sakandé. For her part Ms. Raoudha Massaoudi insisted on the implementation of procedures and energy performance indicators to measure the efficiency gains made and set continuous improvement objectives. In short, they advocate for a well-designed and well-maintained refrigeration system, capable of offering excellent performance in terms of energy efficiency.

Adequate equipment and continuous training

Based on the observation that the total number of refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump systems in operation worldwide amounts to 5 billions, including 2.6 billions air conditioning units (fixed and mobile) and 2.4 billions domestic refrigerators and freezers, refrigerated units, display cases, cold rooms, heat pumps, etc., U-3ARC experts agree that the refrigeration and air conditioning sector uses 20% of the total electricity consumed in the world. This trend is set to increase by 2050 and could more than double. Also, emissions from the refrigeration sector represent 4.14 Gt CO2eq, or 7.8% of total greenhouse gas emissions. In accordance with the Montreal Protocol and the Kigali Amendment, it is imperative to move towards new equipment and eco-responsible refrigerants. However, proper support must be constant. This support, in terms of training, awareness-raising, but also measuring instrument equipment, must go to refrigeration technicians and populations, particularly in the face of the dangers of these refrigerants, which are certainly eco-responsible, but unfortunately flammable, and therefore explosive!