From Caribbean360

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Thursday May 18, 2017 – Standards for solar water heaters and a number of energy-related appliances are coming to the Caribbean.

And key to this development will be policymakers, standards and energy experts who are meeting in Barbados for a major workshop on energy standards and policy analysis.

The experts and policymakers will be exposed to a Policy Analysis Modelling System (PAMS), designed by the Collaborative Labelling and Appliance Standards Program (CLASP) and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) which was developed “to help local policymakers assess the benefit of standards and labelling programmes”.

The one-day policy analysis workshop, which falls on the first day of the May 17-19 training, discussion and planning forum on energy efficiency standards and labelling standards, is being held as part of CARICOM Regional Organization for Standards and Quality (CROSQ)-implemented Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (R3E) Project.

CROSQ’s Technical Officer – Standards, Fulgence St. Prix said that at the PAMS workshop, CLASP officials will explain how to estimate potential savings from implementing energy efficiency policies in the region.

“We talk a lot in the Caribbean about energy efficiency and introduction of renewable energies, but there isn’t that understanding at the national levels sometimes about how this actually benefits the countries in terms of dollars and cents. This is what this workshop is aimed at helping policymakers more effectively do,” he explained.

“We are in the process of developing Energy Efficiency Building Codes for the region and this factor of savings will be a crucial one to getting Member States in the Caribbean to understand how it benefits their economies at the end of the day. So that’s what we aim to do through this workshop, and using actual case studies to further solidify our position.”

On the second day of the workshop, energy experts will plan a road map to determine the steps to the development and implementation of a labelling scheme for refrigerators, lighting and room air conditioners.

“The following day, we will sit as a group to determine which standard will be used from the several examples we’ve been studying over recent months, and plan our next steps in the development of the standards for labelling of energy efficient appliances,” St. Prix further explained.

Headquartered in Barbados, CROSQ is the regional centre for promoting efficiency and competitive production in goods and services, through the process of standardization and the verification of quality.

The R3E Project focuses on developing standards for the energy sector in the region, namely energy efficiency and renewable energy standards, with supporting infrastructure for energy efficiency testing of appliances – namely, room air-conditioners, refrigerators and freezers, and lights – along with the development of standards for solar PVC panels and solar water heaters in the region. It is funded by a €1 million (US$1.1 million) investment from the German Government, and is partnered by the German National Metrology Institute (PTB) and the Dominican Republic’s National Standards Body, INDOCAL.

IMAGE:

CROSQ’S TECHNICAL OFFICER – STANDARDS, FULGENCE ST. PRIX

For more on this story go to: https://www.caribbean360.com/business/standards-solar-heaters-appliances-coming-caribbean