Survey probes efficiency of electrical devices |17 April 2015

The Seychelles Energy Commission (Sec), as the implementing agency of the GOS-UNDP-GEF resource efficiency project, is carrying out a market survey of electrical appliances at shops and sales points.

The survey, which focuses on the four main electrical appliances (refrigerators, air conditioners, lamps and washing machines), will provide some needed baseline data on the availability of these appliances and their performance, as well as contribute to the establishment of a local market for high efficiency products.

It is also expected that all regulated electrical appliances available in shops and sales points will have a label affixed to inform the level of energy efficiency, to allow consumers to make better informed purchases by comparing the life cycle cost of these products.
This market survey will have five main objectives:

• Detail the level of energy efficiency of four types of products in the market places (refrigerators, air conditioners, lamps and washing machines);

• Assess the quality of the information that is made available, by manufacturers and retailers to consumers, when the latter are in process of deciding what product to buy;

• Investigate what argumentation the sales persons use when convincing consumers to decide between one or another energy related product;

• Investigate the level of knowledge of the sales persons and shop managers concerning the Seychelles Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Programme (SEEREP), as it is recognised that they could constitute an important communication channel to disseminate this incentive scheme;

• Investigate what is the origin of the products being sold (country and if directly from manufacturer or from a third party), given that, in the future, importers will have to obtain certificates of the energy efficiency of the products they import and sell.

The Sec is carrying out the survey in partnership with the Seychelles Institute of Technology (SIT).

The field activity started in shops in Victoria and continued in shops in the Providence Industrial Estate.

This activity is the starting point of a national Resource Efficiency & Labelling Standards Programme aiming to regulate and control the market of resource (energy and water) systems and devices.
It is also one of the first activities of the referred GOS-UNDP-GEF Resource Efficiency Project, which was officially launched on November 24, 2014.

The GOS-UNDP-GEF Resource Efficiency Project, entitled ‘Promotion and up-scaling of climate-resilient, resource efficient technologies in a tropical island context’ has the objective of significantly reduce the rate of electricity consumption and water usage in the Seychelles.

To achieve this objective, the project is structured in four components, which were defined taking into account the market barriers and failures, identified in the past, for the uptake of resource efficiency technologies by the referred target group. These four components are:

•    Improved policy, institutional, legal/regulatory and financial framework for resource efficient technologies;
•    Awareness-raising and educational campaign on resource efficient appliances;
•    Training schemes to support development of market for energy efficient appliances and water saving devices;
•    Financing mechanisms to support adoption of resource efficient technologies in Seychelles.
The next activities of the Resource Efficiency Project to be implemented in the coming months are related with:
•    Promotion and awareness raising of the benefits of having a regulated and controlled market of resource efficiency products, through the realisation of trade fairs on Mahé and Praslin and through the carrying out of a resource efficiency and labelling standards programme;
•    The revision of the Seychelles Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Programme (SEEREP) and the Seychelles Energy Efficiency and Communication Strategy, to accelerate the uptake of these products by the target group;
•    The development of energy and water baseline studies in the target sector, to, among other things, serve as a basis for comparison after the implementation of resource efficiency measures;
•    The development of national energy efficiency and renewable energy strategies and action plans, which will include the implementation, monitoring and continual improvement of a number of national energy management programmes;
•    The improvement and strengthening of the solar water heating and PV markets;
•    The development of a national training programme related with the topics addressed by the project and targeting several entities, according with the scope of the referred national energy management programmes.
The GOS-UNDP-GEF resource efficiency project will be implemented in four years.