Ghana residential energy use and appliance ownership survey: Final Report on the Potential Impact of Appliance Performance Standards in Ghana

Abstract

The Government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Mines and Energy is committed to improving the national energy infrastructure and market in Ghana. This report presents the results of a survey and analysis of household energy use and appliance ownership in Ghana. This work, with the collaboration and support of the Government of Ghana, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USAID, the Alliance to Save Energy, and the Energy Foundation of Ghan% is expected to support legislation requiring minimum energy performance standards for home appliances. Refilgerators, room air conditioners, and lighting, which together account for the bulk of residential energy use, are the initial targets for regulation. The time is now for Ghana to act and take a leadership role in promoting energy efficiency in the region. With so many reforms taking place in the energy sector, appliance energy performance standards can only enhance the ability of the Ghanaian economy to move ahead in the next decades. Preliminary findings indicate that implementing a European-type minimum energy pefiormance standard for refrigerators could result in savings up to @07 billion by 2010 (US$50 million) for consumers, and reduce carbon emissions over the same period by 230,000 tonnes. A 10% savings in energy consumption for room air conditioners could save residential consumers nearly #18 billion (US$8 million) and reduce carbon emissions by 38,000 tonnes. For lighting, saving 10°/0 of the residential load through policy and regulation would translate into @13.8 billion (US$6 million) in consumer savings and that is only counting urban customers. The carbon reductions would amount to 24,000 tonnes. More study is recommended.

Energy-efficiency labels and standards: A guidebook for appliances, equipment and lighting

“…These annual energy consumption data for refrigerators are useful for analyzing potential impacts of new standards. A similar study, with even fewer data, was done for lighting, refrigerator, and air conditioner energy use in Ghana (Constantine et al 1999). …”

Electricity End-Use Efficiency in Ghana: Experience with Technologies, Policies and Institutions

“…In 1999, LBNL in collaboration with the Energy Foundation undertook a survey entitled, Ghana residential energy use and appliance ownership survey: Formal report on the potential impact of appliance performance standards in Ghana (Constantine et al, 1999). This survey was meant to verify the prospective effects of electricity efficiency standards in Ghana.…”

“…account for about 25 to 30 percent of electricity usage (Constantine et al, 1999). This is due to the large influx and utilization of second-hand appliances in the Ghanaian market.…”

“…This implies that most household appliances are inefficient in drawing electricity. For example, in 1999, households in five regional capitals purchased and used 556 units of second-hand refrigerators as against 513 units of new refrigerators (Constantine et al, 1999). These second-hand refrigerators consume an average of 1200kWh of electricity per annum (Energy Commission, 2010).…”

“…Ghana's MEPS ban importers and manufacturers from retailing refrigerators that use more than 500 kwh/year of electricity and air conditioners with an electricity efficiency of below 2.8 watts (9.55BTU/Watt) of cooling per watt of electricity input (Energy Commission, 2010). The implementation of MEPS entailed undertaking steps such as technology evaluation, market appraisal and price-efficiency correlation, life-cycle costs of appliances and an estimation of prospective impacts (Constantine et al, 1999;de Melo & Jannuzzi, 2010). Table 3 illustrates policies meant to stimulate the acquisition and utilization of efficient appliances.…”