2013 Energy Summit Flags Off in Abuja

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, News Monday, November 18th, 2013

By Eric Ojo

Stakeholders in the energy sector of the Nigerian economy will on Tuesday converge in Abuja of the flag off of the 2013 National Energy Efficiency Summit (NEES).

The summit which is the third edition of the event is being organised by the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The UNDP is currently implementing a Global Environment Facility (GEF) supported project titled: “Promoting Energy Efficiency in Residential and Public Sector in Nigeria”.

The overall objective of the Project is to improve the energy efficiency of end-use appliances in residential and public sectors in Nigeria through: sensitization and awareness creation; support for formulation of appropriate policy guidelines; establishment of energy efficiency testing laboratories; human and institutional capacity building; and creation of enabling environment for increased penetration of energy efficient appliances. The project will assist Nigeria to increase access to energy, while mitigating the emission of greenhouse gases resulting from energy generation.

This year’s Summit with the theme: “Promoting Energy Efficiency Best Practices: Imperative for the Power Sector Reform and National Development”, according to a statement made available to African Examiner, will discuss the roles that energy efficiency best practices and energy conservation will play in the course of implementing the Power Sector Reform, adding that the reform has expressly identified the adoption of national policy on energy efficiency as one of the strategies to achieve its objectives.

The statement further disclosed that Summit explained that Summit will also be used as a platform to create awareness on the importance and gains of energy efficiency in meeting national development and environmental sustainability.

It added that the National Energy Summit has so far installed of two complete sets of light testing equipment to upgrade the laboratories of the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) and the National Centre for Energy Efficiency and Conservation (NCEEC) for energy efficiency testing of lighting devices; development of minimum energy performance standards for CFLs in collaboration with Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON).

The statement said the Project has equally conducted End-use Monitoring Study in Residential areas across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria to access the current level of energy efficiency of selected appliances – refrigerators, air conditioners and lighting; and encouragement of the retrofit of inefficient appliances in public building to more efficient ones using the ECN Building as case study.

“One other activity to achieve the objectives of the Project is the Annual National Energy Efficiency Summit (NEES) that started in 2011 with the theme: ‘Towards 2012 International Year of Sustainable Energy for All’, and the second Summit held in 2012 with the theme; ‘Promoting Energy Efficiency for National Development and Environmental Sustainability’. The events were organized to create awareness among stakeholders on the gains and importance of energy efficiency. They also served as platforms for stakeholders to discuss ways and strategies to mainstream energy efficiency into national programmes and policy”, the statement further explained.