Increase use of Green Cooling Refrigerants PS Ibrahim Urges

Mr. Marindany Kirui,the Ozone National coordinator, addressing participants during the stakeholders workshop on Green cooling initiatives at the Fairview hotel, Nb

The principal Secretary for Environment and Forestry Dr. Ibrahim Mohamed has said training standards should be adopted for technicians who handle refrigeration and air-conditioning in order to reduce global warming.

The PS noted that minimum training and certification requirements for technicians handling low global warming potential refrigerants should be adopted at the national level.

Such training would allow only certified technicians to install, maintain, repair, recover, and dismantle refrigeration and air-conditioning (RAC) equipment and systems.

Dr. Mohamed called on entrepreneurs and stakeholders in the cooling industry to adopt modern technologies that consumed low energy and operated using natural refrigerants that did not impact negatively onthe Ozone Layer and Climate.

He made the remarks in a speech read for him by the director of Multilateral Environment Agreements Mr. Richard Mwendandu during a Green Cooling Initiative workshop for stakeholders held at a Nairobi hotel.

The PS lamented thatmost of the RAC equipment in the country were inefficient because they are based on obsolete technologies that contained refrigerants notorious for depleting the ozone layer or caused global warming.

He observed that “the situation is made worse by the fact that alternatives that are friendly to Ozone Layer and climate are not readily available in the country and had to be imported against an inadequate number of trained RAC Service technicians”.

Further Dr. Mohamed said, the installation, servicing, repair and dismantling of RAC equipment operating with such refrigerants needs to be carefully evaluated and considered in the context of safety.

The training and certification workshop sponsored by the German agency for International development gizProklimathrough the Ministry,s National Ozone Unitwas attended by officials of technical training institutions, Ministry of energy, Kenya Renewable Energy association, Kenya Industrial Research and  DevelopmentInstitute (KIRDI),  Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HEVAC) of Kenya among others.

The gizteam was led by katharina Arndt while Mr. MarindanyKirui represented the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

DMEAs, Mr. Richard Mwendandu, giving the PS remarks, during the official opening of the Green Cooling Initiative Stakeholders workshop at the Fairview hotel, Nbi.