Rising Demand for Cooling Systems in Africa Fuels Environmental Concerns
2024-07-31
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1Rising demand for cooling systems in Nigeria and other African nations might be making existing pollution problems worse.
2Cooling systems use gases called refrigerants.
3Such gases can affect the atmosphere if they escape.
4Some of these pollutants have been found to be more harmful than other kinds of greenhouse gases.
5The Nigerian government has approved restrictions on the release of refrigerant gases into the environment.
6But enforcement efforts for the laws have been difficult.
7Abiodun Ajeigbe leads an air conditioning business for Samsung, West Africa.
8He told The Associated Press (AP), "Those laws, those rules, nobody enforces them."
9Ajeigbe said one of the biggest problems is a lack of effective education and training about the possible harms of refrigerants.
10This means many cooling system installers might not follow legal requirements when removing old systems or putting new ones in.
11Some trained workers do follow environmental rules governing the use of cooling refrigerants.
12But these kinds of installations cost more.
13Industry experts and public records suggest the most common air conditioning systems in Africa use a kind of gas known by the trade name R-22.
14This refrigerant is said to be less harmful to the environment than older cooling chemicals known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
15CFC's have largely been removed from most modern cooling systems.
16That change was put in motion by the 1987 Montreal Protocol environmental treaty.
17A document from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says R-22 is considered many times more damaging to the world's climate than carbon dioxide.
18For example, about one-half kilogram of R-22 is said to equal one ton of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas.
19However, while carbon dioxide can stay in the atmosphere for more than 200 years, R-22 stays for about 12 years.
20R-22 cooling equipment is not as energy efficient as some other systems.
21And most of the electricity used to power R-22 coolers in Africa requires carbon-based fuels.
22Nigeria is planning to ban R-22 refrigerants by January 1, 2030.
23But without enough enforcement, that target is not likely to be met, Samsung's Ajeigbe told the AP.
24Some cooling systems use a group of refrigerants called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
25These do not harm the ozone layer and are more energy efficient.
26But HFCs are said to be strong greenhouse gases and account for an estimated 2 percent of all human-caused warming in the atmosphere.
27One of the most harmful HFCs, called R-410A, is used in the second most common kind of air conditioners in Africa, the AP reported.
28Sellers and installers of cooling equipment in Nigeria told the news agency that although HFC systems are less damaging to the environment, they are more costly to operate.
29The same issues are affecting countries beyond Nigeria.
30In Ghana, the cooling industry also struggles to get companies and workers to obey current environmental rules.
31Environmental officials in Ghana told the AP that "poor servicing practices" for cooling systems are common across the country.
32This is largely the result of the public choosing lower-trained installers who might not follow recommended standards.
33In Kenya, demand for cooling systems is also growing as the population grows and electricity becomes more widely available.
34Cooling systems using R-22 are still common across the country.
35But the nation's Environmental Management Authority told the AP there have not been any new imports of the systems since 2021.
36Workers dealing with cooling systems and refrigerants are required to get a license.
37But several installation workers told the AP that since such requirements are hard to enforce, environmentally unsafe methods are carried out.
38I'm Bryan Lynn.