Promotion of Higher Efficient Air Conditioners in ASEAN through Harmonisation of Standards and Strengthening of Market Verification and Enforcement Capabilities (Phase I)
| Proponent | : | ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) |
|---|---|---|
| Implementing Agency | : | ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) |
Background
The room air conditioners (AC) represent a large proportion of electricity demand in ASEAN and the market is expected to continue growing for several years to come. While most of ASEAN Member States (AMSs) have adopted energy efficiency standards and labelling regulations on ACs, there are some AMSs have yet to impose mandatory requirements for ACs manufacturers to produce and commercialize energy efficient ACs.
In ASEAN, each country has their own standard and evaluation method to certify the capacity rating and energy consumption of their ACs equipment. This individuality in testing methodologies and facilities will create a non-tariff barrier to trade among AMSs. In recognition of this challenge, harmonisation and standardisation of testing and evaluation methods as well as testing facility improvements are critical to reduce trade barriers as part of ASEAN market connectivity and integration plan. The market transformation in favor of higher efficient ACs will directly reduce electricity consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the general households and commercial sectors in ASEAN.
What is the project aiming for?
The objective of this project is to accelerate the deployment of higher efficient ACs in ASEAN through removal of non-tariff barriers to trade and active policy support to AMS. More specifically, the following are the project’s main outputs:
- Adoption of a common evaluation method across AMS to evaluate energy efficiency of both fixed speed and inverter air conditioners;
- Update National and Regional Policy roadmaps to promote higher efficiency air conditioners and include timetable to increase minimum energy performance standard (MEPS) over time; and
- Capacity building for testing laboratories including the development of programme design and round robin testing with recommendations.
On efficiency for cooling, the Ministers commended the collaboration between the ASEAN standards and energy sectoral bodies. They requested SOME to deepen efforts to deploy more efficient air conditioners which the Ministers noted are becoming less expensive to buy, cheaper to power, and can also potentially be manufactured within ASEAN.
Joint Ministerial Statement of the 37th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting
4 September 2019
Bangkok, Thailand
The project Promotion of Higher Efficient Air Conditioners in ASEAN through Harmonisation of Standards and Strengthening of Market Verification and Enforcement Capabilities (Phase I) aims to contribute towards “Energy Efficiency and Conservation: Reduce energy intensity in ASEAN by 20 percent as a medium-term target in 2020 and 30 percent as a long-term target in 2025, based on 2005 level” as outlined in the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint 2025. As per the project’s work plan the project will be implemented for a period of two years, from 2019 to 2021.
As of 29 February 2020
