BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CMC) – A two-day regional conference discussing the growth of cooling technologies such as air conditioners and refrigerators, and ways to reduce their environmental impact as well as their high operating costs for consumers ended here yesterday.

Programme Manager for Energy at the Guyana-based Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat, Dr Devon Gardener, said that the energy load in some public and private use is estimated as high as 80 per cent in a significant number of buildings in the region.

He told the delegates on the first day of the workshop headlined ‘Workshop on Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) Development in the Cooling Sector’ that this is often very costly, as reflected by the increasingly high fees for electricity for households or businesses that use air conditioning.

Gardener also pointed to the harmful effects that some of the gases used in cooling devices can have on the ozone layer and in producing greenhouse gases.

The conference also explored ways to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from refrigerants and air conditioners; the linkages between NAMAs and Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for cooling equipment; and consider technical policies and financing options in the cooling sector.

The two-day conference will be followed by a second three-day workshop on Investment-Grade Calculation, Analysis and Financial Modelling for Sustainable Energy Applications starting today.

It will examine calculations and models for actual energy projects; and establish business relationships between project developers, funders and financiers to support the active development of specific energy projects.