Renewable Energy and Climate Science: Metrology and Technology Challenges in the Americas

Highlights

Workshop on Energy Efficiency for Appliances and Labeling: Challenges and Opportunities for Central American Region

The activity was held on June 7 to 9, 2016, at the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) in San Juan. The three-day workshop addressed measurement challenges and opportunities associated with energy efficiency regulation and technologies, as well as with standards and labeling programs.

Energy efficiency experts from Central America and the Dominican Republic presented the work conducted by their governments in these fields, with specific focus on technical assistance needs linked to metrology. The event had participation of at least 50 experts from different organizations, including the participation of representatives from SICA (Central American Integration System), and from multilateral organizations active in the field of energy efficiency in the region such as the IDB, the World Bank, the Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program (CLASP), the United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also participated in the workshop.

 

Workshop Goals:

-To promote increased cooperation and coordination among technical bodies, regulators, accreditors, standards developers and other stakeholders in Central America (CA) and the Dominican Republic (DR, to increase effectiveness of programs and policies on energy efficiency.

To explore opportunities for regional cooperation in measuring compliance to advance the implementation of energy efficiency standards and labeling programs for equipment and appliance.

-To increase the technical capacities of the main actors responsible for designing and implementing energy efficiency measures in equipment (motors, engines) and appliances (air conditioning, refrigerators, lighting, in CA and DR.

-To create political awareness of the opportunities for energy efficiency, especially in the context of sustainable energy programs for all (SE4ALL), where the region has an international commitment to double its rate of increase in energy efficiency. This objective contributes directly to the fulfillment of global sustainable development goals of UN 2030.

-To identify opportunities in the measurement area, specifically on the role of metrology institutes in the region to support the development of energy efficiency ratings (indexes) in CA and DR.

-To explore opportunities for collaboration and coordination with national, regional, international and multilateral organizations implementing energy efficiency programs in the region.

 

Participated Countries

  • CAMET (Countries of Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and El Salvador)

  • CARIMET (Countries of the Caribbean:  Dominican Republic

Coordination: OAS, NIST and LACOMET

 

Contact:

Ing. Bibiana Serna

Email: bserna@oas.org

Phone: (202)370-4209