Experts and dealers in cooling appliances have said that thousands of consumers ought to switch to energy-efficient and climate-friendly refrigerators and air conditioners to help Rwanda implement Amendment to cut production of Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that are said to be powerful climate-warming gases.

The 2016 Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol which entered into force in 2019 is an international treaty designed to phase out such powerful climate-warming gases by more than 80 percent in the next 30 years.

Once phased out, the gases could reduce 0.5 degrees Celsius of global warming.

A refrigerator that is used by a household in Kigali.At least over 35,000 households need to switch to energy-efficient refrigerators. Photo: Sam Ngendahimana.

Jean Paul Nsengiyumva, the proprietor of Cold Air Ltd that deals in the appliances told Doing Business that there exists cooling appliances on the domestic market which have both environmental and economic benefits.

"Besides consuming less electricity, they do not pollute the air. Going by an example, if someone used to spend 200 grams of cooling gas, the energy-efficient appliances spend around 80 grams. This means that the less cooling gas used, the less power is consumed,” he said.

Aline Uwase, a restaurant owner in Kigali city said that the old fridge she uses consumes half of the power the whole business consumes.

"The government decision to embrace energy-saving cooling appliances is timely. However, there should be a financing mechanism to help people switch to energy-efficient refrigerators because the upfront cost is high. 

Some people do not have knowledge about this energy-saving and climate-friendly refrigerators,” she said.

35,104 refrigerators suspected of using potent gas

According to the domestic refrigerating appliance and room air conditioner market and feasibility assessment by Rwanda Cooling Finance Initiative (RCOOL FI), there has been a steady increase in refrigerators in the residential sector since 2012 with an estimated stock of 97,512 refrigerators owned by households in Rwanda as of last year.

Although most of the refrigerators found in households are new with 58.6 per cent bought less than three years ago, there is 36 per cent which are approximately 35,104 households who purchased their refrigerating appliances over four years ago and may still use powerful climate-warming gases.

The largest market potential for refrigerators is in Kigali city, followed by the Southern Province, the Western Province, the Eastern Province, and finally the Northern Province while the air conditioners market at the household level in Rwanda is relatively small.

Also, the findings indicate that the best potential residential market segments are middle-income households with about 66.3 per cent market share- and high-income households with controlling about 23.2 per cent of the market share including micro-entrepreneurs from urban areas controlling about 26.9 per cent.

Financial barriers

However, the study revealed there are some financial and technical barriers that would need to be addressed to accelerate the transformation of the market towards energy-efficient cooling equipment.

It shows that some of the barriers affecting household clients in adopting energy efficient refrigerators particularly those who already have old appliances is the high upfront cost.

There is also the aspect of lack of trust that the product will achieve energy as well as lack of awareness on energy savings in the long run.

Technology suppliers, it indicates, face the challenge of financing energy-efficient cooling equipment because they lack suitable financing.

Air conditioners market in Rwanda is less than 30 percent according to studies.

However, 42.3 per cent of suppliers are optimistic that with the introduction of a new financial mechanism, this trend may shift to between 30 and 40 per cent.

The 42.3 per cent of the respondents said that the current market penetration of refrigerator in Rwanda ranges between 61 and 70 per cent but believe with the introduction of a financial mechanism market penetration can increase to between 70 and 80 per cent.

In order to ensure the appliances are energy-efficient and climate-friendly, the National Green Growth and Climate Resilience strategy for climate change and low carbon development and National Cooling strategy are among the potential tools to reduce powerful climate-warming gases used in cooling appliances.

To cut the consumption of powerful climate-warming gases used in cooling appliances, Rwanda has drastically reduced, by 54%, the importation of gases known as ‘hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs)’ that deplete the ozone layer paving the way for implementing the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

Martine Uwera, the National Focal Point of Montreal Protocol, recently told Doing Business that Rwanda has reduced the importation of chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) from 4.1 tonnes in 2010 to 1.89 tonnes currently.

The green growth strategy also highlights that implementation of low energy consumption standards in buildings and services in Rwanda could result in an 80 per cent reduction in energy use.

Studies show that old refrigerators that are not energy-efficient consume an estimated Rwf4 billion power annually of which Rwf2.4bn is an expense that could be saved.