BELMOPAN, Belize – The Belize Bureau of Standards (BBS), as a CARICOM member state, was selected to participate in a pilot voluntary Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme (EELS) for Refrigerators, Air Conditioners and Lighting.
Towards this end, the BBS has approached the Association of Normalization and Certification (ANCE) of Mexico in 2021 to garner support for Belize’s EELS pilot project through a cooperation agreement. The main objective of the cooperation agreement is capacity building for staff to carry out conformity assessment for energy efficient appliances in addition to other key support areas. This is a critical component of the project requirement to ensure t he effective implementation of the program.
ANCE is a leader in standardization and conformity assessment activities. During the past two and a half decades, ANCE has added value to quality through safety, health, performance, and the best use of natural resources, with standardization solutions, laboratory inspection and testing, calibration, aptitude tests and certification, as the basis for technological development and innovation in the region. The confidence in this institution is attested by its predominance in the Americas (including USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Columbia, Peru, and Ecuador) that have supported the field of product certification for the electricity sector as well as addressing the needs of various other sectors.
The signing event between BBS and ANCE took place on Thursday, 21 July 2022 at the Best Western Belize Biltmore Plaza in Belize City.
As a CARICOM initiative, the EELS program is geared towards strengthening the Regional Quality Infrastructure in the Caribbean in areas of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and is a collaboration among the CARICOM Regional Organization for Standards and Quality (CROSQ), the Dominican Republic’s Institute for Quality (INDOCAL) and the German National Metrology Institute (PTB).
The program aims to assist with the introduction of quality measures in the energy sector, in this case, through the introduction of EE standards to govern the minimum energy performance of refrigerators, air conditioners and lighting (CFL’s and LED’s).
In this endeavour, the Belize energy unit of the ministry of public utilities, energy, logistics and e-governance is further supporting the BBS with funds made available through the 11th European Development Funding which is partially allocated to support Belize’s Sustainable Energy Roadmap initiatives.
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