Africa's demand for cooling systems is expanding. But regulating the industry is a struggle
Due to warmer temperatures and increasing urbanization, the market for cooling systems is expanding in Africa
ABUJA, Nigeria — As the sun blazes down in Nigeria's capital Abuja, Ahmed Bukar turns on his home air conditioner to a blast of hot air. The charging valve on the outside unit is leaking out the cooling gas that the appliance runs on. A technician had recently helped him refill the air conditioner with gas, but he didn’t test for possible leaks.
In Abuja and across Nigeria, air conditioners sprout from the walls as the appliance turns from a middle-class luxury into a necessity in an increasingly hot climate. The industry is governed by regulations prohibiting the release of cooling gases into the air, for example by conducting leak tests after an appliance is fixed. Still, routine release of gases into the atmosphere due to shoddy installations, unsafe disposal at the end of use, or the addition of gas without testing for leaks is a common problem in Nigeria, though unlawful.
The gases known as refrigerants that make cooling systems work are hundreds to thousands of times the warming potency of carbon dioxide and the worst of them also harm the ozone layer. Following global agreements that promised to limit these gases being spewed into the air, like the Montreal Protocol and Kigali Amendments, Nigeria has enacted regulations guiding the use of these gases. But enforcement is a problem, threatening Nigeria's commitments to slash emissions.
“Those laws, those rules, nobody enforces them,” said Abiodun Ajeigbe, a manager for the air conditioning business at Samsung in West Africa. “I have not seen any enforcement.”
The weak regulatory system for the cooling industry in Nigeria is evident in the rampant lack of
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