The slow uptake of energy saving technologies in Uganda has been blamed on the lack of proper sensitization of the masses on how to better utilize and get the most out of these technologies.
Jacob Etunganan, an energy expert from SNV Uganda says many people have been hesitant to switch to energy efficient equipment and appliances in their homes, businesses and institutions partly due to misconceptions about the quality and cost of some of the technologies.
While some of the appliances such as electric cookers, improved stoves and energy saving lights might be more expensive, Etunganan says buyers tend to focus only on the prices and less about their money saving benefits.
“We need to continuously create a mindset shift toward appreciating technologies available in the market that can reduce on the usage of charcoal, fire wood, electricity, LPG, diesel and petrol engines,” he said
“Unfortunately, the majority of the businesses whenever they are making a decision to purchase, it is based on which product is the cheapest. But they don’t try to conceptualize the fact that what is cheapest might end up to be the most expensive because it means that you will be incurring additional operating costs.”
Mr Etunganan said this during a two-day training of media on Energy Efficiency awareness which took place in Gulu City.
He, on the other hand, blamed the slow migration to EE technologies on wrong preconceptions about fake products.
Although there might be sub standard products on the market, he says, some of the products might actually be genuine but seem inefficient, if poorly installed.
“The adoption has been limited because most people are simply witnessing a wave of poor quality technologies in the market,” he said.
“But you also need to realize that beyond the technology being poor quality there is also an angle of workmanship and installation of these technologies. For instance with solar, it may not always be the solar that was fake but actually the workmanship. How was the positioning of the panel? How was the sizing of the whole system, in terms of the battery size and the load in the household?”
“All these aspects of the workmanship actually contribute to the issues around the quality of a particular technology,” he added.
Etunganan also cites other factors such as lack of preventative maintenance, poor record keeping among those that could lead to poor performance of Energy Efficient technologies.
The media training was part of SNV’s Inclusive Markets for Energy Efficiency in Uganda (IMEU) program which is intended to develop sustainable, inclusive markets for appropriate energy efficient (EE) products and services for households, businesses, and institutions in agriculture and the built environment, to enhance livelihoods and increase the resilience and competitiveness of businesses in Uganda.