Trinidad and Tobago has a new National Cooling Strategy (NCSTT)

Trinidad and Tobago has a new National Cooling Strategy (NCSTT) which has been approved by the Cabinet.

Cooling is a critical element for the sustainability and development of the economy. It is required to ensure homes, offices, and cars are comfortable; industrial processes run safely and efficiently while ensuring societies have preserved foods and medicaments for consumption. Notwithstanding being identified as essential, cooling also has a significant adverse environmental impact, due to its contribution to global warming. The refrigeration and air-conditioning (RAC) sector (cooling sector) contributes to global warming both directly and indirectly. The demand for cooling is growing; thus, there is an urgent need to cut cooling related pollution and energy wastage.

The direct impact of cooling on the environment is due to the refrigerant emissions and depends on the global warming potential (GWP) of the refrigerant used, the refrigerant charge in the equipment and the leakage rates (annual and during maintenance and decommissioning) of the equipment. The cooling technology used for RAC mainly utilize synthetic refrigerants that can either deplete the ozone layer or have a high-GWP. Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants were introduced to replace their ozone-depleting counterparts but are greenhouse gases that can have a high-GWP. HFCs contribute to the increases in temperature currently experienced worldwide, and thus, the demand for cooling also increases.  

To ensure that Trinidad and Tobago is prepared for the increased demand for cooling and ready to mitigate the identified threats to the environment and sustainability, the National Cooling Strategy of Trinidad and Tobago (NCSTT) has been developed. The NCSTT will support sustainable, energy-efficient, low-GWP cooling in Trinidad and Tobago, enhancing the phase-out and phase down targets under the Montreal Protocol and its recent Kigali Amendment.  

The drafting of the NCSTT was guided using a multisectoral consultative approach which spanned a period of over eighteen (18) months. Several key stakeholders involved in the cooling industry, and well as other sectors, in particular as it relates to energy efficiency and alternative refrigerants were consulted across Trinidad and Tobago. These stakeholders included, all Government Ministries, the Environmental Management Authority; the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards; the National Training Agency; training institutions in the RAC Sector such as the Metal Industries Limited, the National Energy Skills Center, and the School of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning; research entities such as the University of the West Indies; and Non-Governmental Organizations such as the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Industry Association and the Refrigerant Recovery and Recycling Association. The NCS was circulated to all professionally certified RAC technicians. Comments received were used to finalize the document, under the guidance of the Cabinet Appointed National Coordinating Committee to Guide the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol.

The development of the NCSTT was facilitated through funding provided by the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Programme administered through the United Nations Development Programme.

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