by Zoe
Rusty old fridges will soon be a thing of the past in Ghana…
Tolu mentioned the other day that our house is somewhat lacking in facilities. Well, for those of you worrying about my well-being (hi mum), the good news is that we’ve now got a fridge!
The even better news is that our fridge is brand new. If we’d moved here a few weeks earlier, it might not have been, as a new law was passed on 1 January which bans the import of second-hand refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners. Ghana is the first country in Africa to introduce such regulation.
In addition, a new Refrigerator Rebate and Exchange Scheme offers incentives of up to GHC200 (around £70), as well as credit facilities for the remaining cost, for Ghanaians who trade in existing fridges with new ones. As at 10 January, 800 used refrigerators had already been turned in under the scheme.
Currently, the average Ghanaian refrigerator consumes 1200kWh of energy per year – whereas energy efficient versions consume around 250kWh. It is expected that the rebate scheme will save around 216MWh of electricity per year for the country –equivalent to half of the electricity that will be produced by the Bui hydro-electric dam when completed.
The other advantage to getting a new fridge instead of a second-hand one is that it comes in a cardboard box. And it turns out that cardboard is surprisingly comfortable to sit on, when compared to the floor…
Chilling on our reclining chairs…
Dasiba Tamale! 