Did you know that more efficient refrigerators could generate savings of R$ 101 billion by 2030 for consumers’ pockets? This is one of the main results of the study by Instituto Escolhas: “What do you gain from a refrigerator that consumes less energy,” launched online with the participation of Kamyla Borges, the Coordinator of the Energy Efficiency Initiative of iCS. The federal government, however, does not appear to be aligned with the subject.
While the representative of the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), Carlos Pires, highlighted at the event that, although the devices sold in the market mostly have the A seal, this is very outdated in relation to the rest of the world. For this reason, he agrees with the need to have stricter criteria as soon as possible. He also recalled that the refrigerator industry receives a subsidy with a discount on the Tax on Industrialized Products (IPI) of R$ 500 million per year in order to encourage energy efficiency and, therefore, this tax reduction needs to be returned in the form of some benefit to society.
INMETRO, however, thinks differently, at least in terms of urgency. Although she admitted that the revision of the labels is late (it has already been 15 years since the last revision), Danielle Assafin, a representative from the agency, believes that it is not possible to establish new energy efficiency criteria immediately, because it is necessary to “give some time to the industry.” According to her, the proposal that is under public consultation intends that in the next ten years there will be a label that is consistent with what INMETRO understands as a standard of energy efficiency.
To learn more about the results of the study, please access the summary and the full report on the website of Instituto Escolhas.
