The Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) could save close to half of their utility costs when they use energy-efficient appliances, according to an audit commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
This was revealed during a presentation on the key findings of the audit at an energy and resource efficiency training for MSMEs across six districts in Ghana.
About 600 participants were drawn from Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Ketu South Municipal Assembly, SefwiWiawso Municipal Assembly, Jomoro Municipal Assembly, Sagnarigu District Assembly and Kassena–Nankana West District Assembly.
The participants benefitted from the energy and resource efficiency training which falls under UNDP’s inclusive integrated MSMEs support programme that seeks to support the government’s COVID-19 recovery efforts.
The training is also being supported by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Ghana.
The programme, which is building on previous MSMEs interventions in the districts, is providing support in three specific areas. These involve business development services including good corporate governance, mentorship, and access to finance; increased citizens’ engagements to prevent radicalisation; and the energy and resource efficiency capacity enhancement.
Head of Environment and Climate at UNDP, Mr Stephen Kansuk said the audit approach involved a walk-through and patterns analyses of utility usage and waste generation by 15 selected businesses including manufacturing MSMEs and hotels across the six selected districts.
He called on owners of MSMEs to install photo sensors to control compound lights, as almost all facilities audited have manually operated compound or outside lights which are kept on for several hours.
“The interventions are expected to facilitate skills upgrading, encourage innovation and targeted investments to create jobs, decent employment, and income. This is to unleash the potential of women and youth-led MSMEs to drive a sustained economic recovery that is greener and more inclusive,” noted MrKansuk.
He noted that the use of efficient water closet (WC) systems would also help the MSMEs reduce water utility costs explaining that the audit recommendations suggested the use of a WC system with at least six cisterns capacity.
Mr Kansuk said this was because, it was noted that most of the facilities use high water volume WC systems with high litre cistern capacities ranging from 22, 18, 16 to 12.
The Executive Secretary of the Energy Commission of Ghana, Mr Oscar Amonoo-Neizer encouraged MSMEs to ensure the prudent use of energy and resources in their establishments.
He urged them to serve as energy and resource managers to conduct walk-through energy and resource audits on regular basis to conserve energy and save costs.
He said most small businesses and hotels for example spend about 60-70 percent of their operating costs on energy and resources, he said.
Mr Amonoo-Neizer said they need to adopt best energy and resource use practices to reduce costs, increase revenue generation, and the capacity to withstand future challenges,
BY JEMIMA ESINAM KUATSINU
