Saudi Arabia to continue MEPS work for commercial AC with industry inputs

Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), in a policy brief has revealed that it will serve on an Industry Advisory Committee to the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO) that intends to publish labeling requirements and minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia this year.

The requirements and MEPS would go into effect in two stages, in January 2016 and January 2017, the brief informed.

According to AHRI, The new MEPS cover an extensive list of categories of equipment: air conditioners (AC); condensing units; chillers; variable refrigerant flow units; and ACs and condensing units for computer rooms. The committee’s recommendations on MEPS levels, reference standards, implementation timing, and testing and inspection procedures will be reviewed and possibly amended by the Board of the Saudi Energy Efficiency Committee (SEEC), and forwarded to SASO for approval and publication, AHRI elaborated.

At the committee’s most recent meeting on August 31 in Riyadh, the group reportedly discussed testing and inspection procedures to be applied by Saudi Customs and Ministry of Commerce and Industry officials when the standard comes into force.

The news brief informed that in addition to AHRI staff, the following AHRI members and participants in the AHRI global certification programme attended the meeting: Awal, Carrier Corporation, Daikin, Johnson Controls, LG Electronics, Rheem, Petra Engineering, Zamil Air Conditioners and Home Appliances and Trane. The testing laboratories that attended were: Motabaqah, Bureau Veritas, TUV Rheinland, Applus, UL and Intertek.