Environment & Energy | Saturday 21 February, 2015 2:09 am |

The Laboratory for Energy Efficiency, a unit of the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization (SASO) which deals primarily with air conditioners, has been certified by the Korean Agency for Technology and Specifications (KATS) at an event held in Riyadh recently. SASO won the award following a sample test that matched KATS' and other laboratories' standards.

The event, held at SASO’s headquarter in Riyadh, was attended by a Korean official who handed over the certificate to SASO Governor Dr. Saad Al-Qasabi, who who described it as an outstanding achievement, which confirms the high professional level of SASO in all development projects.
He also stressed that the new laboratory will play a pivotal role in support of the Commission and other stakeholders' efforts in the implementation of energy conservation initiatives.

He noted that he had signed contract for laboratory energy efficiency last year, covering the latest test equipment to verify the conformity of imported air conditioners and those locally manufactured in conformity according to Saudi standards.
According to him, SASO made sure that this laboratory meets the standards of global technological and scientific developments, and has benefited greatly from the advanced Korean experience in this regard.

Dr. Al-Qasabi said laboratory deals with one of the most urgent issues at the level of the national economy at the moment, due to the large consumption of electrical power in the Kingdom,and in the light of the rapid advances taking place in the country. Air conditioning systems in buildings consume nearly 70 percent of total energy intake, which puts a great burden on both the state and the consumer.

He said that in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Customs Department, SASO is enforcing a regulation that bans air conditioners that do not meet Saudi specifications from entering the Kingdom.