Lisbon, Sept. 3, 2024 (Lusa) - The business association representing the electro-digital industry (Agefe) in Portugal, wants the government to implement a programme to support the replacement of inefficient household appliances, a project that it recalls has been planned but never implemented by successive executives since 2008.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Business Association of the Electrical, Household Appliance, Electronic and Information and Communication Technology Sectors (Agefe) recalls that almost 20 years ago the National Energy Strategy was implemented (Cabinet resolution no. 169/2005, of 24 October 2005). 169/2005 of 24 October), which was followed by the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency - Portugal Eficiência 2015 (Cabinet resolution 80/2008 of 17 April), but ‘although these measures were already planned and regulated, they were never put into practice’.
‘Over these two decades we've only received side signals, with programmes such as ‘Vale Eficiência’ (Efficiency Voucher) and 'Edifícios Mais Sustentáveis' (More Sustainable Buildings), focused on equipment such as windows and air conditioning units,' says Agefe's director-general, Daniel Ribeiro, quoted in a statement.
However, he emphasises, the fact is that replacing end-of-life appliances ‘has the potential to generate significant aggregate savings in terms of energy, water, greenhouse gas emissions and also in family budgets’: ‘A fridge bought today uses on average less than half the energy of one bought 15 years ago,’ he adds.
The association leader says that the association ‘has been urging governments to adopt a programme to support the replacement of inefficient appliances installed in Portuguese homes’, stressing that ‘people would win and the country would win’.
‘There is no shortage of examples of countries that have done this,’ he says, pointing to Spain, Greece and Hungary.
However, he laments, ‘in Portugal, despite being a planned action in the energy efficiency action plans since 2008, it has never got off the ground’.
Recognising that Portuguese families ‘keep inefficient appliances in their homes, mainly due to their low purchasing power and the need for balance in managing their family budgets’, Agefe notes, however, that in the last two decades the energy consumption of new models of domestic appliances ‘has fallen by almost 50%’.
With regard to its recent recommendation to the new government, the association says that ‘the key ideas are not new’ and that it is a programme that it has been insisting on and that ‘should have been implemented a long time ago’.
As a first step, AGEFE recommends implementing a programme aimed at washing machines, dishwashers and refrigeration appliances: ‘We advocate several principles for organising a programme of this nature, including a proportional relationship between the value of the support and the expected savings; freedom of choice for the consumer to select the appliance(s) they want to replace and making the support operational through vouchers awarded by the state,’ the director-general stresses.
‘We are hopeful that with this government this programme can get off the ground,’ adds Daniel Ribeiro.
An inquiry into sales of white goods carried out in 2023 by Agefe among companies in the sector showed that nearly 60% of the refrigeration appliances, washing machines and dryers and dishwashers placed on the Portuguese market in 2023 belonged to the four lowest energy efficiency classes (D, E, F and G), which are associated with higher water and electricity consumption.
Set up in July 1975, Agefe brings together 158 companies with a global turnover of over €5bn and employing around 11,000 workers.
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