The T&T Bureau of Standards (TTBS) has launched an energy efficiency lighting lab (EEL Lab) to provide testing services to ensure the quality of lighting products in the wider Caricom region, while raising the level of energy efficiency awareness.
Delivering the feature address at the launch, Minister of Trade and Industry Paula Gopee-Scoon highlighted the Government’s commitment to reducing this country’s carbon footprint through the use of greater energy-efficient technology, underscoring the capabilities of EEL Lab.
“This new Energy Efficiency Lighting Lab is a positive step in this direction, through the implementation of the Testing and Labelling Programme for Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs) and Light Emitting Diode Bulbs (LEDs) lighting products,” Gopee-Scoon said.
She added with the EEL Laboratory consumers will now benefit from having accurate information to compare brands of CFLs and LEDs.
“Businesses in T&T and the region can also have their lighting products tested and verified locally.
“In the past, lighting products would have to be sent to a country outside of the region to be tested,” the minister added
In August 2020, the EEL Lab was commissioned through the Caricom Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) and the German Metrology Institute, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) under the “Strengthening of Quality for Sustainable Energy in the Caribbean (QSEC) Project.”
In addition to Government funding, the EEL Laboratory was financed through CROSQ (a regional intergovernmental organisation established in February 2002 to facilitate the development of regional standards) and the Ministry of Planning and Development’s Global Environmental Fund (GEF) Project.
This funding was used to outfit the lab with updated and modern testing equipment such as an integrating sphere, spectrophotometer, power meter, lamp testing ageing rack, standard lamp, and AC testing power source.