The Association of Ghana Industries' Energy Services Center has held a workshop for operators of commercial facilities in the Eastern and Volta Regions on energy efficiency.

Engineers and Facility Managers from industrial and commercial companies in the Regions were trained to assess energy consumption and help reconfigure systems to save energy.

The three-day intensive which was held in Ho, taught beneficiaries to conduct energy audits, which included data collection and other audit activities for facilities and services.

They were also equipped to engage management and other stakeholders of the industry on readjusting trends of energy use and received certificates at the end.

Dr John Williams, a long-term consultant and specialist on energy sustainability, and who was a facilitator of the training, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the training focused on commercial energy audits and that beneficiaries had been equipped to produce according to ISO 50002 energy assessment standards.

He said in the face of threats of global warming and climate change, the government must consider measures including energy audits.

"We are living witnesses to the changes," the Consultant said, adding that partners of the project- the German Government had, as a result, contributed finances to support the nation in cutting down its greenhouse gas emissions.

He noted that "energy audit is the first step towards cutting down greenhouse gas emissions. It is in the energy audit that you count your emissions, so the training here has trained Ghanaian engineers on how to quantify the emissions from commercial properties."

Dr Williams further noted that energy audits helped quantify carbon emissions, and thus the engineers had been to identify actions that would help reduce the emission values.

He called for the Government to consider legislation on energy assessments, saying it was a "very important necessity".

"The most important for the government of Ghana is that, in a short while, we are now at a critical stage of climate change which calls for all countries to make sure that the temperature of the world is more than 1.5 degrees. It has risen more than 1.5 degrees.

"If countries do not take action effectively, there will be a time when it will become extremely critical. So, the Ghana Government has to look at legislation to support the actions of the international community on climate change," The consultant stated.

The Energy Service Center was established in 2019 towards the adoption of renewable, and efficient energy technologies within the productive sector, serving as a source of sensitization workshops for energy consumers of all standards across the country.

The Center is the product of a bilateral project between Ghana and Germany, known as the "Market Entry into Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency for the Productive Sector in Ghana", and the energy audit training is one of its industrial support projects.

It also provides broad-ranged advisory services to commercial and industrial electricity and renewable energy consumers.

Jerry, an engineer with Akosombo Textiles Limited, said at the end of the workshop that companies stood to gain from the energy audit concept and should consider it as a priority.