Zombie appliances

If I asked you whether you associated zombies with your domestic fridge, only the horror film lovers among you would mention cult 1989 film 'Chilling'. In the movie, after being struck by lightning during a power outage, frozen corpses reanimate as zombies. Fortunately, in real life, zombie refrigerators are not so scary. They are, however, equally dangerous.

What are zombie appliances?

Refrigerated appliances that are dumped in often unregulated markets are termed "zombie appliances". "Dumping" is a term commonly used by the industry to refer to the practice of offering appliances that do not comply with current regulations in developed countries to consumers in the markets of developing countries, where regulation is weaker or non-existent. Africa is one of the main areas where cheap and outdated zombie appliances are dumped.

Across the continent these dumped refrigerators are typically new models that no longer meet minimum energy performance (MEPs) standards in the Global North or appliances that have been discarded from developed countries and recycled into the African market. The latter are often old models that conform with outdated performance standards which would no longer be considered remotely acceptable in areas of the world such as Europe.

The impact of zombie appliances

The practice of dumping zombie appliances is an economic issue for users, hinders economic development, harms public health, and potentially threatens ecological systems. In addition, dumping of zombie appliances makes it more difficult for countries to meet international climate obligations and for the targets of the Paris climate agreement to be achieved.

The dumping of appliances in markets of the Global South means that these consumers are lumbered with inefficient models (often they can use 2 or 3 times the energy of an optimised new refrigerator), adding to their energy bills. This additional use of energy is not only an extra cost burden to the user but also leads to unnecessary strain on power grids that are often fragile in developing countries. However, not only this, zombie appliances may also contain refrigerants that are no longer acceptable in developed markets. When leaked, these chemicals, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) or hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) act to deplete ozone in that already fragile layer of the atmosphere and, due to their often high global warming potential (GWP), increase global warming.

Pushing back on zombie appliances

The demand for cooling is increasing in African countries driven by a warming climate and a burgeoning middle class who want comfort in their homes and time-saving appliances. Indeed, unsubstantiated reports often state that the demand for refrigerated appliances across the continent has doubled or tripled over the last decade.

A number of African countries are now pushing back against the trade in zombie appliances. For example, since 2013, Ghana has enforced a ban on imports of used appliances and Rwanda has similarly applied a ban since 2019. New cooling equipment must now also meet MEPs. However, policing these regulations is a challenge. Often imports are mislabelled and there are limited resources available to check and enforce the requirements of the regulations.

Regulations affecting the performance of appliances need to be managed. Without checking and compliance enforcement, regulation can simply be bypassed and ignored. Even though some countries in Africa do currently have regulation which works to reduce the import of used appliances, there is still a need to ensure that new refrigerators meet the stated performance requirements.

The ACES environmental test chamber

This is where initiatives such as the ACES environmental test chamber come into play. The new facility, which is due to be ready for use later this year (2025), will be a game changer for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It will enable Governments, manufacturers, or retailers, to check compliance with MEPs or energy labels and to ensure that appliances such as domestic refrigerators, professional units (catering cabinets), or commercial (retail) cabinets, fully comply with import regulations. It will also provide assurance that manufacturer claims are valid and identify the best performing appliances in the market.

The ACES environmental test chamber is a multi-functional design and will be capable of recreating a wide range of ambient conditions for testing appliances in terms of temperature, humidity, lighting and air flow. Most unusually, the facility will recreate conditions prescribed in standards that are widely used to test the temperature performance and energy consumption of appliances (for example ISO 23953 for commercial cabinets). It will be capable of operating between 16°C to 50°C, with relative humidity of between 40% and 80%, and have the ability to vary the lighting level and air flow over appliances. This will provide a wide range of ambient conditions that exceed those required in test standards. Therefore, if needed, the chamber can create bespoke conditions to stress test appliances.

As well as creating a wide range of environmental conditions, the chamber will be set up with extensive data logging capabilities to measure temperature, air flow, and humidity in and around cabinets under test, as well as lighting levels, power consumption and energy use. For appliances with doors, a door opening mechanism will be available that simulates consumer usage (which is part of some test standards).

Although the test chamber is primarily aimed at testing and compliance checking, it can also be used in the development and testing of new appliances. In this regard, the advanced data logging capabilities can be applied to help manufacturers optimise equipment performance. For example, the chamber could help local manufacturers in SSA develop new products that are able to outcompete imported refrigerators. This will aid local manufacturing, skills development in-country and the development of new appliances that are designed specifically for the needs of the African market.

Moving toward energy-efficient refrigerators

In addition to compliance verification there is also a need to convey this information to consumers. Often energy-efficient refrigerators cost more than zombie appliances, but the savings associated with the lower energy costs are more than able to mitigate this over time. Potentially, to drive the market to energy-efficient and environmentally-sustainable options, in addition to awareness raising, financial incentives (e.g. loans) may be required to help end users buy the best performing appliances. There is also a need to ensure that old appliances exiting the market are correctly managed at their end of life.

Incorrect recycling of refrigerators in Africa is a major environmental and public health issue. Often end of life of appliances are not managed in recycling centres and old equipment may be processed using unsafe practices, such as open air burning or dumping in landfill. Not only are these practices very dangerous and cause air, water, and soil pollution, they also expose workers to hazardous and potentially flammable chemicals (from the refrigerants, insulation foam and heavy metals contained in the appliances). As part of overall compliance, a system-based approach needs to be developed that covers the whole lifecycle of an appliance, from manufacture to end of life, and ACES can help with that too.

If you would like to know more about how to use or engage with the work at the environmental test chamber or more widely at ACES, please contact us at the Clean Cooling Network (CCN).