The designs of the optional golden and silver labels for energy-saving air conditioners (split and window) have been finalised by Qatar General Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (QGASM).
“The labels are to be officially launched on October 14 to observe the World Standards Day,” QGASM announced yesterday in a statement issued by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME).
Dr Mohamed bin Saif al-Kuwari, MME assistant undersecretary for  specifications and metrology affairs, said that Qatar, represented by QGASM, was working to make the new golden and silver labels mandatory as part of its energy-efficiency project and become the third country worldwide after South Korea and Japan to implement such a system.
The new two labels (the golden eight stars and silver seven stars) will be distributed to suppliers and distributors of ACs in order to be pasted on the energy-saving ACs imported into the country.
Besides, QGASM will issue the factories and suppliers of the energy-saving ACs of seven and eight stars a certificate of appreciation indicating the related number of stars, as an incentive for them to supply more such units.
The new system of energy-saving stars for ACs was first introduced in July 1 and three to six stars became mandatory for all distributors and suppliers. QGASM said that the basic information on the new silver and gold labels would include: the percentage of energy efficiency, trademark, type, cooling capacity, and annual consumption of electricity in kilowatt/hours. The golden labels of eight stars are considered the highest in the world in energy saving, with up to 51% saving in the energy consumption of these ACs, while the silver labels of seven stars have up to 46.8% saving rate. Energy-efficiency experts point out these ACs consume energy equivalent to washing machines and microwaves but their production is relatively limited.
QGASM also revealed that the new labels would also include a table indicating the numbers of stars and the corresponding energy saving percentage to help consumers take the proper decision when buying. So far, QGASM has registered eight types of ACs with eight stars (golden label) and 29 types of those
Design of the eight-star golden labelwith seven stars (silver label).