Ghana is poised to ban secondhand refrigerator imports in an effort to save energy and protect the environment.

The ban was introduced in Ghana in 2008, but the African nation extended deadlines to allow dealers to adjust to the new rules. Some Ghanaian traders have said the ban will cause thousands of people to lose their jobs.

The country's energy commission chief, Alfred Ofosu-Ahenkorah, lauded the move, saying the ban made Ghana "a pioneer in West Africa." He added that the secondhand devices consume too much power because they weren't constructed for an African market.

In addition to halting the refrigerators' import, Ghana officials also are offering rebates to people who turn in their used refrigerators.

Old refrigerators containing chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, can damage the Earth's ozone layer, and they already have been -- or are in the process of being -- banned. CFCs are currently banned under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

Many refrigerator makers have replaced CFCs with hydrofluorocarbons, which, according to a U.N. report last year, are 20 percent more potent that carbon dioxide (BBC News, Dec. 31, 2012). -- WW