RTI Chapter
The trainee society for future smart buildings workforce.
Uniting Refrigeration & Air Conditioning, Electrical Engineering, Telecommunication Engineering, and Building Technology trainees - fostering peer learning, upholding industry standards, and developing Kenya's next generation of smart buildings specialists.
Built by Industry,
for Trainees.
We bring together trainees from Refrigeration & Air Conditioning, Electrical Engineering, Telecommunication Engineering and Building Technology to foster peer learning, collaboration, and professional development in smart building technologies, Building Management Systems (BMS), Internet of Things (IoT), and Building Automation. We promote awareness of and adherence to national and industry standards governing smart buildings, energy-efficient systems, and safe refrigerant handling — in alignment with EPRA, NCA, NEMA, NITA, and relevant regulatory frameworks. Through a structured platform for industry engagement and technical development aligned to the TVET CDACC curriculum, KSBTS contributes to the growth of Kenya's smart buildings sector.
We provide a structured peer community for trainees — from smart building standards awareness to BMS, IoT, and safe refrigerant handling practices.
Railway Training Institute →Leaving college is not enough.
Certification is the next step.
Kenya's 2025 Controlled Substances Regulations (NEMA Legal Notice No. 53) are explicit: no person may repair, maintain, replace, or retrofit RAC equipment unless authorised, registered, and licensed by the relevant authority. For every RAC technician coming out of a TVET college — whether through CDACC or NITA — a professional certification is now a legal requirement, not an option.
KSBTS actively spreads awareness of this requirement inside RTI and across institutions offering RAC programmes. We work with trainees while they are still in college so that by the time they graduate, they know exactly which certification applies to their level and how to obtain it.
Safe HVAC-R Equipment Disposal Training for Scrap Metal Dealers
Kenya's HCFC phase-out took full effect January 2026 — every end-of-life AC unit at scrap yards must have refrigerant recovered before processing. Yet 1,100 licensed scrap dealers currently have no training on safe refrigerant gas handling. We are actively closing this gap.
Working with interested stakeholders, our society delivers Safe HVAC-R Equipment Disposal Training for good standing during annual license renewal — deploying recovery machines on-site and training toward the full 1,100 scrap dealer national target.
Refrigerant Information
Management System
Kenya's draft ODS & F-Gas Banks Management Strategy names ten funded activities — and one unfunded gap. Activity 7 calls for "developing business models on recovery, collection, management and destruction of ODS and F-gas banks." No organisation is currently assigned to it. We are proposing to fill that gap.
The GIZ/NOU draft strategy lists this activity without a funding source or assigned lead. Kenya Smart Buildings Co. and KSBTS are positioning to develop the architecture and business model for a national refrigerant tracking and recovery system.
Partner with us on this →A refrigerant tracking system that works in Kenya's informal economy cannot rely on voluntary self-reporting. The proposed RIMS architecture collects data that actors cannot avoid producing — then cross-checks it automatically.