New energy efficiency standards for buildings in the Caribbean

Washington, D.C. – The International Code Council, ASHRAE, the CARICOM Secretariat Energy Unit and the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) announced today the release of new standards for energy efficient buildings for its Member States. The 2018 CARICOM Regional Energy Efficiency Building Code (CREEBC), which will cover both commercial and residential construction, is a joint effort by the CROSQ, the Code Council and ASHRAE.

The CREEBC, which was developed through a collaboration between the CROSQ and the Energy Unit of the CARICOM Secretariat, is meant to meet the specific needs of nations in the Caribbean and other countries with tropical climates. It establishes minimum energy efficiency requirements for buildings, including the building envelope, cooling system, ventilation, pumping, lighting and the service water-heating systems.

Head of the Energy Unit at the CARICOM Secretariat, Dr. Devon Gardner, said, “The CREEBC is envisioned to lead to an era of better quality building designs within the Caribbean Community, noting that the ability of buildings to minimise the energy requirements for the services for which they were intended would reduce the exposure to climate and disaster risks.”

He stated, as an example, that “energy efficient measures and systems, such as daytime lighting and improvements in ventilation, can facilitate the comfort of occupants in buildings even during periods of natural disaster related stress on the electricity grids.”

The development of the CREEBC is part of the ongoing implementation of the Caribbean Sustainable Energy Roadmap and Strategy (C-SERM), a CARICOM programme aimed at increasing political will and private sector input for the adoption of more effective technologies for renewable energy, energy conservation and efficiency.

The building code is available online here.