Robert Medford, Director, Grenada Bureau of Standards
In 2018, the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards & Quality (CROSQ), in partnership with the CARICOM Secretariat’s Energy Unit, led the development of the CARICOM Regional Energy Efficiency Building Code, the CREEBC, and this showed the true principles of standardization and cooperation – in that, this code was deemed very important because of its impact, and all the countries within the CROSQ community actively contributed to the development of the Code, including Grenada.
In September, this year, 2020, we took advantage of an opportunity provided by the Energy for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Caribbean Buildings Project, to learn about the principles and practices of the Energy Efficiency Building Code, and I thank the ESD for that opportunity.
The project under which we were able to benefit from this training, was funded by the Global Environmental Facility, under the United Nations Environment Programme and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), who is the executing agency for this particular programme. This was done under the component of implementing regional standards, codes and labelling for energy efficiency in selected CARICOM communities.
This training was very important in that we, as the Caribbean region, have to recognize that climate change is real. We have to recognize that we need to do our part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and through the application of the principles and practices of the Code, we can make an impact; we can make a difference.
So we considered the training as very important, in that professionals in the construction and building sectors could acquire the requisite knowledge of the Building Code, so they could apply it in their designs, in their work – having a positive impact on the environment, first, and foremost, on their clients who could now experience and enjoy reduced energy costs. And this is a critical point; because we know that in this region we have high energy costs and we have to take the necessary measures to reduce those costs.
So, implementing energy efficiency designs, looking at the equipment we use, looking at the technologies that are available, we can now put all of this together holistically through the requisite standards that we have developed. There are actually now a fleet of standards that we have developed, and will be coming, looking at labelling for appliances for example, and we now also have the energy efficiency building code, but there are others that will be developed so that we as a region can have a positive impact on the environment. As the bureau charged with the development of quality infrastructure in Grenada, we recognise the need for opportunities like those afforded through the ESD Project. I hope that the knowledge gained by the practitioners in the industry who took part in the activities, will be applied and that we can now see the positive impacts and reap the benefits of the CARICOM Regional Energy Efficiency Building Code.
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