The Trinidad and Tobago Institute of Architects has placed an article online that addresses Architecture and Global Warming. The article was written in 2003 by Architect Jenifer Smith, a Full Member of the Institute as of 2007.

If you would like to distribute the article further, please contact Architect Jenifer Smith the author of the article for permission to distribute the author’s copyrighted material.

Read the article here.

To read other articles supplied by the Institute’s member architects, please visit the “Member Articles” page on the TTIA website.

Amongst the many things that one can do to mitigate climate change, some of these are in the hands of our CSME governments. And of CSME government actions, tax incentives should be relatively easy to implement and should work very well for all CSME players.

Tax incentives, already adopted by many states in the U. S. (interestingly, prior to the formal IPCC reports this year, the U. S. counted as one of the most climate-change-fact-resistant countries world wide), illustrates that CSME governments can support renewable energy if they need or want to. CSME Government policies can include the following:

1. exempt value of renewable equipment from CSME property tax valuations;
2. provide income tax credits and deductions for the cost of purchasing and installing a renewable power source;
3. permit accelerated depreciation of renewable energy equipment; or
4. exempt such equipment from CSME regional sales taxes.
5. protect and provide Transferable Credits for Emissions Reduction. Your CSME Prime Minister or President can direct the local and regional Energy sectors and relevant Energy Divisions to recommend reforms to ensure that CSME businesses and individuals that register reductions are not penalized under a future climate policy, and to give transferable credits to companies that can show real emissions reductions
6. Your Prime Minister or President can establish a Cabinet-level Committee on Tax Credits for Climate Change Mitigation to oversee all requirements, laws, approved products etc.

In addition to providing tax savings, high-efficiency products will make it much easier for CSME homeowners to reduce energy consumption and lower their energy bills so that the long-term benefits are felt by all. To qualify for CSME tax credits, homeowners will definitely need to verify the efficiency and make of the equipment (whether or not it is from an approved energy-efficient manufacturer), the date when it was placed in service, amongst other fair requirements to be set by your CSME policy makers.

If you’re not sure what the CSME is about, apart from visiting the links on our blog, you can read this neat summary of the CSME and related subjects such as implementation and the Treaty of Chaguaramas at the CARICOM Secretariat FAQs page:

http://www.axses.com/encyc/caricom/nt/faqs.cfm

Issues Related to Hydrofluorocarbons and Perfluorocarbons - A Summary for Policymakers and Technical Summary

Download the PDF HERE

Table of Contents

Summary for Policymakers
Technical Summary
Chapter 1 Ozone and Climate
Chapter 2 Chemical and Radiative Effects of HFCs, PFCs, and Their Possible Replacements
Chapter 3 Methodologies
Chapter 4 Refrigeration
Chapter 5 Residential and Commercial Air Conditioning and Heating
Chapter 6 Mobile Air Conditioning
Chapter 7 Foams
Chapter 8 Medical Aerosols
Chapter 9 Fire Protection
Chapter 10 Non-medical Aerosols, Solvents and HFC-23
Chapter 11 Current and Future Supply, Demand and Emissions of HFCs and PFCs, plus Emissions of CFCs, Halons

Annexes to the Special Report

Annex I: Authors and Reviewers
Annex II: Glossary
Annex III: Acronyms and Abbreviations
Annex IV: Units
Annex V: Major Chemical Formulae and Nomenclature
Annex VI: Major IPCC Reports

Graphics

Graphics of the Special Report

On February 20th, 2007, tens of thousands of architects and other persons from all over the world gathered at the www.2010imperative.org website and a few hundred at the New York Academy of Sciences to participate in the Global Emergency Teach-in conducted by Architecture 2030.

On the discussion table were the alarming and ever increasing effects of climate change worldwide, the facts and videos to support it, and the speakers’ emphasis on the urgent need to make a concerted global effort amongst architects, students of architecture and all the related disciplines in order to assist in what the speakers considered to be an imminent threat to the continued survival of mankind on earth.

The facts illustrated during the global Teach-In were alarming and the presence of one Dr. James Hansen of NASA clearly drove the points home to those who attended the teach in both in the Academy of Sciences in New York and those who sat in, listened and watched on their computer screens that day. However, the speakers emphasized that it is not too late to act but that if a global effort is not put into place, many consequences can be felt possible before the year 2030. To this end, the 2010 Imperative and the 2030 Challenge were implemented as guidelines for architects and their related disciplines to follow in a concerted effort forward.

During the interactive webcast, 2030 issued The 2030 Challenge and The 2010 Imperative, specific achievable strategies to transform the built environment. These strategies are designed to immediately stabilize emissions in the Building Sector, and then reverse them to acceptable levels over the next ten years.

Shortly after the 2030 webcast and up to this day, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued three successive reports confirming the current ’state of affairs’ and resounding proof of alarming climate change and spikes in the CO2 levels taken at world wide measuring stations. The fourth assessment report issued by the IPCC reports on the “Mitigation of Climate Change” which was released on 4 May 07 in Bangkok. You can visit the IPCC website to download the webcast of the press conference and to view the SUMMARY FOR POLICYMAKERS.

To learn more, you can visit the following websites:

Architecture 2030:

2010imperative:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): www.ipcc.ch

2010-imperative

Welcome to the new Trinidad and Tobago Institute of Architects (TTIA) information blog feed on sustainable building and architecture in the interest of reversing the effects of climate change for the Caribbean Single Market Economy (CSME) Region; this a temporary information feed to enhance our website www.ttia-architects.org. The feed presently serves to provide easy access to all documents issued by the TTIA to its members pertaining to green building and designing for sustainability.

With the advent of email came too many documents into our members’ email folders. This feed provides a ‘one-stop shop’ to pick up your information and documents or to read them online at your own convenience - unless confidentiality plays a key role in the distribution of information to its members and principals, the blog opens up the posted information to all those interested in the TTIA’s work in its attempts to help mitigate climate change and its effect on our environment and citizens.

TTIA members are encouraged to contact us to assist in maintaining this site for the benefit of its members and the general public.