Climate change is presenting a number of unique challenges for countries, regions, and communities around the world. With increased incidences of extreme weather, flooding, fires, heat waves, storms, and drought, there are often daily reminders that the problem is getting worse. Or at minimum, things are changing drastically in our time. These events are already placing additional pressures on our agricultural systems, global supply chains, business operations, water supplies, and way of life.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent report made it patently clear that the natural disasters and catastrophes being observed around the world will continue unless we make the key political and policy changes needed today to minimize its impact. 2021 may therefore go down as one of the better years in our climate’s history.
Under the headline “Limiting Future Climate Change,” the report noted that “from a physical science perspective, limiting human-induced global warming to a specific level requires limiting cumulative CO2 emissions, reaching at least net-zero emissions along with strong reductions in other greenhouse gas emissions. Strong, rapid and sustained reductions in emissions would also limit the warming effect resulting from declining aerosol pollution and would improve air quality.”
The report also makes clear that we don’t have any time to waste. The responsibility is ours. What is required of us, is to no longer wait. We need bold, immediate, and decisive action.
It is widely regarded that companies, organizations, and other non-governmental entities have more influence and power today, to lead and drive the innovations and changes needed for a better future tomorrow. The continued growth and development of our country, economy, and its citizens will not only depend on how successfully we can mitigate, but also adapt to climate change. Anecdotally, the risks associated with climate change continue to be ignored by most organizations and businesses throughout Trinidad and Tobago. Perhaps, its effects have not become noticeable or profound enough to warrant change despite the abundance of scientific data, evidence, and research in support of our urgent need to do so.
Unipet, a local supplier of automotive fuels and car care products, has been making steady investments into the research, development, and building out of technical capacity, systems, solutions, and services which aim to build a more resilient and future-proof operation. Its CEO, Dexter Riley, affirmed earlier this year the company’s commitment to green energy, evidenced by the transformation of its Brentwood Gas Station, Chaguanas to the Brentwood Energy Center with solar energy powering part of its operations. The Trinidad and Tobago Green Building Council (TTGBC) recently sat down with Unipet’s Alternative Energy Team to discuss the company’s recent sustainable initiatives, driven by its visionary leadership to reposition the organization for an uncertain future.
In accordance with the targets set forth by the Paris Agreement, the company recognized that renewables would become an integral part of our future energy needs and it needed to start the process of transitioning its business model away from fossil fuels. Though not locally mandated as yet, the team is also keenly aware that the production and sale of internal combustion engines was expected to decline and altogether cease within the next two decades.
Using the Brentwood Energy Center as its starting point, the team researched and considered a number of initiatives. With the increasing availability of fully electric and hybrid vehicles locally, the team recognized that its customers would require easier access to EV charging stations and associated infrastructure, thereby instilling greater comfort and confidence in their widespread adoption and daily use. The company also recognized the need to reduce its own energy consumption and implemented an onsite photovoltaic (PV) system, which now provides power to its fuel dispensers, thus reducing its electricity bill by at least $3,000 per month. The team heralded its achievement of a net-zero status for its EV charging station. These and the other planned initiatives in the company’s pipeline are part of a focused long term strategy seeking to position it in the market as an energy supplier, rather than a fuel supplier.
The team lamented that getting to this point was difficult, despite the public commitments made by our government to reduce our carbon emissions. Lacking was the guidance, input, and support of key governmental agencies, statutory authorities, and other relevant industry stakeholders. Although there is a local supply of the hardware needed for PV and renewable energy systems, the team had difficulties in sourcing the technical expertise, capacity, and competency required for their effective design and installation. Much of these skills had to be developed internally. Critically missing were the necessary national standards, frameworks, and policies which governed the design, approval, and installation of renewable energy systems.
Despite these and a few other hurdles, the Brentwood Energy Center was launched in March of this year. Over the next year, the Alternative Energy team will be monitoring both remotely and on-site, the performance of the PV system and EV charging stations, the projected reductions in CO2 emissions, and the economic savings derived from the project which should provide some objective measurement and assessment of the company’s initial return on investment. The team signaled that much of the feedback received from customers, partners, financial institutions, and other key stakeholders thus far has been positive and congratulatory. The team is continuing its research and development of other projects and locations throughout the country aligned to its overarching strategy.
In recounting its experiences and some of the lessons learned, Unipet noted that whilst Trinidad and Tobago currently enjoys some of the lowest energy rates in the western hemisphere, it is unsustainable in the medium to long term. For other organizations, businesses, and entities considering a move toward renewable energy and reducing their collective impact on the environment, the company suggested that ROI should not be the primary consideration, particularly as energy costs are expected to rise in the foreseeable future. These investments would certainly pay for themselves within a few years. The team also spoke to the importance of everyone being more conscious and being proactive stakeholders in the development and implementation of national strategies which seek to reduce our carbon footprint, dependency on fossil fuels, and impact on the environment.
Trinidad and Tobago lags behind in the global effort to combat climate change. Remarkably, many of our Caribbean neighbours with smaller economies and access to far less resources, have been making notable strides in the design and construction of green buildings, renewable energy infrastructure, development and adoption of renewable energy and green building standards, and the education of their citizens on the importance of achieving set climate targets.
The TTGBC, in its mission to transform the way our own country’s buildings and communities are designed, built, and operated, applauds the efforts of Unipet and other business leaders in responding to the prevailing challenges associated with climate change. It is increasingly evident that if we continue to ignore climate-related risks, as a country, we will continue to feel its consequences.
For more information on the TTGBC and its mission, please visit us online at https://ttgbc.org. You can also find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. You are also invited the World Bank’s climate data for Trinidad and Tobago here.