Green Island’s Haz Samuel, along with Lennox Lampkin, executive director of the St Vincent & the Grenadines Chamber of Industry & Commerce, and Dr Leonard O’Garro, biosafety coordinator at the United Nations Barbados office, paid a visit to the Barbados Solar House in November.

The visitors were shown around the  2-bedroom, 1-bath house, which is built in the traditional Barbadian ‘chattel-house’ style, by Tracey Williams, the semi-resident occupant of the house.

Designed, built and commissioned by the Barbados Ministry of Energy & the Environment in 2007, the house is independent of the national electricity grid and is a fully-functional dwelling house with most of the typical modern appliances: a fridge, microwave, electric kettle, four ceiling fans, a standing fan and an evapo-cooler, an electric iron, TV, computer, DVD and radio.  High-efficiency lighting and outdoor security lighting round out the complement of electrical appliances. 

As the name suggests, the building’s main energy source is solar energy.  Twenty roof-mounted 100-Watt photovoltaic (PV) panels provide electricity and hot water is provided by ground-mounted, locally-manufactured solar water heaters.

The PV system is a standalone system with battery backup. On sunny days (of which Barbados has plenty), the PV panels directly supply the electricity the house uses. At night and on overcast days, electricity is supplied from a bank of 12 deep-cycle batteries located in a cupboard attached to the outer north wall of the house.

The system is designed to provide an average of 60 kWh (units) of electricity per month to the house, but the actual consumption is only about 20 units a month, since the house is not occupied at nights.

Apart from its self-sufficiency in electricity, the construction and operation of the house relies on recycling and energy efficiency. 

The roof cladding is of Duraplast, an award-winning roofing tile made in Barbados from recycled plastic soft drink bottles. 

The house is painted in light colors to reflect heat; awnings over the windows provide shade from direct sunlight and windows are tinted to keep the interior cool. The roof space is insulated and incorporates an attic fan to further cool the space. The west wall (facing the afternoon sun) is also insulated to reduce interior heat gain during the day. A roof-mounted light pipe provides natural light to the hallway.

Rainwater collected in a 400-gallon tank provides the water supply and toilets are low-flow designs that use less water per flush. 

The kitchen includes a gas stove which uses natural gas but some of the cooking is done by solar energy in a solar cooker that can hold two medium-sized pots and that can get to a 200°C operating temperature in ½ hour, in direct sunlight.

All told, the Barbados Solar House sets a practical example of how we can use real-world renewable energy, energy efficiency and recycling principles and practices to go green.

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