Building Green

In recent years, the paradigm has shifted and ‘going green’ is no longer just a trendy tag line; it has become the standard when building in Cayman.

Focus is increasingly being placed on designing eco-friendly properties with features like geothermal cooling systems, low-flow plumbing, high-efficiency appliances, and LED lighting that lowers energy bills. This is because renewable energy equipment, like solar panels, are duty-free for residential homeowners. Some banks also offer loans to qualified borrowers for hybrid and electric vehicles, solar panels or batteries, energy smart shutters or other energy smart upgrades. Contact your bank to see if this is something they offer.

Cayman National Bank's GreenLiving Programme

Cayman National Bank’s GreenLiving programme offers loans of over US$10,000 with 100% financing available to qualifying borrowers for hybrid and electric vehicles, solar panels or batteries, energy smart shutters or other energy smart upgrades. For more information, visit their website or speak to a member of the customer services team at one of their branches located across all three Cayman Islands.

Solar Power

CUC has multiple energy programmes to incentivise customers to contribute clean energy to the island’s energy grid. Find out more about this and how to start harnessing the sun's energy to reduce energy consumption and save money.

Considerations When Building Green

If you are thinking about designing and building a green home, consider the following steps:

Find a design-builder who has proven experience with green homes in Cayman.
Use key building products like Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) such as Fox Blocks, which are manufactured locally, spray foam insulation, low VOCs materials and finishes, impact/insulated windows, Watersense-rated plumbing and Energy Star-rated appliances.
Own your own energy. With the growing demand for alternative energy sources, utilise solar energy in your home (see Powering Your Home later in this chapter for more information).
Design your home with the intent to have as much foliage protecting the outside to maximise cooling effects and minimise air conditioning usage.
Alternatively, try a geothermal cooling system. Companies like GeoCayman can help you cool your home much more efficiently than traditional air conditioning systems, saving you substantial energy and money.

Alternative Cooling Systems

If you are looking for a more organic and less costly method of lowering air conditioning usage, consider planting lots of foliage around your house, adopting a white or silver-coloured roof, and keeping windows and doors open during the cooler times of day to allow a breeze. If you are building a house, consider suggesting to your architect ways to face the windows and doors to be able to harness as much of the breeze as possible.

Geothermal Cooling Systems

Fossil fuel costs to power our homes will only continue to rise as finite supplies dwindle worldwide. Electricity is already costly in the Cayman Islands, and as small Caribbean countries don’t have the bargaining power of larger countries, they will be the hardest hit as oil reserves become more limited. Cayman’s goal of obtaining 70% of its power from renewable resources by 2037 has fuelled discussions on finding alternative ways of doing this. While solar power remains a trusted option for renewable energy, interest in geothermal energy cooling systems is also on the rise.

Unlike common central air conditioning systems that distribute cool air into your home through heated gas and refrigerants, geothermal cooling systems are known to have lower operational costs and last up to 10 years longer than conventional AC.
Geothermal cooling systems work by removing heat from your home and/or workplace building, transferring it to the water pipe systems buried beneath your house or in your yard. The result of this is a cooling ‘air conditioning’ type effect that removes heat from the circulated air, transfers that heat back to your water systems in the ground and then returns the newly cooled air back into your home.

If you are interested in converting your energy to become renewable and sustainable, the following company can help: