Latin America covers 20% of the world’s surface but only produces 12% of global carbon emissions. However, countries such as Brazil and Argentina have seen some of the most aggressive increases in individual country CO2 emissions over the last two decades. Given that 80% of Latin America’s population lives in cities, where we can expect the greatest increases in demand for energy and predicted growth in built floor space, it is necessary to ensure that these do not result in an overall growth in carbon emissions. Hence, we present the first review of the various “green building” rules developed in this region to curtail energy or carbon. This covers nine countries representing 80% of the region’s population. We find that these countries in Latin America have developed 94 different green building rules, though to different extents. Many pertain to domestic buildings that are known to contribute 17% of the overall carbon emissions. Subsidies and tax incentives are most common, whereas innovative carbon market schemes have only been adopted in Mexico and Chile. In Argentina and Chile, regulations are similar to their European cold-climate counterparts but are poorly enforced. Overall, we find considerable progress in Latin America to create new standards and regulations, with enforcement being a major future challenge.
Despite being perceived as a warm country, winters in the Central Mexican Plateau frequently reach temperatures below zero Celsius. Prolonged exposures to low temperatures resulting in heart and respiratory morbidities are estimated to be responsible for 50% of the reported illness in the plateau, attributable primarily to the design of homes ill-suited to extreme temperatures. Consequently, there is a growing need to ensure that dwellings provide adequate indoor thermal conditions in the region. Hence, on-site sensors were used to collect temperature and relative humidity data every five minutes in 26 living rooms in the Plateau for 11 months. From these data, a subsample was determined, resulting in dwelling-level thermal comfort and health surveys on 15 homes. Computer simulations were used to investigate whether the building itself could provide thermal comfort under different retrofitting scenarios. Multiple linear regression relating the Predicted Percentage Dissatisfaction (PPD) index to self-perceived health was undertaken. Both monitored and simulated results were matched against our underheating model, finding that 92% of the homes had cold indoor environments, some even during summer. High PPD and intense levels of underheating were positive predictors of higher self-reported health problems. More self-reported health problems were correlated with both lower life satisfaction and self-worth, and with subjects’ use of more adaptive strategies against environmental dissatisfaction. Dynamic computer simulations suggested that indoor thermal environments could be improved by enforcing the non-utilised standard NOM-ENER-020, which recommends the addition of insulation on walls and roofs. These findings suggest that the cold environments within homes of the plateau influence the self-perceived physical and mental health of its population. Hence, the application of adequate measures, such as retrofitting homes with stronger standards than the existing NOM-ENER-020 are needed in place.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.