October 2009 Archives

By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.NET

MANILA, Philippines – The campaign season is in full swing and so some of the public executives are in hot pursuit of getting voters' attention. This means many topics up for discussion are left unfinished, one of which is on nuclear power that was once hot topic among legislators especially with attempts to reactivate the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).

Quietly, while everyone is busy with electioneering, a team of researchers from the Senate Economic Planning Office (SEPO) released their policy brief on the country's nuclear power capabilities.

The policy brief entitled “Powering the Future: Are We Ready for Nuclear Energy” identifies the Philippines' current power resources and requirements, comparative power status with other countries, as well as the local and national regulations that the Philippines has to discuss and enforce before coming up with nuclear policies.

The policy brief was prepared by Harry Pasimio, Jr. and Peter Turingan and finished last September. A downloadable version is found in the official website of the Philippine Senate.

The brief uses reports from local and international reports as well.

It identified that the Philippines' current power demand is pegged at about 9,700 megawatts for the entire country and continues to grow as the population grows.

By 2017, peak power demand would reach at least 13,000 megawatts.

Nearly 50 percent of this power is produced oil and coal based power plants. Another 21 percent is hydroelectric, 17 percent is from natural gas and 12 percent is from geothermal.

However, even with about 30 percent of power produced is coming from renewable energy, the majority of the plants are using fossil fuel, which produces 4,078 metric tons of carbon dioxide per gigawatt-hour.

Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is associated with the negative effects of climate change. The Philippine government has also been working to reduce carbon emissions.

The increased power demand and plans to reduce ozone-depleting greenhouse gases are pushing options to look into cost-effective and environment-friendly power sources. Nuclear power thus became a major point of contention from legislators, scientists and environmentalists.

In particular was the proposal by Congressman Mark Cojuangco to revive the BNPP, which drew criticism from some scientists who said that the interpretation of certain scientific results were skewed by Cojuangco to justify the dilapidated plant's reactivation.

Given these situations, the policy brief made one conclusion: that the realization of the country's nuclear plans would take years to complete unless the government implements many measures to ensure that nuclear power is safely established, distributed, disposed and regulated.

“Current efforts in both Houses of Congress to fast track the rehabilitation and operation of the BNPP are akin to putting the cart before the horse. Before the government can operate the BNPP or any other NPP for that matter, it must first undertake the preliminary business of getting its nuclear power program back on track by updating the scientific/technical, legislative, and regulatory frameworks that will guide the development of the country’s nuclear power industry.”

The points raised by the SEPO policy brief already points to a problem that legislators must first act on before rushing into having nuclear power. Hopefully, these points will be remembered by the next set of legislators after next year's elections.

Department of Science and Technology Fourteen students, including two sisters, from 10 schools in the Philippines obtained the highest honors in the recently concluded 2009 Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC). Four students from the Philippines got AMC medals for their outstanding performance. They are Seanne Ng of Saint Jude Catholic School, Justrin Edric Yturzaeta of Jubilee Christian Academy , Julius Vincent Sy of St. Stephen’s High School and Amiel Sy of PSHS-Main Campus. Sy got a perfect score in the AMC. Sisters Audrey Celine and Czarina Lao, both from Saint Jude Catholic School, netted the AMC Prize Award, the highest award given to AMC competitors for being at the top 1 percent of the competitors. Other students who got the Prize Award are Lormes Pedeglorio of Butuan City Special Education Center, Miguel Lorenzo Ildesa of Parents for Education (PAREF)-Westbridge School, Adrian Sy of Saint Jude Catholic School, Aldric Cristoval Reyes of Chiang Kai Shek College, John Russel Virata of Gideon Academy, Alvin Uy Lim of Quezon City Science High School, Emiliano Tan of Philippine Science High School (PSHS) -Main Campus, and Jake Gacuan of University of the Philippines. Besides the 14 students who got top awards, 43 other students from different schools in the Philippines obtained High Distinction honors for being at the top 2 percent of examinees in their year level. Eleven students also obtained a Prudence Award for garnering the most number of correct answers from question 1 of the AMC. The AMC is a correspondence type exam, administered by the Australian Mathematics Trust, aimed at highlighting the importance of mathematics as part of the curriculum and discovering talents in mathematics. It is conducted in cooperation with the Mathematics Trainers’s Guild and the Australian Mathematics Trust. Six students also from different schools in Metro Manila obtained perfect scores in the 2009 Rio Tinto Big Science Competition. They are Johanna Wileen Go of St. Jude Catholic School, Henry Jefferson Morco and Richard Milante of Chiang Kai Shek College, Timothy Augustus Ong of Xavier School, Elvis Jeremy Ayroso of PSHS-Main Campus and Ariana Benipayo of St. Paul College-Pasig. All the winners of the AMC and the Rio Tinto were presented their awards today (October 19) at the Sofitel Hotel, Pasay City . Dr. Ester B. Ogena, Director of the Science Education Institute, expressed hopes that the students who obtained top marks in the said competitions would take courses in science and engineering when they go to college. “The recent typhoons that has been hitting our country and the devastation it has left us shows that we need more scientists and engineers to counter the onslaught it causes,” she said. Ogena said that besides encouraging math-inclined students to excel in international competitions, the SEI also provides help to students through science scholarships at the undergraduate and graduate levels.. “In the undergraduate level, we continue to provide scholarships to deserving students that help them to realize their dream of becoming scientists and engineers. Through the Advanced Science and Technology Human Resource Development (ASTHRD) and the Engineering for Research and Development Technology (ERDT) Programs, we provide enticing packages for students and graduates to pursue graduate studies in science and engineering,” she said.

by Dennis Posadas The recently held GTZ symposium on renewable energy held last October 8 at the Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street was an interesting example of how investors and the public are now interacting with our new Renewable Energy Act. The passage of the 2008 Renewable Energy Act of the Philippines has paved the way for an increase in investments in the renewable energy sector. One of the areas that have benefited is the wind energy sector. It is estimated that the Philippines theoretically has around 76,000 MW in wind energy capacity, based on studies conducted by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Philippines Department of Energy. It was reported in the Inquirer.net that the Department of Energy last September awarded three companies four new wind energy service contracts—Energy Development Corp. (PSE: EDC) for its planned 86-MW wind farm in Burgos, Ilocos Norte; UPC Asia Corp. for its 50-MW wind project in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte; and PetroEnergy Resources Corp., which bagged two contracts for a 30-MW project in Sual, Pangasinan and a 30-MW project in Nabas, Aklan. Also, Energy Logics Philippines Inc.’s pre-commercial contract for a 120-MW wind farm in Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte, was converted to a wind energy service contract. Several joint ventures between local businessmen and foreign companies and investors have also been announced in the local dailies, among those that have been reported include the Alterenergy Partners joint venture with Eurus Energy Japan and Korea East West Power Co. to identify projects in the 30 to 40 MW range; and the French wind turbine manufacturer Vergnet Group, said to be looking for joint venture partners. The rule of thumb given is that each megawatt of capacity costs around USD $2m to 2.5m dollars. At present, aside from small isolated micro-wind installations in remote communities, the largest one at present is the 33MW wind farm in Bangui Bay, Ilocos Norte run by the Northwind Power Corporation, which contributes only 0.21% of the total electricity generated in the country, that is when the wind is blowing. The 7,100 islands of the Philippines make it difficult to make electricity available in many areas, particularly those that are isolated from the main electric grid. Most large islands with large populations, such as Luzon, Panay, Cebu, Mindanao, and others have their own generation, distribution and utility companies to service their areas. However, smaller islands with sparse populations or mountainous areas are a particular challenge. In these cases, sometimes the only practical solution is to use renewable energy power sources (e.g. wind, solar, biomass) or diesel powered generators. Because wind, like solar, is an intermittent energy source, there has to be a means of storage to compensate for times when it is not generating power. In isolated off-grid areas, for smaller wind systems, this normally means a battery. In countries like the U.S., in the Texas Panhandle for example, T. Boone Pickens’s backup of choice is a natural gas turbine. But for the Philippine setting, the typical approach much like in most countries is to simply connect these large wind systems to the electric grid, and to simply sell power to the grid when it is generating. Anyway, just like in the U.S., the Philippines operates a spot market for electricity. In the case of renewable energy, a special spot market for renewable energy has been developed by the Philippine government to guarantee that there will be buyers for producers of renewable energy electricity. One concern of some investors is the limit on foreign ownership. It is defined in the Philippine constitution that in certain key industries/sectors, foreign ownership is to be a minority, with a slight majority going to a Philippine partner. For some investors, it is not an issue, but for some it is. As former Energy Secretary and now Alterenergy Partners CEO Vince Perez mentioned during the GTZ symposium, at the moment the only choice is to look for a trusted Philippine partner to work with. Another concern is in the way the public may perceive the Feed-in-Tariff, which is a key subsidy mechanism to attract investors to invest in renewable energy in the Philippines. During the Ramos administration, the government suddenly had to build power plants to meet a large capacity shortfall, and to do this, they had to entice investors with a ‘take or pay’ scheme meaning that even if the power was not being used, electricity utilities and therefore consumers had to shoulder part, if not all, of the cost of the unused generated power. There was such a big public outcry, especially in this country where the ‘cheapest power possible’ mentality rules, that it will sometimes if not always be difficult to pass measures that subsidize for example, renewable energy. Just like the personal computer and the semiconductor industry, renewable energy requires a steady market in order for private sector technologists to be attracted to constantly improve it. Unfortunately, the appetite for renewable energy seems to be correlated with the price of oil. If oil is cheap, the appetite for renewable energy disappears and vice versa. The Feed-in-Tariff hopes to counteract this tendency. Personally, most people would like to see renewable energy succeed in the Philippines. The severe flooding brought about by typhoon Ondoy has brought home more awareness of the need for low carbon energy sources. Supporters of renewable energy hope that electricity consumers will actually step up to the plate and pay a little extra for renewable energy through the feed-in-tariff, in order to increase the returns for the companies and investors that go into this sector, already saddled by high upfront capital expense costs for wind (currently $2.5m per MW) and solar (currently $2/watt for silicon based photovoltaics and $1/watt for less efficient thin film based photovoltaics) and the threat of cheap oil. Besides, electricity consumers in the Philippines already pay a foreign currency adjustment charge for imported oil used in power generation. There is no reason why they should not accept a feed-in-tariff adder, given that they will no longer need to pay the foreign currency charge for that portion of the electricity bill. Otherwise if consumers do not agree to pay the piper, then coal, the current king of the hill in terms of price, will really become entrenched as the power source of choice. _________________________________________________________________________________ Dennis Posadas is the editor of Cleantech Asia Online, and the author of Jump Start: A Technopreneurship Fable (Singapore: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009). He is is currently working on a new business fable on climate change and clean energy.

By Alexander Villafania MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines may be fighting China in its bid over the disputed Spratly Islands but the country may someday become part of the mainland. A scientist from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said the archipelago is moving towards the Asian mainland by approximately seven centimeters per year. However, it would take another 50 million years to reconnect with the mainland. The Philippine landmass is situated on its own tectonic plate, ostensibly called “Philippine Plate.” It is also surrounded by four other plates, the Okhotsk Plate to the north, Australian Plate to the south, the Eurasian Plate to the West and Pacific Plate to the east. The Philippines broke away from a super continent called Rodinia about 1.1 billion to 750 million years ago. Yumul explained that the breaking up of continents was due to a phenomenon called Super Continent Cycle where the Earth's continents alternately merge into a single supercontinent, the splits into numerous continents, then merge again. The Super Continent Cycle is estimated to span 300 to 500 million years. DOST Undersecretary Graciano Yumul, Jr. said during the recent Earth Sciences International Conference that the one of the indicators of the Philippines’ movement towards the west is the presence of an old submerged railroad off the coast of Cavite. Another is an old artesian well off the waters of Mindoro Island. “These scenarios corroborate our researches on tectonic movement since nobody would put neither a railroad nor a well into the sea,” Yumul explained. But while it may seem that the Philippines is moving towards the same country that is fighting for the Spratly Islands, Yumul still joked that with that happening, Filipinos would not need to have their own visa to visit China.

DOST-SEI EIGHT teams from seven schools in the Philippines are now gearing up to battle it out with over 1,000 students from 32 countries to conquer the 2009 World Robotics Olympiad to be held at Pohang City, South Korea. Forming the Philippine contingent are Philippine Science High School – Bicol Region and Science and Technology Education Center for the Regular Category – High School Division; Claret School of Quezon City and Grace Christian College for Regular Category – Elementary Division; Dr. Yanga’s College and Makati Science High School for the Open Category – High School Division; and Grace Christian College and First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities for the Open Category – Elementary Division. The said teams won in the recently concluded 8th Philippine Robotics Olympiad (PRO) held at SM North Annex Bldg., Quezon City. Science Education Institute Director Dr. Ester B. Ogena congratulated all the teams that joined the PRO as she expressed optimism that the winning teams would do great in the international competition. “Our students have shown their best and given more opportunities like these, we could tap more potential in the field of robotics,” she said. Ogena said SEI supports participation in competitions like the PRO and WRO to open up the students’ eyes to the world of science and encourage them to venture into careers in science and technology. “SEI will provide more support to our students who are joining these prestigious competitions so that they would acquire skills for robotics which could be tools for honing their talent in science and math,” she said. The students in the open category would be competing under the theme: “Artist Robots,” a synergy of artistry, ingenuity and scientific flair that would show their talent, especially in the field of Science and Technology. In the regular category elementary division, robots would be doing the Iron Robot Triathlon where a robot carrying one ping-pong ball from start area passes through the labyrinth and grey floors up to the base camp where the robot shoots the ball. In the high school division of the regular category, robots would be competing in the Robot Match wherein a robot follows the obstacle way till mission point and then gets as many ping-pong balls as possible and then travels back to the base camp following another obstacle course. The PRO is done in partnership with Felta Multi-media, Inc. and the Department of Education.