By Anna Valmero

Environmental group Greenpeace Philippines brought and lit a solar-powered lantern at the Senate of the Philippines in celebration of the passage of the Renewable Energy Bill.

Senator Miguel Zubiri received the six-foot tall (six-meter in diameter) lantern from Greenpeace members.

“This is a parol that is totally off-the-grid as it spearheads the use of renewable energy for it to be lit,” said Zubiri, as he lauded the effort of Greenpeace to design and bring the lantern to their office.

He said the lantern shows people can have power coming from green energy sources.

Zubiri said the lantern would be placed outside the canopy side of the Senate building until end of December.

The lantern is made of rattan and is adorned with over 60 meters of yellow and green light emitting diodes (LEDS).

Amalie Obusan, climate campaigner of Greenpeace Philippines, said they used LEDS because they are more power-efficient light sources than ordinary Christmas light bulbs.

Two solar panels are used to run the LEDs installed in the lantern. The panels are attached to four batteries, which stores a total of 100 amperes of electricity. The batteries are then attached to a 1,000 -watt inverter which converts the stored energy to 12V of power, which lights the lantern.

“The lantern is a reminder to our senators that renewable energy is the clear answer, the true hope, for a secure future free from severe impacts of climate change,” Obusan said.

She said the passage of the renewable energy bill is laudable but stressed the need for the government to commit to climate change mitigation efforts.

This activity is part of the official Global Day of Action for the Climate celebration slated on December 6. This year, the celebration coincides with the United Nations climate meeting in Poland.

WITH the recent oil price shock, where we saw the price of oil going up to around $140 a barrel, the question is whether that is enough political impetus for us to go into renewable energy in a big way.

By a big way, we mean that we make the investments now in “renewables.” The problem is that renewable energy, technology-wise, is still being perfected, so that means it is not yet cheap. But if nobody invests, it will never become cheap because industry holds back on R&D, because there is no demand. So it becomes a chicken and egg situation. Given that the so-called carbon credits from developed countries can pay for up to 10 percent of the cost of the project upfront, it is still not attractive for some.

Enter the Philippine Renewable Energy bill. When passed, it will actually give a lot of incentives to investors to go into renewable energy (RE). Aside from the fact that RE is a good way to contribute to the climate change effort, if the RE bill is passed, it may actually make good financial sense to go into RE. Because right now, the climate change advocates root for the use of renewables but when you talk to the financial folks, they’ll tell you now is not yet the time.

But what is the right time? After the oil crunch of the 70s, we should have gone big time with renewables. But naysayers said at that time, “Now is not the time.” So now the world is slowly realizing that, now is the time. Because if not now, when? When the oil runs out? That will be too late.
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