GREETINGS of hope and peace this Season of Creation! For the past weeks, believers from all walks of life have been united in prayer and action to uphold the teachings of scripture for all men and women to care for the Lord's creation.
Negros, as we may well be aware, is known for our many efforts to promote environmental protection and sustainability, including the abundant renewable energy technology that has been developed here. The island is in fact known as the Renewable Energy Capital of the Philippines, with all except two of its operating power plants using renewable sources to produce electricity. As such, the emission of greenhouse gases, which harm people's health and trigger global temperature rise, produced from the energy sector in our home island is minimized. This aspect of our energy landscape is consistent with the strong awareness of our people on the urgent need to address the climate crisis, with Negros being home to a thriving environmental movement that has been passed on from generation to generation and is being led by the youth today. A number of municipalities have also already made climate emergency declarations and initiated ambitious sets of actions in response.
But the emissions we are able to dodge in installed power generation, Negrosanons sadly make up for with our use of dirty electricity. About three quarters of the power we use within our two provinces are from coal and other fossil fuels, mostly contracted from facilities outside the island. As such, with every switch we turn on, every gadget we charge, pollution from these fossil fuel plants dirties the air and impacts communities beyond our shores. Our own people are also unable to benefit from the clean and affordable electricity generated by existing power plants in both Negros Occidental and Oriental, and are forced to bear with some of the most expensive electricity rates in the country. Moreover, the threat of the addition of more destructive energy sources still loom in the form of proposed projects such as the 300 MW coal-fired power plant being pushed to be built in San Carlos City.
It is thus with great excitement that I write this piece, as we are amid the last preparations to share with all a first fruit of the months and months of labors of love from Negrosanons from all walks of life and our partners in the work for an energy transition in our dear island. (By the time this article reaches many of our readers, this work might already be out and available online -- truly the technology that allows us to share knowledge and narratives during these difficult times is a blessing!)
This week, civil society organizations, Church, academe, youth, faith-based organizations, and different energy stakeholders join together for the publication of "REpower Negros: A Scoping Study of Negros Island's Power Sector Transformation." Led by the REpower Negros Movement and Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development, this is a study that explores our home island's power landscape, examines challenges that hinder transition, and offers recommendations to truly "repower" Negros. The timing of this release, at a period of global health, economic, and climate crisis that calls for a just recovery and shift to a better new normal, could not be better, and we hope to offer our concerted efforts as a humble contribution to Negros island's shift to clean energy and to the Season of Creation.
This period of time invites us to renew our commitment to care for the creatures and the world that God lovingly created, and much can be done in the power sector in this aspect. I invite you, dear readers, to join in the journey for a transformed energy sector in Negros, that we may inspire hope among one another in this fight against ecological degradation and the climate crisis.