Green economy priorities

TRIVIA. The Sun will eventually die between five and nine billion years before it becomes a red giant. Before that, the Triple-alpha process will begin in three billion years when the Sun will expand and global warming will reach beyond the boiling point and Earth will no longer hold water and all lives would end. Moreover, planets Mercury, Venus and Earth would be post-history as the expanding Sun swallows them.

However, none of us living today, and those of our children’s children to the nth generation will live to see this very distant future. In the meantime, our main concern is to address human-induced global warming.

The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that coal mine methane contributes 8 to 10 percent of human-made methane emissions worldwide.

Between coal-fired plants versus solar power, renewable energy should win hands-down. For advocates of sustainable development based on the green economy, we can have our cake and eat it, too.

Not exactly, though. According to Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr., the use of prime agricultural land for a 1,000-hectare solar farm in northern Negros Occidental might spell disaster for the Negrenses.

Marañón concedes that while more power supply is needed for the province, food security should be given priority over energy needs. If there is no food, people will go hungry and die.

Vice Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, however, has a different take on the equation. “If you look at the whole picture, the investor is referring to the first district of Negros Occidental,” Vice Governor Lacson said, “adding that the only available 1,000-hectare contiguous land area can be found in an hacienda planted with sugarcane. “I don’t think we will go hungry if we lose 1,000 hectares of sugarcane.”

I agree. To exchange 1,000 hectares of sugarcane for virtually inexhaustible solar power generation is a small sacrifice compared to strategic benefits for the province. Buskowitz Development Inc., a German firm, plans to send a technical working group to the first congressional district to build a solar farm targeted to generate 700 megawatts of power, much, much more than Governor Marañón’s estimates of 200 MW of power that Negros Occidental currently needs.

Solar energy is an option for reducing future greenhouse gas emissions.

Offsetting half of all future growth in thermal electricity generation by photovoltaics would reduce annual global carbon dioxide emission from projected increased levels by 10 percent in 20 years and 32 percent in 50 years. And Negros Occidental could be in the thick of greenhouse gas reduction. What an outstanding legacy to future Negrenses and to the world!

Moreover, with at least the 500 MW, the provincial government can expect additional revenues from Feed-In-Tariffs (FIT) subsidies under the Renewable Energy Act of 2008. Based on 2011 figures, the National Renewable Energy Board estimates that higher solar installations will jack up the pass-on FIT-All rate to P0.112 per kwh, compared to the original calculation of P0.0618 per kWh, translated to a whopping P3 billion annual earnings for the province.

That would mean extra revenues for the province as a big power generator.

Perhaps the sugarcane industry contributes less than the promised 500 megawatts of power by 2025 which could be offset by other renewables such as companies producing wind and hydro energy sources that come to town to pitch their tent on Negrense soil. In 10 years, the province could start thinking not of megawatts but gigawatts.

The province need not worry about industrializing and expanding its service industries as it veers away from a largely agricultural sugarcane monoculture to a highly diversified, resilient industrial green economy.

Ultimately, there will be no more excuses for brownouts too.

Yes, let us go solar energy, as the economy develops and we reduce poverty in the province!

(bqsanc@yahoo.com)

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph