The “Al Gore: Live in Manila” conference was very much like watching “The Inconvenient Truth” live but with updated pictures and more examples from Asia, particularly from the Philippines. Ever since the movie came out, a lot more people became aware of the Global Warming issue, but we need to be more vigilant in forcing organizations to change their policies on controlling CO2 emissions. According to Al Gore, the tipping point is near and he commended the Philippines for leading the way in using renewable energy.
I would like to share with you my key takeaways during Al Gore’s talk in Manila:
Photo courtesy of Jake Versoza
1. Bangui Windmills on your Mind.
These white giants have become a tourist attraction in Pagudpud, and they are, indeed, a great example of how we can leverage wind energy. I heard they plan to put more of these gentle-looking windmills on top of the mountains. Thanks to Ilocos Norte for being a visionary in using renewable energy.
Every time I see these windmills, a song plays inside my head with these lyrics:
Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning
On an ever-spinning reel
Like a snowball down a mountain
Or a carnival balloon
Like a carousel that’s turning
Running rings around the moon
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes on its face
And the world is like an apple
Whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind
Photo courtesy of Recharge News
2. We love Sun Power Corp!
Yes, one of the biggest manufacturers of Solar Panels is based in the Philippines in the Laguna Technopark. However, they are not allowed to sell in the Philippines and they are exporting it only. 🙁 Imagine how awesome it would be if they could supply the Philippines with all these solar panels. 🙂
Al Gore mentioned this in his talk, and a lot of Filipinos were proud that day just to know that we supply solar panels to the world.
3. Puerto Princesa’s 100% Electric Tricycles Initiative.
We have ridden the electric tricycles of Taguig, but they are quite slow. The entire city of Puerto Princesa is changing all its tricycles to 100% electric, and they are fast and can travel at 60kph. I was amazed by the design of these 2nd generation e-tricycles and it totally changed my perspective on how tricycles should be in the Philippines.
To know more about these electric tricycles, check out Diana’s blog:
Electric Tricycles Puerto Princesa Palawan
Thanks for leading the way, Mayor Hagedorn! No wonder, the air in Puerto Princesa is quite cool and not as hot as in Manila. I was hoping for Al Gore to mention Puerto Princesa, but he didn’t.
Photo courtesy of ThinkGeoEnergy.com
4. I’m proud of the Geothermal Plants in Mt. Apo.
Al Gore mentioned that the Philippines is leading the way in harnessing the power of heat, particularly the Geothermal Plants in Mt. Apo. It was a proud moment for us when he mentioned it, and I do hope he continues to share that trivia at all his talks, not only in the Philippines. 🙂
5. Doubling of Category 4 and Category 5 Typhoons.
We have to be ready — the number of the strongest Category 5 Typhoons could double! I personally monitor the weather using Wunderground.com, and this weather chart was the typhoon pattern of Super Typhoon Durian (locally called Reming) that devastated the Bicol region. It was supposed to hit Manila directly, but it changed direction when it hit Bicol.
I remember the Thousand Bears Project of Cathy during Typhoon Reming with the image of the destruction in Daraga, Albay.
Photo courtesy of Green Peace Asia
6. e-Jeepneys of the Philippines!
From the Bamboo Jeepneys of Leyte to the electric jeepneys already going about their normal operation in Ayala, Makati, we can be proud of these Filipino inventions. I just hope there is an initiative to convert 100% of Jeepneys to Electric Jeepneys. Maybe the Binays can lead the way in Makati!
Boracay should follow the electric vehicles initiatives of Taguig, Makati and Puerto Princesa. In the past, I heard that the politicians there were greedy and lacked the necessary vision to lead the island. I do hope Mayor John Yap can change that and help Boracay in converting all the island’s vehicles to electric. It is unpleasant now to walk around the streets of Boracay because of the fumes from the tricycles, vans and 4x4s.
7. “CO2 emissions in Philippines went up but have since stabilized. CO2 emission in Philippines is stabilized at 20parts per million.” – Al Gore in Manila
Although it’s nice to know that our CO2 emissions in the country have stabilized to 20 parts per million, now is the time to reverse the trend and show the world that CO2 emissions can indeed be reduced!
8. It’s cool to have an Orange Plate!
Having a fancy car that destroys the environment is starting not to be cool these days. But having an electric bike with an Orange plate ? Now, that is really cool!
You can buy the Eco Friendly Electric Motorbikes from Puerto Princesa in Palawan. These electric motorbikes cost just as much as a Canon 7D DSLR. It does not run on fuel but you have to recharge it with its solar panel recharger. I wonder how long it stays charged on the road?
The Solar-Powered Street lamp in Chewa Viewpoint in Basco, Batanes.
9. Solar- and Wind-powered Street Lamps.
Instead of installing all those ugly and different colored lamp posts, why not invest on these solar and wind-powered Street Lamps used in Batanes and Puerto Princesa? I do hope that our politicians could be less greedy and, for once, think about the environment.
Since it was the city of Manila that created the trend of Halo Halo Lights, just imagine if the officials there changed all the street lamps to solar- and wind-powered street lamps — maybe we would see those eco-friendly lamp posts erected in all cities in the Philippines.
The wind- and solar-powered streetlamp on the way to the Underground River in Sabang, Palawan. It really looks cool. 🙂
10. First eco-House in Cebu. 🙂
Cebu is leading the way in the construction of eco-friendly houses in the country with its much-celebrated eco house. How I wish we could have more of these eco-houses in Manila! Kudos also to Nuvali in Sta. Rosa for getting on the green bandwagon, too.
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P.S. Let me know if there are other eco initiatives around the Philippines that are worth mentioning. 🙂
You forgot the hydroelectric dams that also produce power without co2 pollution. I am a big believer that nuclear power should be part of our energy mix. It produces no greenhouse gases and is relatively clean, especially compared to coal.
great post! we could definitely use more renewable energy 🙂
why are they not allowed to sell the Solar Panels in the Philippines. We have so much sun, I would love to stick them all over my roof…
manong NESTOR of cebu youre among my heroes ang ganda at very resourceful naman po ng bahay nyo dapat ganyan ang resourceful style ng lahat ng mga filipinos kaya lang manong nestor dapat kung possible o maari iwasan ang pag gamit ng mga steel kung kahoy ay puede eh mas maige ho yung mga naturally ‘treated’ na woods na lang instead of bakal at bakal
i did mentioned in one of boracay article here that they boracays{sana pati enchanted lake at tinuy an falls areas} should used skeletal{skeleton styles}na smokeless tricycles etc. kasi though tourists local or foreign enjoys boracay when they go home they do expressed dissappointments on air pollution-air quality dahil sa gas-air exhausts lalo na dun daw sa maruruming tambutso ng mga jeeps o trikes i love these battery smokeless futuristic looking white skeletal e-trikes in palawan lalo na the e-jeepneys in makati metro at yes na yes doon sa mga solar energy public street lamp posts what a dream come true thank you very much to all who made these dreams possible surely lalong kikinis at babango ang mga pinoys na sweet na caring pa lol! i felt better already just to see read this kind of articles may pag asa pa ang daigdig but sana nationwide ang dating para lalong masaya hopeful lol
if you filipinos wants to be an instant millionnaire is to buy a few of those above this article white skeletal eco bicycles-e-trikes{battery charge}and start operating them in metro manila lalo na sa q.c. mabili yan tyak kaagad pag may naka attached na mini horn-busina maraming relatives na istambay lang ang mga ofw’s na needed a new investment na may dalang daily income security yung e-jeepney too costly nga lang kesa sa battery tricycles at cute parang toy car dating lol i want one for fun lol! sige tara tara bilihan na new investment tapos fun filled pa masarap ang feeling at dating nya i want my high school friends & relatives to buy them as private vehicle to go to school at week ends dating sa cinema o outings nila haaaaaay sarap lol
I can only hope this trend towards turning green goes unstoppable to help Mother Earth.
Climate change is caused by a lot of factors, one of which is human factor. Al Gore, whom I voted when he ran for president, should be commended for his relentless effort to bring awareness to the world about global climate issues.
the e jeepney looks way better than the cringe-inducing sarao jeepneys.
I'm not sure Andre… I would assume because of Export laws.
Yes you are right, I should have included the Angat dam which produces hydro electric power… Nuclear Energy is more of a political issue at this point…
Hi Anton! Great post.
An engineer mentioned this in our conversation: if houses in the Philippines are required to “catch” rain, we will have less floods.
I ran through some numbers …
Check this out:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20090927-227186/Ondoy-dumped-more-rains-than-Katrina
The term 455mm of rain means 4,550 cubic meters of rain fell on one hectare of land … in 24 hours. Because instead of trees we now have houses in Marikina, most of the water flowed on roofs down to the gutters, and finally down to the pavement where they didn’t get absorbed by earth; unlike in forests.
What the engineer suggested was to require roofs to become catchments, and then take the water to a reservoir. If there were 100 catchments in one hectare (one for every 100 sqm) that held 5 cubic meters each, then we could have trapped 10% of the water and lessened the flood by that much.
What would we do with the water? We either release it back to the road gradually later; or store it so we can save on water bills. Ingat lang sa dengue, of course 🙂
Thanks for sharing Marvin! Very helpful…
Wow! How I wish I was able to hear Al Gore’s talk first hand. Thank you for sharing all these helpful info. 🙂 I also wish our politicians would stop being so greedy and actually use our country’s budget wisely.
Wow, this is a great idea! Maybe I should send a letter to our Mayor with the article attached to it. I’ll just have to hope that he’ll actually do something about it. Hehe.
Last night during a 2-hour brownout in our area, I began to seriously think of solar alternatives to power up our home. Anton, did this possibility come up during the talk? I’ve been watching a show on Travel & Living that features great-looking solar-powered homes and was really inspired.
I just wonder if it’s doable here, even if we start small?
Is Sun Power Corp. different from Solar Wind and Electric Power, Inc. (http://www.swepinc.com/)? I think they offer solar panels locally.
It might be different because Sun Power Corp is not allowed to sell their solar panels locally.
That's a good question! I wonder how much would an actual solar panel cost?
Anton
I think the reason why some solar companies are not selling locally, is not because of export laws. It’s more on politics and red tape. Solar panels would bring lower prices on electricity for every Filipino household that owns one. When that happens, what would that do to Meralco???
I mean, look at it from a global aspect. There have been cars that have been invented that did not run on fuel – 20 years ago! Fast forward to today, now we have the hybrid?? half gas, half electic? whoop de doo!
The technology has been here for a long time, but the marketing and distributing of it is hampered due to politics, red tape, and yes, corruption. You’re basically taking away the very source of income of what these families and corporations have been getting all these years. They’re not just gonna sit there and watch passively as their financial resources go down the drain.
That’s why you have all this bureacracy in place. Rules and regulations of all kinds just to delay the progress.
Thank God for Al Gore in putting the issue of climate change front and center for everyone to see. Hopefully, it enlightens the masses to put the pressure on the government and big corporations to finally ACT, before it’s too late.
what bring successes to so many businesses in the philippines is that ‘low salary’ costs
from under 2 u.s. dollars per day{$ 2,00 u.s dollars entire salary for 8 hours or more works daily}in some philippine countryside o provinces up to that low minimum national average salary of around $ 7,00 seven u.s dollars per day workers salaries who most of the time works more than 8 hours per day there’s injustice there but that helps quadruples profits some companies even had 300% net profit increases and some companies even made a thousand % businesses increases kinda good but in a way sounding dirty and this do not produce a true filipino inspired activities but if filipino handmade qualities like in this article can always make filipinos even healthier wealthier happier despite some countrysides under $ 2,00 u.s. dollars a day unfair wages-salaries{total salary of full day works}lol!
a fair ‘minimum’ daily/per day filipinos salary would be ‘from’ a little over $ 10,00 u.s. dollars per full day works & NOT around $ 7,00 u.s.dollars{full day work}if the person has no children but that is only an opinion partnered with all local red cross boy-girl scouts brownies school bands department of educations monthly marathons run contests for a fees to help build better scoutings better health care units & better philippines schools maintenances programs all financing coming from marathons o walk a thon o cycling contests every month month at the least so tara tara na umpisahan kaagad lol!
lol..i have an opinion on that ‘mind boggling’ slex 250% toll road hikes in fees..HOW ABOUT just raising the toll fees in ‘one flat’ additional toll hike of 10,00 ten pesos per engine vehicles flat fee short or long distances doesnt matter but make it just one flat fee of ten pesos plus of course that national government needed 12% VAT tax that way no one is left behind meaning no loosers just winners the consumers must have the rights to generally afford what they are charge for plus the highways toll fees made enough profits since many decades ago so let’s think of the win win situations here for all parties involved just like this article here in our awesome planet salamat po
cont: btw the industrial trucks meaning all those heavy duty those truckloads in ton=tons in weight can pay those extra more ten pesos-10,00 pesos but flat fees on not so heavy engine loads those who drive their children to schools those single parents those dependants unemployed & minimum paying parents salamat po lol
500,00 php daily wages for adult with no children is fair if you’ll just see the prices of local filipino milk alone cost 70,00 php pesos per liter alone plus the bread prices white local cheese alone will cost you another 70,00 pesos the price of one kilo of beef alone will slash almost half of your daily wages plus the rice the transportations the lrt or highway toll fees will eat all your daily wages so ‘now’ what is left today IS your monthly bills like water bills electricity gas apartment rents-house mortgages medical bills-health care costs AND WORST OF ALL THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO PAY ANY PERSONNAL O HOME MAINTENANCES any wages under 500,00 pesos means still a hard life if you have children meaning you cannot even afford to go to ocean park or pay any theater shows-concerts even a vacation is not affordable since if you own cell phone to communicate with family members & friends means you will be squeezed financially every month & how do you supposed to pay for a date just like any normal human being……. YOU CANNOT lol! you need to be always creative with any salary under 500,00 pesos and singlehow do you afford clothings to wear everyday to work?how do you afford drinking fruit juices or pop sodas more thanonce in a hot dry hot & humid hot philippines all is expected to be attained in a salary of under 500,00 pesos which is around $ 10,00 u.s dollars DAILY WAGES working full time sometinmes with overtime lol! how about your wife who cares for babies children at home how do they afford the philippines MINIMIMUM WAGES combined think about it only businesses can afford a decent lifestyle but how about the ordinary filipinos how do they survived YES BY BEING CREATIVE YES BY LIVING WUTH THEIR PARENTS-RELATIVES HOMES BY JUST DRINKING TASTELESS WATERS YES BY JUST LOOKING AT OTHERS WHO CAN AFFORD ENTERTAINMENTS YES ALSO BY LYING CHEATING TO AT LEAST AFFORD TO EAT meat & see movies o buy a christmas-birthday-anniversary gifts to you families-children to feel you are not left behind by the same local societies you belong salamat po lol