ENVIRONMENT WATCH

Holcim response to global warming /Wind engineering
NONNETTE C. BENNETT

BAGUIO CITY – Cement and cement manufacturing are responding to the call for control of global warming, said a Holcim executive last week. Senior Vice President Francis Felizardo, 43, said in an interview that Holcim Philippines, Inc. was responding to the world call to reduce global warming by using mineral additives to the production of cement. He explained that these mineral additives help in the processing of cement and reduce the fuel needs. At the same time, it also helps bring about better quality concrete, he said.

Speaking during the 8th Region 1/CAR West Regional Conference of Civil Engineers here, he added that the use of alternative raw materials, like rice husks and other agricultural waste products, for fuel help reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In this manner, using the materials in the kilns remove the gas producers of the atmosphere and help in the production of quality cement when the residue is added to the cement materials.

Allan Valencia, 42, Manager – Ready Mix Concrete, explained that as part of the social responsibility of the company, Holcim was co-processing waste with industrial partners. “Trucks haul rice husks from rice mills and back load with cement,” he said. Valencia said that among some of the industrial partners were Nestle, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and Shell. These companies deliver expired products and other wastes like oil sludge to their plants as alternative fuels.

The materials are burned to 1500 degrees centigrade then the ash by-product is integrated in the ready mix concrete leaving no toxic waste. He said that the company had “zero waste” using “controlled emissions”, when asked about compliance with air pollution laws.

“It is our social responsibility,” Valencia said when he added that it was safer to burn the old tires than see dengue causing mosquitoes breed in them or prevent the marketing of expired products to consumers. Valencia said that the sand with oil that was gathered from the Guimaras oil spill was brought to the Holcim plant in Iligan for disposal. He noted that also the hair used as oil collector was co-processed in the plant because if these were not incinerated, the oil would seep into the soil or return to the sea.

Felizardo noted that Holcim holds biennial awards for sustainable construction in the professional and student level. He said that the company recognizes breakthroughs done by scientists in construction technology and also students who have made successful studies that improve environmental sustainability using better construction methods. The contest is ongoing after a February 2008 local deadline and will announce winners late this year. Felizardo recalled that the winner in 2006 was a Philippine study on using concrete to rebuild the coral reefs.

The regional contest among Holcim companies include; North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia. The Philippines is in the Asia region.

Valencia said that it was his personal and professional duty to guarantee the sustainability of the environment. “Your family is affected by your operations. You are part of society,” he concluded.
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Wind engineering or typhoon engineering are in high demand in the country according to a University of Philippines engineer.

Benito M. Pacheco, PhD Engineering, told civil engineers at the 8th Region I/CAR West Regional Conference of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers, Inc. last weekend that there is a demand for engineers who specialized in wind or typhoon engineering because of the impact of global warming on the speed and force of winds in hurricanes, cyclones, or typhoons.

Pacheco said that this demand in wind engineering also had something to do with the search for alternative energy sources in the country and in the globe that were not dependent heavily on fossil fuels, like wind energy and steam.

Pacheco explained that typhoon engineering had much to do with Disaster Quick Response Program (DQRP) and Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness Strategies (DMPS). When the 1990 earthquake hit the Philippines, the DQRP was created to respond to the effects of the earthquake on civil works. He said that the National Structural Code of the Philippines already stated the requirements for construction but the disaster instituted more measures for compliance.

After the earthquake the DMPS was instituted in 2004 that meant to answer to the focus on pre-disaster phase of construction and on other natural disasters like the drought. This he said was important because whenever something went wrong with a building, it was always the engineer that was held liable for the destruction.

Typhoon engineering had to do with structural engineering because the wind factors that affected the country had much to do with the type of buildings that were needed. In addition, Pacheco said that geotechnical data were important that had to do with the land. There was also a need to include coastal information, or data on water. With the amount of rainfall in certain regions of the country, flood control engineering was also integrated in typhoon engineering. With these included in typhoon engineering, the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers came up with the DQRP and the DMPS, Pacheco said.

Although he did not tell the institutions that allowed engineers to specialize in wind engineering, he said that this has become an urgent need because of the lack of important data from the different agencies from whom information are retrieved. He said that there was a need to standardize the information in terms of the reference duration in years.

The necessary information required by civil engineers at this time need the collaboration with meteorologists to study wind speed. This study is required for wind engineering for energy using wind turbines.

He said that the update of the wind speed maps of the Philippines would help the civil engineers come up with possible guidelines in standardizing these in terms of the length of time covered by the data. These data also tell us what we can learn from the wind and what we should do, Pacheco told the engineers.

He noted that there were only five wind engineers in the country today and that they were already employed by power companies.