BANTAY
GOBYERNO
Ike
Señeres
While it is true that
we have been politically independent for over a hundred years now, there is
still a lot of debate whether we are really economically independent or not. I
choose not to take sides regarding that issue, but as far as I am concerned, I am
very, very sure that we are not yet energy independent and there is no point in
debating that either.
We are all
entitled to our own opinions, but again as far as I am concerned, a hundred
years is too long to be dependent on fossil fuels and more so if it is beyond
that and more so if these dirty fuels are imported from foreign sources. That
might actually sound redundant, but I meant it that way, to stress my point
that we are not energy independent because we are dependent on foreign energy
inputs. Just in case you missed it, there is actually a double meaning here,
because we are not only dependent on dirty fossil fuels; we are also dependent
on foreign supplies.
Importing
and using fossil fuels is not only bad for our economy, it is also bad for our
environment. It is bad for our economy because we have to pay for these imports
in American dollars that is in turn reducing our foreign exchange reserves. It
is bad for our environment because it not only pollutes our air; it also
weakens our ozone layer.
If for some
reason these negative impacts are not enough to convince us to stop using
fossil fuels, then perhaps the positive impacts of using renewable energy
sources would convince us, because the positives far outweigh the negatives.
Firstly, renewable energy is practically free, that is after the initial
infrastructure costs are recovered. Secondly, renewable energy does not pollute
our environment because it is clean. Thirdly, it creates local jobs. Fourthly,
it strengthens our national security because there is no more threat of losing
our raw materials in the event of an oil crisis.
You might
want to call it common sense, but I would rather call it an obvious reality
that most of the renewable energy sources could be found here in the
Philippines, while most of the fossil sources could be found abroad. Of course
ordinary logic would tell us that it would be more practical to use raw
materials that are already here instead of using raw materials that are not
here and therefore should be imported. Simple as that logic may be, it simply
does not happen simply because global geopolitics is not as simple as it seems,
and big business simply has to survive even if it makes money at the same time
that it is destroying the environment. If only we could understand the logic of
big business, we could understand why the United States would withdraw from the
Paris Accord as if climate change is not really that real.
Had I not
seen the actual success stories, it would have been difficult for me to believe
that it is possible for entire countries to become one hundred percent
independent from foreign imported fuels. But I have seen that some countries
have already done it, notably Iceland. Some might argue that Iceland has done
it because it has lots of geothermal sources, but we do have lots of geothermal
sources too, plus many other renewable sources that Iceland may not even have.
For
example, Iceland may not have that many arable areas that could produce biomass
in the form of planted wood species and a variety of giant grass species such
as King Grass, Bana Grass and Napier. Although these biomass sources may
already be good sources of renewable energy in the form of dendro thermal
power, it would also be practical to tap our other sources such as hydropower,
geothermal, wind, solar, wind and tidal.
Nowadays,
it does not take a rocket scientist to produce renewable energy, because most
of the technologies needed are already in the commercial market. It also does
not take a genius economist to figure out that no matter how much money is
needed to build the infrastructure needed to produce renewable energy, we could
always recover these costs because of our savings from the importation of coals
and petroleum fuels.
Aside from
the savings however, we could also gain from more productivity because there
would be more investors that would come to the Philippines because of cheaper
power costs. Of course, there are other econometric gains to consider, such as
the possibility of having higher longevity among our people because of cleaner
air.
I have no
question in my mind that it is possible for the Philippines to achieve energy
independence in the future. As it is now, it is no longer of “how”, because it
is now a question of “when”. It is also no longer a question of technological
knowhow, because it is now just a question of political will.
The
question of “when” could be answered by setting a national goal that has a
timeline or a deadline, if you please. Whatever that timeline is, it could come
sooner than later, but really, really it should not take us another hundred
years or so to make that happen. Actually, it has been said connectivity is the
lifeblood of the new economy. I will not debate that, but I will ask what good
is connectivity if there is no electricity?
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