DOE, PIA hold forum on Alternative Fuels, Emerging Technologies in Toledo City
The Department of Energy (DOE) in collaboration with the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) held on July 3 a forum on Alternative Fuels and Emerging Technologies (AFET) at Days Hotel in Toledo City, Cebu.
The forum was attended by heads of transport groups in the area, barangay officials, academe, representatives from Toledo City local government unit (LGU) and nearby LGUs with the pursuit of improving the country’s energy security as well as to contribute in mitigating the adverse environmental effects of energy utilization.
One of the resource persons, DOE Senior Science Research Specialist Jorge Vincent Bitoon, said that in line with the government’s long-term goal to reduce the oil import under the alternative fuels program, DOE is embarking an aggressive promotion campaign on the use of AFET.
“There are 9.2 million registered motor vehicles but this figure does not include the colorum ones. This alone necessitates the need to scout for alternative fuels that are cheaper and to maximize technology to make it more sustainable,” said Bitoon.
He enumerated the various initiatives of the AFET Program for the transport sector which are now ongoing, namely: the LPG in public utility vehicles (PUV), the Tricycle Modernization Program (TMP), and the Introduction of the Next Generation Vehicles.
“The transportation sector consumes the biggest chunk of the country’s energy requirement at 35 percent followed by the household/residential sector at 26 percent and industry at 23 percent,” Bitoon said.
As for DOE’s initiatives for the promotion of emerging energy technologies, Bitoon added that the ongoing programs of DOE are the Promotion of Emerging Energy Technologies for Agricultural, Household, Industrial & Commercial Applications and the Partnership with State Universities, DOST and other Research Institutions.
In the same forum, DOE Senior Science Research Specialist Roselle Ibuna discussed the financing of the commercialization of emerging energy technologies.
According to Ibuna, emerging technologies are technologies that are perceived as capable of changing the status quo or technologies that are generally new but include older technologies that are still controversial and relatively undeveloped in potential.
Emerging technologies are those technical innovations which represent progressive developments within a field for competitive advantage.
She shared about achieving energy security while meeting environmental challenges through the utilization of alternative fuels and emerging energy technologies like vehicles using the compressed natural gas, the auto-LPG taxis, electronic and hybrid vehicles, auto-LPG and electric jeepneys.
“On financing the commercialization of emerging energy technologies, it is the government who is the first adopter. As government, we are the first to care about technology innovations because this will propel the country’s economy,” Ibuna said.
Other financing available are the Technology funds, Asian Green Bonds, Venture Capital, Intellectual Property/Royalty, Angel Investors, Green Loan Portfolio, and Commercial Loan.
Meanwhile, DOE Supervising Science Research Specialist Federico Domingo shared tips on the smart use of energy for residential electricity consumption covering the use of cellphones, lights, washing machine, and many other household appliances.
Domingo said that lowering the consumption of electricity at the hoesehold level will not only help save money but also help address the limited supply of fuel and government resources.
He said that the major considerations to reduce electricity consumption at home is to limit the number of units that are being used; use low electricity consuming appliances; shorten the operating hours or frequency of use of electrical appliances; choose appliances with higher efficiency rating; invest in energy smart appliance and gadgets; and install smart energy control system. (jsme/PIA-7/Cebu)
