Energy-efficient buildings pushed

By Manila Standard Today | Jul. 04, 2014 at 06:01pm

THE rotational brownouts in Mindanao might have waned, but the region is still in the midst of a power crisis.

As the power crisis continues, consumers are left to bear the brunt of brownouts and rising electricity costs.

What can property developers then do to help minimize the consumers’ dependence on the power grid while at the same time offer affordable projects? How can they make buildings more energy efficient?

These queries were raised by a highly acclaimed “sustainable architect and designer who currently heads a Cagayan de Oro based property development firm.

Italpinas Euro-asian Design and Eco-Development Corp. (ITPI) chairman and CEO Arch. Romolo V. Nati, said that using a combination of smart grid technology, renewable energy sources and high-performance design may just be the solution.

“Renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic solar panels can reduce the power consumption of a building and save on electricity costs,” shared Nati.

“Energy produced from the solar panels can be used to power some areas, if not all, of the building, thus making it self-sufficient and less reliant on the grid.”

According to Nati, integrating these renewable sources with the smart grid technology will further make the building energy-efficient. A smart grid is a computer-based, remote-controlled system that regulates the power supply and efficiency of a building or house.

ITPI is a young Cagayan de Oro property developer specializing in sustainable architecture and design. Its first project, Primavera Residences, is the first eco-friendly condo complex in Cagayan de Oro.

“Designing buildings in consideration of the surrounding environment and local climate will also enable developers to build sustainable structures that can withstand extreme weather conditions. This is what we call high-performance design, Nati said,

However, there is a general misconception that green buildings are expensive to develop. As a sustainable developer, I believe that constructing sustainable buildings does not need to be costly. You just have to come up with a design that does not use expensive materials in order to build affordable projects,” shares Nati.

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500-MW solar installation seen lifting FIT-All rate to P0.112/kwh

by Myrna Velasco
June 30, 2014

The recommendation of the Department of Energy (DOE) to increase solar installation to 500 megawatts will have an ‘escalating effect’ to as much as P0.112 per kilowatt hour (kwh) on the Feed-in-Tariff Allowance (FIT-All) that will be reflected in the consumers’ electric bills.

Based on estimates provided by the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB), the additional 450 megawatts in solar installations as targeted next year will be P0.0509 per kwh. The original solar target development had been at 50MW and to be underpinned by FIT of P9.68 per kwh.

Effectively, the 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 had the original installation targets per technology been adhered to.

NREB said its calculation had been anchored on 2011 power rates and considered renewable technology installations of up to 1,200 megawatts. Applying such as reference, the maximum consumers’ out-of-pocket FIT subsidy had been estimated reaching P7.209 billion annually.

NREB  Chairman Pete H. Maniego Jr. qualified that “the maximum FIT differential is computed (for 2016 as reference year) when all the 750 megawatts installation targets are already supplying power to the grid.”

He noted that starting this 2014, FIT pass-on may already start but only a fraction of the anticipated RE installations yet will be in operation.

“To date, only a few biomass and run-of-river hydropower plants are operational. For wind, the installations are expected to be completed by the last quarter of 2014 or the first quarter of 2015. For solar, only 13MW had so far been connected to the grid,” Maniego stressed.

The renewable energy body qualified though that “the FIT support or the FIT-Allowance is expected to decline with the increases in WESM (Wholesale Electricity Spot Market) rates and electricity supply over the 20-year period.”

NREB noted that “grid parity is projected in less than 10 years, after which RE sources are expected to reduce rather than increase the electricity rates.”

The proposal to increase solar installation was initiated by the DOE and had gotten the support of NREB for required filing with the Energy Regulatory Commission.

NREB further specified that “considering the low percentage of ongoing biomass and run-of-river hydropower projects to-date, it is possible that not all of the installation targets for these technologies will be met even by 2016.”

The growth rate of RE installations had been projected at 1.5-percent annually, and this has been factored in into the DOE-crafted National Renewable Energy Program.

http://www.mb.com.ph/500-mw-solar-installation-seen-lifting-fit-all-rate-to-p0-112kwh/

Consumers encouraged to invest in solar energy

by Malou M. Mozo
June 24, 2014

Cebu City,Cebu – The Visayan Electric Company (Veco), the second largest power distributor in the country, announced yesterday some 31 interested applications for its “Veco Solar” campaign urging consumers to invest in solar power generation and reduce power use at home.

“The response we got from our consumers, especially residential consumers, is overwhelming,” said Veco Energy Efficiency Specialist Richard Alfafara in an interview with Manila Bulletin yesterday during the sidelines of the Cebu Unplugged: Energy Forum hosted by the company at SM City Cebu.

ENERGY FORUM – Visayan Electric Company (Veco) Chief Operating Officer Sebastian Lacson (right) chats with Department of Energy Undersecretary Raul Aguilos during the Veco-sponsored Cebu Unplugged Forum at SM City Cebu. Among others, the forum was held to teach private consumers how to save energy. (Cheryl |Balciantos)

Veco is the first distribution utility in the country to promote the use of solar energy by its customers through their “Green Energy for a Brighter Future” campaign. Veco Solar has the objective of providing government a helping hand in efforts to protect the environment from pollution.

The company has formed a strategic partnership with Enfinity, the sixth largest developer of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in the world and a market leader in Europe.

In yesterday’s forum, Veco chief operating officer Sebastian Lacson urged customers to invest in solar power generation to reduce power consumption at home.

“Going solar means not only helping protect the environment but also saving money on electricity bills,” he said, explaining how the Veco Solar program works.

Solar PV panels will be installed in a house’s roof where free energy from the sun is turned into direct current electricity and then carried to a wiring through an inverter and converted to alternating current electricity used at home.

Solar energy produced during the day is used to power appliances, and at night when the system is not producing energy, Veco supplies electricity the normal way. A bidirectional meter records not only the total electricity consumed but also the total electricity produced by the panels.

Lacson said a consumer investing in solar energy will become a power producer with a maximum limit of 1,000 watts. If the consumer uses less than the maximum limit, Veco will pay for the difference.

A typical one-kilowatt peak PV system installation produces 112.5 kilowatt-hours (kWh) or about P1,300 in electricity cost. “If a regular household consumes an average of 200 kWh, which is about P2,400, it would be able to save an average of P1,100 in electricity bill if an investment is made in solar energy,” Alfafara further explained.

http://www.mb.com.ph/consumers-encouraged-to-invest-in-solar-energy/

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Top 6 Things You Didn't Know About Solar Energy

Top 6 Things You Didn't Know About Solar Energy

June 22, 2012

energy.gov

US DOE
Erin R. Pierce

This article is part of the Energy.gov series highlighting the "Top Things You Didn't Know About..." series. Be sure to check back for more entries soon.

6. Solar energy is the most abundant energy resource on earth – 173,000 terawatts of solar energy strikes the Earth continuously. That's more than 10,000 times the world's total energy use.

5. The first silicon solar cell, the precursor of all solar-powered devices, was built by Bell Laboratories in 1954. On page one of its April 26, 1954 issue, The New York Timesproclaimed the milestone, “the beginning of a new era, leading eventually to the realization of one of mankind’s most cherished dreams -- the harnessing of the almost limitless energy of the sun for the uses of civilization.”

4. The space industry was an early adopter of solar technology. In the 1960s the space industry began to use solar technology to provide power aboard spacecrafts. The Vanguard 1 -- the first artificial earth satellite powered by solar cells -- remains the oldest manmade satellite in orbit – logging more than 6 billion miles.

3. Fast track to today and demand for solar in the United States is at an all time high. In the first quarter of 2012, developers installed 85 percent more solar panels compared to the first quarter of last year. Total U.S. installations may reach 3,300 megawatts this year – putting the country on track to be the fourth largest solar market in the world.

2. As prices continue to fall, solar energy is increasingly becoming an economical energy choice for American homeowners and businesses. Still, the biggest hurdle to affordable solar energy remains the soft costs – like permitting, zoning, and hooking a solar system up to the power gird. On average local permitting and inspection processes add more than $2,500 to the total cost of a solar energy system. The Energy Department SunShot Initiative works to aggressively drive down these soft costs – making it faster and cheaper for families and businesses to go solar.

1. In California’s Mojave Desert, the largest solar energy project in the world is currently under construction. The project relies on a technology known as solar thermal energy. Once the project is complete 350,000 mirrors will reflect light onto boilers. When the water boils, the steam turns a turbine, creating electricity. The project is expected to provide clean, renewable energy for 140,000 homes and is supported by an Energy Department loan guarantee.

Emissions Without Borders: The Problem With Greenhouse Gas

Emissions Without Borders: The Problem With Greenhouse Gas
Belinda Waymouth 

Environmental advocate, geographer, UCLA, mother


We can fence national boundaries with concrete and barbed wire, but unseen CO2 emissions are released into a border-less atmosphere. Right now, we are on track to triple these emissions by century's end.

The last time CO2 levels went sky-high, the planet was probably 18 degrees Fahrenheit hotter, with sea levels approximately 120 feet higher than now. But we were not here then to enjoy the overly sultriness of it all. 

Having been around for 200,000 odd years, our only experience with extreme temperature increase was after the last ice age. The planet heated up seven to nine degrees over thousands of years. Can our grandchildren and great grandchildren handle predicted planetary heating that's 10 times faster?

The 2003 heat wave in Europe killed 35,000 people with summer temperatures in parts of France 18 degrees hotter than their 2001 summer.

I do not want to scare the pants off anyone, but.... 

When leading climate scientist, James Hansen, former head of NASA's Goddard Institute, stresses de-carbonization of energy by 2030 or certain climate catastrophe. I think mitigating emissions pronto would be the rational next step, just in case this very smart climate guy is right.

But as invisible greenhouse gases rise, so does the very visible conflict that swirls around them. In 2007, California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, took his fight against CO2 emissions to the Supreme Court. He sued the Bush Administration so that California could enact bigger-muscled vehicle emissions laws. 

Assembly Bill 32 aims for California's emissions to be 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. In part this will be achieved by the state's ambitious commitment to have 33 percent of its electricity produced by non-CO2-emitting renewable energy by 2020.

The state also runs a tight cap and trade program, which unlike the EU's faltering Emissions Trading Systems is working quite nicely. So far it regulates big industry and the energy sector. Already the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power reports a 22 percent emissions drop (in part by having more renewable energy and less coal on the books) but also because fines for going over emissions caps are hefty.

But while California aggressively cleans up its act, it has no jurisdiction on nations upwind such as China. Or whom China does energy business with. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates 25 percent of the particulate matter in Los Angeles skies originates from Chinese coal-fired power plants. Some of the dirtiest fuel being burned in these power plants is petcoke from U.S refineries.

The EPA has set limits on the domestic burning of petcoke fuel. But this ruling, which lowered overall U.S CO2 emissions, just outsources the emitting location. It doesn't matter whether you're sending it right next door or across the Pacific, the atmosphere is an all-encompassing, amorphous layer of shared gas.

 California's unilateral mitigation is a bold step in the right direction. A challenge to the rest of the U.S. But the North American continent seems to have ever-increasing supplies of high carbon fuels and an industry gung-ho on extracting them. 

The IPCC's (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) March report reiterated the risks involved without immediate reduction of CO2. The same day Exxon Mobile came out with its own 'carbon risk' assessment. The company assured stockholders, "we are confident that none of our hydrocarbons are now or will become 'stranded.'" Meaning they will be able to extract all the oil and natural gas they want. The company boasted government restrictions were "highly unlikely" to stop Exxon Mobile from oil business-as-usual.

 But while Exxon Mobil feels good about the future, there are some cracks in the fossil fuel industry's mitigation-schmitigation façade. 

Big coal appears to be running scared of non-CO2-emitting energy sources, going so far as to describe the sun as a "disruptive challenge." Coal produces 40 percent of U.S electricity, solar clocks in at less than 1 percent, with individual rooftop solar panels a tiny fraction of this amount. But small-potatoes rooftop solar is getting some very negative press these days.

"These green energy mandates are bad policy," says Christine Harbin Hanson, a spokeswoman for Americans for Prosperity, an advocacy group backed by oil industry heavy weights. 

The AFP is part of recent anti-solar movement that wants states like Kansas and Arizona to slap a surtax on individual rooftop solar. The movement is also pushing states to reduce overall commitments to solar generated energy.

While all the back and forth goes on, the CO2, methane and nitrous oxide go up. Up into an atmosphere that once floated like a big security blanket around our planet. It let just the right amount of heat in and out. But it can no longer effectively let all the heat out. We have unwittingly trashed our collective security blanket. 

Mitigation can and is being enacted on local, state, national and international levels, but the sooner it is a coordinated multilateral effort, the more sense it will make. We need to get serious about the reality of our shared geography. We are one people, under one atmosphere.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/belinda-waymouth/emissions-without-borders-climate-change_b_5390373.html

Gov’t urged to cut taxes on energy

Move seen to lower retail electricity costs

By Riza T. OlchondraPhilippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) is asking the Department of Finance (DOF) to consider various proposals to lower or remove certain taxes on energy to help cut electricity costs for consumers even without amending Republic Act No. 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira).

In a position paper, MAP suggested that the DOF revisit the recommendation of the USAID Study on Taxes and Rationalization so that government taxes such as the value-added taxes (VAT), royalties on natural gas and others could be harmonized. These taxes account for P0.35 to P2.75 a kWh of the total electricity price paid by consumers.

The group said the removal of VAT alone could effectively reduce electricity tariffs by 7.5 to 8.1 percent. However, doing this would remove the benefit to be enjoyed from buying VAT-free renewable energy (RE) supply. “Thus, the zero rating of VAT will effectively diminish the incentives towards RE,” MAP said. If the DOF would take this route, MAP said other incentives envisioned by the RE Act must then be in effect to continue encouraging RE development.

An alternative would be to lower the VAT from 12 percent to 6 percent to effectively reduce power rates by 3.7 percent for residential and commercial users and 3.3 percent for industrial users, MAP said.

Another consideration, MAP said, was the proposal to replace all applicable taxes with a 3-percent franchise tax on gross distribution income. The 3-percent franchise tax may be applied on the distribution, supply, metering and system loss components. This proposal could effectively lower the electricity prices by 7.5 to 7.7 percent.

MAP said the DOF might also consider the deletion of royalty taxes on indigenous materials such as natural gas; resolution of outstanding assessments of real property and franchise tax issues; provision of incentives for domestic manufacturing companies to locate and operate in the poorest regions of the country to promote labor generation; and/or exemption of power companies (generators, distribution and transmission) from real property tax, so that the benefits could be passed on to consumers.

Read more: http://business.inquirer.net/173604/govt-urged-to-cut-taxes-on-energy#ixzz35hr9yBkj

NREB qualifies cost impact of higher solar installation

NREB qualifies cost impact of higher solar installation 
by Myrna Velasco

June 19, 2014


The National Renewable Energy Board (NREB) is disputing the calculated P8-billion ‘subsidy impact’ of the proposed increase in solar technology installation to 500 megawatts (MW) from a previously-approved cap of 50MW.

NREB Chairman Pete Maniego Jr. said the level of subsidy when it comes to renewable energy (RE) technologies of which developments will be underpinned by feed-in-tariffs (FITs) must only be estimated beyond the prevailing grid rate.

“The consumers have to pay the grid rate or generation charge even if there are no RE installations,” he said, qualifying further that based on their computation, the resulting subsidy cost will be way lower than the P8 billion estimate of the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF), the main opposing party to the Department of Energy’s proposal to hike the installation target for solar developments.

“Assuming an average capacity factor of 50% and the high FIT-Allowance of P0.10 per kilowatt hour (kWh), the resulting FIT support for the 750MW will be a maximum of only P328.5 million per annum,” he stressed, adding that if hydro and biomass project developments will be spurred, such would have ‘cost mitigating effect’ on the overall FIT-All that will be reflected in the consumers’ bills.

In probabilities that the FIT-All will be tempered to P0.05 per kWh, Maniego noted that “the FIT support will be down to only P164.25 million per annum.”

He explained that their calculation had been juxtaposed on the clearing prices drawn from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), primarily on months of higher availability for solar-produced energy.

Nevertheless, Maniego emphasized that they are open to discussing and fleshing out the details of their computation vis-à-vis the figures set out by the FEF, so the consumers can be fully apprised of the cost impacts for the targeted RE installations.

And given volatile pricing in the WESM and the notoriety of energy forecasting turning out to be wrong, relevant stakeholders primarily FIT Administrator National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) had been prodded to re-study the cost impacts up to the end of the 20-year FIT subsidy before even agreeing to installation increase for specific RE technologies.

“The higher the grid rate, the lower will be the FIT-Allowance. Even assuming that the grid rate will remain fixed over the 20-year period, so that the FIT-Allowance will also remain fixed, I can’t get anywhere near the allegedly P8 billion conservative estimate of FEF… I don’t want to pre-empt TransCo, but I was assured that the FIT Allowance will be much lower than P0.10 per kWh,” Maniego said.

It is worth noting though that many power markets globally are already propping up to ‘walk away’ from FIT and other forms of RE subsidies as they predict grid parity and cost lowering for such technologies in the next 5-10 years.

Maniego said the increase in solar installation was an initiative of the DOE, a policy step that was also announced earlier by Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla.

“The 500MW came from DOE and of course, we are happy to concur. We proposed to increase both wind and solar, as these technologies have exceeded their installation targets… we actually wanted to increase the targets, but had not proposed any definite figure yet pending stakeholder consultations,” he stressed.

source: http://www.mb.com.ph/nreb-qualifies-cost-impact-of-higher-solar-installation/