ADVANCE

ENERGY

TECHNOLOGY

ADVANCE

ENERGY

TECHNOLOGY

NON-RENEWABLERENEWABLE

FOSSIL FUELS (COAL, CRUDE OIL, NATURAL GAS)

NUCLEAR ENERGY

WIND ENERGY

TIDAL ENERGY

WAVE ENERGY

HYDROPOWER

SOLAR ENERGY

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

BIOMASS

Renewable Energy

Renewable energy is generally defined as energy that comes from resources which are naturally replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat. Renewable energy resources and significant opportunities for energy efficiency exist over wide geographical areas, in contrast to other energy sources, which are concentrated in a limited number of countries. Rapid deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency, and technological diversification of energy sources, would result in significant energy security and economic benefits.

The use of renewable energy reduce environmental pollution such as air pollution caused by burning of fossil fuels and improve public health, reduce premature mortalities due to pollution and save associated health costs that amount to several 100 billion dollars annually only in the United States.

Renewable energy sources, that derive their energy from the sun, either directly or indirectly, such as hydro and wind, are expected to be capable of supplying humanity energy for almost another 1 billion years, at which point the predicted increase in heat from the sun is expected to make the surface of the earth too hot for liquid water to exist.

FORMS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY

Wind power

Wind is a form of solar energy. Winds are caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the irregularities of the earth's surface, and rotation of the earth. Wind flow patterns are modified by the earth's terrain, bodies of water, and vegetative cover. This wind flow, or motion energy, when "harvested" by modern wind turbines, can be used to generate electricity. Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power. This mechanical power can be used for specific tasks (such as grinding grain or pumping water) or a generator can convert this mechanical power into electricity to power homes, businesses, schools, and the like.

How does wind turbine work?

1. Wind (moving air that contains kinetic energy) blows toward the turbine's rotor blades.

2. The rotors spin around slowly, capturing some of the kinetic energy from the wind, and turning the central drive shaft that supports them.

3. The rotor blades can swivel on the hub at the front so they meet the wind at the best angle for harvesting energy.

4. Inside the nacelle (the main body of the turbine sitting on top of the tower and behind the blades), the gearbox converts the low-speed rotation of the drive shaft (about 16 revolutions per minute, rpm) into high-speed (1600 rpm) rotation fast enough to drive the generator efficiently.

5. The generator, immediately behind the gearbox, takes kinetic energy from the spinning drive shaft and turns it into electrical energy.

6. Anemometers (wind-speed monitors) and wind vanes on the back of the nacelle provide measurements about the wind speed and direction.

7. Using these measurements, the entire top part of the turbine (the rotors and nacelle) can be rotated by a yaw motor, mounted between the nacelle and the tower, so it faces directly into the oncoming wind and captures the maximum amount of energy. If the wind speed rises too much, brakes are applied to stop the rotors from turning (for safety reasons).

8. The electric current produced by the generator flows through a cable running down through the inside of the turbine tower.

9. A substation transforms the voltage of the electricity so it can be transmitted efficiently to nearby communities.

10. Homes enjoy clean, green energy.

Uses of wind powered energy

1. Energy-generating wind turbines: Wind turbines are installed to capture the power of the wind and be able to convert it to energy. This can be on a broad scale, such as the wind turbines found on wind farms or can be on a smaller scale, such as individual wind turbines people use to generate power for their home. Companies even want to take advantage of the wind. For example, Sam’s Club was the first retailer reported to install a “significant” number of on-site micro wind turbines.

2. Wind-powered mechanical vehicles primarily use wind turbines installed at a strategic point of the vehicle. The wind power, which is converted into mechanical energy through

gears, belts or chains, causes the vehicle to propel forward. While they are not in mainstream use yet, many schools have begun building the new technology and research into their curricula to teach students and to get them active in the subject. Recently, a car, powered primarily by wind (using kites), just completed a 3,100 mile journey across Australia. While it wasn’t 100% powered by the wind, it was a good example of how cars can also be powered using alternative energies. It used a combination of wind, kite and batteries. In total, it reportedly used about $10-$15 of energy for the entire 3,100 mile journey. 

3. Wind/Kite-Powered Cargo Ships: Another great example of tapping into the power of the wind, can be found with Cargill. Cargill has stepped up and gone with the innovative idea of installing a large kite on one of its cargo ships in order to tap into the power of the wind and thus reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Now, of course wind has been used for hundreds and thousands of year to “power” sailing and smaller vessels, but now it is being used to help power larger cargo ships as well. (video)

4. A windsport is any type of sport which involves wind-power, often involving a non-rigid airfoil such as a sail or a power kite. The activities can be land-based, on snow, on ice or on water. Windsport activity may be regulated in some countries by aviation/maritime authorities if they are likely to interfere with other activities. Local authorities may also regulate activity in certain areas, especially on crowded beaches and parks.

Examples: Ice boating - using a masted sail attached to a vessel with skates Kite boating - sailing a boat in displacement or planing mode using a kite Kite landboarding - using a power kite with a wheeled board while standing Kite buggy - using a wheeled buggy with seats attached to a power kite Kite flying - flight of a small airfoil by a standing ground operator using 1-4 flying lines Kite jumping - brief acrobatic flight using a large kite Kite skating - as for kite jumping but while using specialized skates Kite surfing - using a surfboard attached to a power kite Land sailing - a masted sail attached to a land vehicle - see also land yacht Sailing - navigating a boat with sail attached to a mast Snowkiting - skiing/snowboarding under the power of a kite Windsurfing - sailing using a masted sail attached via a gimbal to a surfboard Sail biking - using a power kite to pull a specialized bicycle (like land sailing)

5. A windpump is a type of windmill which is used for pumping water. Windpumps were used to pump water since at least the 9th century in what is now Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. The use of wind pumps became widespread across the Muslim world and later spread to China and India. Windmills were later used extensively in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands and the East Anglia area of Great Britain, from the late Middle Ages onwards, to drain land for agricultural or building purposes.

WIND POWER IN THE PHILIPPINESWind power in the Philippines makes up a small percentage of the total energy output of

the Philippines. The country wind energy sector has significant potential and could provide up to 76GW of power. Two of the largest developments are the Bangui Wind Farm in Bangui, Ilocos Norte., and the Wind Energy Power System (WEPS) in Puerto Galera, Mindoro Oriental.

Bangui Wind FarmBangui Wind Farm is

a wind farm in Bangui, Ilocos Norte, Philippines. The wind farm uses 20 units of 70-metre (230 ft) high VestasV82 1.65 MW wind turbines, arranged on a single row stretching along a nine-kilometer shoreline off Bangui Bay, facing the West Philippine Sea.

Phase I of the NorthWind power project in Bangui Bay consists of 15 wind turbines, each capable of producing electricity up to a maximum capacity of 1.65 MW, for a total of 24.75 MW. The 15 on-shore turbines are spaced 326 metres (1,070 ft) apart, each 70 metres (230 ft) high, with 41 metres (135 ft) long blades, with a rotor diameter of 82 metres (269 ft) and a wind swept area of 5,281 square metres (56,840 sq ft).Phase II, was completed on August 2008, and added 5 more wind turbines with the same capacity, and brought the total capacity to 33 MW. All 20 turbines describes a graceful arc reflecting the shoreline of Bangui Bay, facing the West Philippine Sea.

Hydropower

Hydropower or water power is power derived from the energy of falling water or fast running water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. Since ancient times, hydropower from many kinds of watermills has been used as a renewable energy source for irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices, such as gristmills, sawmills, textile mills, trip hammers, dock cranes, domestic lifts, and ore mills. A trompe, which produces compressed air from falling water, is sometimes used to power other machinery at a distance.

Uses of hydropowerWhile hydroelectricity is what most often comes to mind when people think about

hydropower, there are many other uses of this energy source:

1. Irrigation- this had the benefit of allowing storage of water year round to grow crops in the dry season. Water was also circulated every 40-60 days when the sediment had settled bringing fresh nutrients to the soil. Today, irrigation is still of great importance to agriculture worldwide. Often pumps are used which are powered by electricity, gasoline or diesel but many areas still use drip irrigation from suspended water resources, basins or flood plains and even condensation.

2. A water clock or clepsydra is any timepiece in which time is measured by the regulated flow of liquid into (inflow type) or out from (outflow type) a vessel where the amount is then measured. Water clocks, along with sundials, are likely to be the oldest time-measuring instruments, with the only exceptions being the verticalgnomon and the day-counting tally stick. Where and when they were first invented is not known, and given their great antiquity it may never be. The bowl-shaped outflow is the simplest form of a water clock and is known to have existed in Babylon and in Egypt around the 16th century BC. Other regions of the world, including India and China, also have early evidence of water clocks, but the earliest dates are less certain. Some authors, however, claim that water clocks appeared in China as early as 4000 BC. Only a few modern water clocks exist today. In 1979, French scientist Bernard Gitton began creating his Time-Flow Clocks, which are a modern-day approach to the historical version. His unique glass tube designs can be found in over 30 locations throughout the world, including one atEuropa-Center's The Clock of Flowing Time in Berlin, Centre Commercial Milenis in Guadeloupe, the Giant Water Clock at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the Shopping Iguatemi in São Paulo andPorto Alegre, Brazil.

3. Electricity- Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy, accounting for 16 percent of global electricity generation – 3,427 terawatt-hours of electricity production in 2010,[1] and is expected to increase about 3.1% each year for the next 25 years. Hydropower is produced in 150 countries, with the Asia-Pacific region generating 32 percent of global hydropower in 2010.China is the largest hydroelectricity producer, with 721 terawatt-hours of production in 2010, representing around 17 percent of domestic electricity use. (picture dre)

4. Agriculture- Hydropower was used in ancient times for producing flour grain and was also used for sawing timber and stone, raised water into irrigation canals.

5. Industry- Hydropower was used earlier for some industrial applications such as driving the bellows in small blast furnaces and for extraction of metal ores in a method known as hushing.

Hydropower in Philippines

The Philippines mainly focuses on the use of hydroelectricity. Here is a list of hydroelectric power plant in the country.

Wave Power

Wave energy is produced when electricity generators are placed on the surface of the ocean. The energy provided is most often used in desalination plants, power plants and water pumps. Energy output is determined by wave height, wave speed, wavelength, and water density. To date there are only a handful of experimental wave generator plants in operation around the world. The articles on this page explore the world of wave energy and its possible applications.

The problem is that it's not easy to harness this energy and convert it into electricity in large amounts. Thus, wave power stations are rare.

How to Get Energy from a Wave

Worldwide, over a hundred conceptual designs of wave energy conversion (WEC) devices have been developed but only a few have been built as full-scale prototypes or tested. Most have been in Europe.  Currently there are four main types of WEC devices that generate or convert energy from waves:  Oscillating water column Attenuator Overtopping Point Absorbers

Oscillating Water Column

These devices generate power when a wave push against a horizontally-hinged flap, or waves are funneled into a structure that causes a water column to rise and fall. These devices may be fixed to the ocean floor, hang from a floating or shoreline structure, or built into harbor jetties. An example size would be put into 20 - 100 foot depths, and may be 65 feet wide.

Attenuator

These devices are oriented in the direction of incoming waves that cause articulated components to bend and drive generators. Appearing somewhat like semi-submerged "train cars," they are typically moored to the ocean floor on one end. An example of the size of this device is around 390 feet long and 11 feet wide, with about 7 feet above the surface of the water.

Overtopping

These devices have a partially submerged structure that funnels wave over the top of the structure into a reservoir. The water runs back to the sea powering a low-head hydropower turbine. An example prototype is roughly 100 by 200 feet, but may be scalable as large as 700 by 1,200 feet and 65 feet wide.

Point Absorber

These devices capture energy from the "up and down" motion of the waves. They may be fully or partially submerged. The size depends upon the unit, but an example might be that around 8 to 10 feet rises above the surface and the rest, around 150 feet or so, extends below the surface.

Tidal Power

Tidal energy is produced by the surge of ocean waters during the rise and fall of tides. Tidal energy is a renewable source of energy. During the 20th century, engineers developed ways to use tidal movement to generate electricity in areas where there is a significant tidal range—the difference in area between high tide and low tide. All methods use special generators to convert tidal energy into electricity. Tidal energy production is still in its infancy. The amount of power produced so far has been small. There are very few commercial-sized tidal power plants operating in the world. The first was located in La Rance, France. The largest facility is the Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station in South Korea. The United States has no tidal plants and only a

few sites where tidal energy could be produced at areasonable price. China, France, England, Canada, and Russia have much more potential to use this type of energy.

Sihwa Lake Tidal Facility

Solar Energy

Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP). Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaics convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic effect.

Solar power is produced by collecting sunlight and converting it into electricity. This is done by using solar panels, which are large flat panels made up of many individual solar cells. It is most often used in remote locations, although it is becoming more popular in urban areas as well. The 392 MW Ivanpah installation is the largest concentrating solar power plant in the world, located in the Mojave Desert of California.

How do Solar Panels work?

Solar photovoltaic cells consist of a positive and a negative film of silicon placed under a thin slice of glass. As the photons of the sunlight beat down upon these cells, they knock the electrons off the silicon. The negatively-charged free electrons are preferentially attracted to one side of the silicon cell, which

creates an electric voltage that can be collected and channeled. This current is gathered by wiring the individual solar panels together in series to form a solar photovoltaic array. Depending on the size of the installation, multiple strings of solar photovoltaic array cables terminate in one electrical box, called a fused array combiner. Contained within the combiner box are fuses designed to protect the individual module cables, as well as the connections that deliver power to the inverter. The electricity produced at this stage is DC (direct current) and must be converted to AC (alternating current) suitable for use in your home or business.

Solar Power Applications

1. Concentrating Solar Power (CSP): Concentrating solar power (CSP) plants are utility-scale generators that produce electricity using mirrors or lenses to efficiently concentrate the sun’s energy. The four principal CSP technologies are parabolic troughs, dish-Stirling engine systems, central receivers, and concentrating photovoltaic systems (CPV). 

2. Solar Thermal Electric Power Plants: Solar thermal energy involves harnessing solar power for practical applications from solar heating to electrical power generation. Solar thermal collectors, such as solar hot water panels, are commonly used to generate solar hot water for domestic and light industrial applications. This energy system is also used in architecture and building design to control heating and ventilation in both active solar and passive solar designs.

3. Photovoltaics: Photovoltaic or PV technology employs solar cells or solar photovoltaic arrays to convert energy from the sun into electricity. Solar cells produce direct current electricity from the sun’s rays, which can be used to power equipment or to recharge batteries. Many pocket calculators incorporate a single solar cell, but for larger applications, cells are generally grouped together to form PV modules that are in turn arranged in solar arrays. Solar arrays can be used to power orbiting satellites and other spacecraft, and in remote areas as a source of power for roadside emergency telephones, remote sensing, and cathodic protection of pipelines.

4. Solar Heating Systems: Solar hot water systems use sunlight to heat water. The systems are composed of solar thermal collectors and a storage tank, and they may be active, passive or batch systems.

5. Passive Solar Energy:  It concerns building design to maintain its environment at a comfortable temperature through the sun’s daily and annual cycles.

6. Solar Lighting: Also known as daylighting, this is the use of natural light to provide illumination to offset energy use in electric lighting systems and reduce the cooling load on HVAC systems. 

7. Solar Cars: A solar car is an electric vehicle powered by energy obtained from solar panels on the surface of the car which convert the sun’s energy directly into electrical energy. Solar cars are not currently a practical form of transportation. Although they can operate for limited distances without sun, the solar cells are generally very fragile. Development teams have focused their efforts on optimizing the efficiency of the vehicle, but many have only enough room for one or two people.

8. Solar Power Satellite: A solar power satellite (SPS) is a proposed satellite built in high Earth orbit that uses microwave power transmission to beam solar power to a very large antenna on Earth where it can be used in place of conventional power sources.

9. Solar Updraft Tower: A solar updraft tower is a proposed type of renewable-energy power plant. Air is heated in a very large circular greenhouse-like structure, and the resulting convection causes the air to rise and escape through a tall tower. The moving air drives turbines, which produce electricity. There are no solar updraft towers in operation at present. A research prototype operated in Spain in the 1980s, and EnviroMission is proposing to construct a full-scale power station using this technology in Australia. 

Solar Energy in the Philippines

Geothermal Energy

Geothermal energy has been used for thousands of years in some countries for cooking and heating. It is simply power derived from the Earth's internal heat. This thermal energy is contained in the rock and fluids beneath Earth's crust. It can be found from shallow ground to several miles below the surface, and even farther down to the extremely hot molten rock called magma. These underground reservoirs of steam and hot water can be tapped to generate electricity or to heat and cool buildings directly.A geothermal heat pump system can take advantage of the constant temperature of the upper ten feet (three meters) of the Earth's surface to heat a home in the winter, while extracting heat from the building and transferring it back to the relatively cooler ground in the summer.Geothermal water from deeper in the Earth can be used directly for heating homes and offices, or for growing plants in greenhouses. Some U.S. cities pipe geothermal hot water under roads and sidewalks to melt snow.To produce geothermal-generated electricity, wells, sometimes a mile (1.6 kilometers) deep or more, are drilled into underground reservoirs to tap steam and very hot water that drive turbines linked to electricity generators. The first geothermally generated electricity was produced in Larderello, Italy, in 1904.

How Geothermal Energy is Captured

1. Geothermal springs for power plants

Currently, the most common way of capturing the energy from geothermal sources is to tap into naturally occurring "hydrothermal convection" systems, where cooler water seeps into Earth's crust, is heated up, and then rises to the surface. Once this heated water is forced to the surface, it is a relatively simple matter to capture that steam and use it to drive electric generators. Geothermal power plants drill their own holes into the rock to more effectively capture the steam

There are three basic designs for geothermal power plants, all of which pull hot water and steam from the ground, use it, and then return it as warm water to prolong the life of the heat source. In the simplest design, known as dry steam, the steam goes directly through the turbine, then into a condenser where the steam is condensed into water. In a second approach, very hot water is depressurized or "flashed" into steam which can then be used to drive the turbine.

In the third approach, called a binary cycle system, the hot water is passed through a heat exchanger, where it heats a second liquid—such as isobutane—in a closed loop. Isobutane boils at a lower temperature than water, so it is more easily converted into steam to run the turbine. These three systems are shown in the diagrams below.

2. Geothermal Power Plants

At a geothermal power plant, wells are drilled 1 or 2 miles deep into the Earth to pump steam or hot water to the surface. You're most likely to find one of these power plants in an area that has a lot of hot springs, geysers, or volcanic activity, because these are places where the Earth is particularly hot just below the surface.

1. Hot water is pumped from deep underground through a well under high pressure.

2. When the water reaches the surface, the pressure is dropped, which causes the water to turn into

steam.

3. The steam spins a turbine, which is connected to a generator that produces electricity.

4. The steam cools off in a cooling tower and condenses back to water.

5. The cooled water is pumped back into the Earth to begin the process again.

3. Geothermal Heat Pumps

Not all geothermal energy comes from power plants. Geothermal heat pumps can do all sorts of things—from heating and cooling homes to warming swimming pools. These systems transfer heat by pumping water or a refrigerant (a special type of fluid) through pipes just below the Earth's surface, where the temperature is a constant 50 to 60°F.

During the winter, the water or refrigerant absorbs warmth from the Earth, and the pump brings this heat to the building above. In the summer, some heat pumps can run in reverse and help cool buildings.

1. Water or a refrigerant moves through a loop of pipes.

2. When the weather is cold, the water or refrigerant heats up as it travels through the part of the

loop that's buried underground.

3. Once it gets back above ground, the warmed water or refrigerant transfers heat into the building.

4. The water or refrigerant cools down after its heat is transferred. It is pumped back underground

where it heats up once more, starting the process again.

5. On a hot day, the system can run in reverse. The water or refrigerant cools the building and then

is pumped underground where extra heat is transferred to the ground around the pipes.

Uses of Geothermal Energy

1. Geothermal Energy in Farming-Some of the common uses of geothermal energy are amongst farmers, who use geothermal energy to heat their greenhouses. In Tuscany, Italy, farmers have used water heated by geothermal energy for hundreds of years to grow vegetables in the winter.  Hungary is also a major user of geothermal energy, where eighty percent of the energy demand from vegetables growers is met using geothermal energy technology.

2. Geothermal Energy in Fish FarmThe warm water spurs the growth of animals ranging from alligators, shellfish, tropical fish, amphibians to catfish and trout. Fish farmers from Oregon, Idaho, China, Japan, and even Iceland use geothermal energy.

3. Geothermal Energy in IndustryIndustry is another consumer of geothermal energy. Its uses vary from drying fruits, drying vegetables, drying wood, and dying wool to extracting gold and silver from ore.

4. Geothermal Energy in Infrastructure and ElectricityGeothermal energy is also used to heat sidewalks and roads in order to prevent freezing in the winter. Most recently, the

Netherlands began using geothermal energy to keep bike lanes from freezing in the wintertime, for instance.

5. Geothermal power plants are also a good electricity generator: Flashed Steam Plants — The water “flash” boils and the steam is used to turn

turbines. Dry Steam Plants — These plants rely on the natural steam that comes from the

underground reservoirs to generate electricity. Binary Power Plants — These plants use the water to heat a “secondary liquid” which

vaporizes and turns the turbines. The vaporized liquid is then condensed and reused. Hybrid Power Plants — In these plants, binary and flash techniques are utilized

simultaneously.

Geothermal Energy in the Philippines

The Geothermal Education Office and a 1980 article titled "The Philippines geothermal success story" by Rudolph J. Birsic published in the journal Geothermal Energy note the remarkable geothermal resources of the Philippines. During the World Geothermal Congress 2000 held in Beppu, Ōita Prefecture of Japan held from May to June 2000, it was reported that the Philippines is the largest consumer of electricity from geothermal sources and highlighted the potential role of geothermal energy in providing energy needs for developing countries.

According to the International Geothermal Association (IGA), worldwide, the Philippines ranks second to the United States in producing geothermal energy. As of 2010, the US had a capacity of 3093 megawatts of geothermal power, while that of the Philippines was 1904 megawatts. The Philippines was followed by Mexico with 958 MW. Early statistics from the Institute for Green Resources and Environment stated that Philippine geothermal energy provides 16% of the country's electricity. By 2005, geothermal energy accounted for 17.5% of the country's electricity production. More recent statistics from the IGA show that combined energy from the nation's six geothermal fields, located in the islands of Luzon, Leyte, Negros and Mindanao, still accounts for approximately 17% of the country's electricity generation. Leyte island is where the first geothermal power plant, a 3 megawatt wellhead unit, started operations in July 1977. Larger-scale commercial production of geothermal power began in 1979 with the commissioning of a 110-megawatt plant at Tiwi field in Albay province. IGA figures as of December 2009 show the nation's installed geothermal capacity stands at 1904 megawatts, with gross generation of 10,311 gigawatt-hrs for all of 2009, representing 17% of the nation's total power generation mix. Below is the list of geothermal plants in the Philippines.

BiomassBiomass is biological material derived from living, or recently living organisms. In the

context of biomass as a resource for making energy, it most often refers to plants or plant-based materials which are not used for food or feed, and are specifically called lignocellulosic biomass . As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly via combustion to produce heat, or indirectly after converting it to various forms of biofuel. Conversion of biomass to biofuel can be achieved by different methods which are broadly classified into: thermal,chemical, and biochemical methods.

Wood remains the largest biomass energy source to date; examples include forest residues (such as dead trees, branches and tree stumps), yard clippings, wood chips and even municipal solid waste.

Biomass can be converted to other usable forms of energy like methane gas or transportation fuels like ethanol and biodiesel. Rotting garbage, and agricultural and human waste, all release methane gas—also called landfill gas or biogas. Crops, such as corn and sugar cane, can be fermented to produce the transportation fuel, ethanol. Biodiesel, another transportation fuel, can be produced from left-over food products like vegetable oils and animal fats.[5] Also, biomass to liquids (BTLs) and cellulosic ethanol are still under research.

Biomass in the Philippines

Like any developing country, the Philippines is facing a formidable challenge of fostering sustainable energy options to support the energy requirements of its economic and social development goals with minimal adverse effects on the environment. In the Philippines, renewable energy sources contribute 43 percent to the country’s primary energy mix, one of the highest in Southeast Asia. The Philippines has an existing capacity of 5,500 MW of renewable energy power. Biomass energy application accounts for around 15 percent of the primary energy use in the country.

The Philippines is mainly an agricultural country with a land area of 30 million hectares, 47 percent of which is agricultural. The total area devoted to agricultural crops is 13 million hectares distributed among food grains, food crops and non-food crops. Among the crops grown, rice, coconut and sugarcane are major contributors to biomass energy resources. The most common agricultural residues are rice husk, rice straw, coconut husk, coconut shell and bagasse. The country has good potential for biomass power plants as one-third of the country’s

agricultural land produces rice, and consequently large volumes of rice straw and hulls are generated.

At present, biomass technologies utilized in the country vary from the use of bagasse as boiler fuel for cogeneration, rice/coconut husks dryers for crop drying, biomass gasifiers for mechanical and electrical applications, fuelwood and agricultural wastes for oven, kiln, furnace and cook-stoves for cooking and heating purposes. Biomass technologies represent the largest installations in the Philippines in comparison with the other renewable energy, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas abatement technologies.

Biomass energy plays a vital role in the nation’s energy supply. Nearly 30 percent of the energy for the 80 million people living in the Philippines comes from biomass, mainly used for household cooking by the rural poor. Almost 73 percent of this biomass use is traced to the cooking needs of the residential sector while industrial and commercial applications accounts for the rest. 92 percent of the biomass industrial use is traced to boiler fuel applications for power and steam generation followed by commercial applications like drying, ceramic processing and metal production. Commercial baking and cooking applications account for 1.3 percent of its use.

Non-Renewable Energy

Non-renewable energy is energy from fossil fuels (coal, crude oil, natural gas) and uranium. Fossil fuels are mainly made up of Carbon. It is believed that fossil fuels were formed over 300 million years ago, when the earth was a lot different in its landscape. It had swampy forests and very shallow seas. This time is referred to as 'Carboniferous Period'

Types of Non-Renewable Energy

Fossil fuels are usually found in one location as their formation is from a similar process. Let us take a look at the diagram below to see how fossil fuels are formed:

1. Millions of years ago, dead sea organisms, plants and animals settled on the ocean floor and in the porous rocks. These organic matter had stored energy in them as they used the sun's energy to prepare foods (proteins) for themselves (photosynthesis).

2. With time, sand, sediments and impermeable rock settled on the organic matter, trapping its' energy within the porous rocks. That formed pockets of coal, oil and natural gas.

3. Earth movements and rock shifts creates spaces that force to collect these energy types into well-defined areas. With the help of technology, engineers are able to drill down into the sea bed to tap the stored energy, which we commonly know as crude oil.

FORMS OF NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES

Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years.[3] Fossil fuels contain high percentages of carbon and include coal, petroleum and natural gas.[4] Other more commonly used derivatives of fossil fuels includekerosene and propane. 

1. Coal is a black or brownish rock. We burn coal to create energy. Coal is ranked depending on how much “carbonization” it has gone through. Carbonization is the

process that ancient organisms undergo to become coal. About 3 meters (10 feet) of solid vegetation crushed together into .3 meter (1 foot) of coal. Peat is the lowest rank of coal. It has gone through the least amount of carbonization. It is an important fuel in areas of the world including Scotland, Ireland, and Finland. Anthracite is the highest rank of coal. Anthracite forms in regions of the world where there have been giant movements of the earth, such as the formation of mountain ranges. The Appalachian Mountains, in the eastern part of the United States, are rich in anthracite. We mine coal out of the ground so we can burn it for energy. There are two ways that we can mine coal: underground mining and surface mining.

2. Crude oil or Petroleum is a liquid fossil fuel. It is also called oil or crude oil.Petroleum is trapped by underground rock formations. In some places, oil bubbles right out of the ground. At the LaBrea Tar Pits, in Los Angeles, California, big pools of thick oil bubble up through the ground. Remains of animals that got trapped there thousands of years ago are still preserved in the tar. Most of the world’s oil is still deep under the ground. We drill through the earth to access the oil. Some deposits are on land, and others are under the ocean floor. When oil is under the ocean floor, companies drill offshore. They must build an oil platform. Oil platforms are some of the biggest manmade structures in the world. Once the oil has been drilled, it must be refined. Oil contains many chemicals besides carbon, and refining the oil takes some of these chemicals out.

3. Natural Gas is another fossil fuel that is trapped underground in reservoirs. It is mostly made up of methane. You may have smelled methane before. The decomposing material in landfills also release methane, which smells like rotten eggs. There is so much natural gas underground that it is measured in million, billion, or trillion cubic meters. Natural gas is found in deposits a few hundred meters underground. In order to get natural gas out of the ground, companies drill straight down. However, natural gas does not form in big open pockets. Natural gas is trapped in rock formations that can stretch for kilometers. To reach natural gas, some companies use a process called “hydraulic fracturing,” or fracking. Hydraulic means they use water, and fracturing means to “split apart.” The process uses high-pressure water to split apart the rocks underground. This releases the natural gas that is trapped in rock formations. If the rock is too hard, they can send acid down the well to dissolve the rock. They can also use tiny grains of glass or sand to prop open the rock and let the gas escape.

Nuclear EnergyNuclear energy is usually considered another non-renewable energy source. Although

nuclear energy itself is a renewable energy source, the material used in nuclear power plants is not.  Nuclear energy harvests the powerful energy in the nucleus, or core, of an atom. Nuclear energy is released through nuclear fission, the process where the nucleus of an atom splits. Nuclear power plants are complex machines that can control nuclear fission to produce electricity.  

The material most often used in nuclear power plants is the element uranium. Although uranium is found in rocks all over the world, nuclear power plants usually use a very rare type of uranium, U-235. Uranium is a non-renewable resource.

 Nuclear energy is a popular way of generating electricity around the world. Nuclear

power plants do not pollute the air or emit greenhouse gases. They can be built in rural orurban areas, and do not destroy the environment around them. However, nuclear energy is difficult to harvest. Nuclear power plants are very complicated to build and run. Many communities do not have the scientists and engineers to develop a safe and reliable nuclear energy program. Nuclear energy also produces radioactive material.Radioactive waste can be extremely toxic, causing burns and increasing the risk for cancers, blood diseases, and bone decay among people who are exposed to it.  Non-Renewable Resources in the Philippines

As part of a region that is both rich in natural resources and rapidly growing economies, the Philippines energy sector has learnt a few lessons in recent years. The foremost and the hardest of these lessons seem to have been that the energy industry needs capital to compete. The exploration, production, distribution as well as management of energy resources in the Philippines as anywhere else is an increasingly expensive business. 

Through a detailed set of national energy goals, the Philippines is pursuing some prudent policies ranging from a realistic degree of self sufficiency in an attempt to shield the country from shocks while at the same time remaining connected to today’s energy dependent world. 

Hydrocarbons exploration and extraction in the Philippines dates to the independence period with the first oil well being drilled in Cebu by Smith, Bell and Company in 1898. The countries major asset to date, the Malampaya field was discovered in 1990 by Shell and remains the country’s most important domestic source of natural gas. 

It was not until 1989, that large hydrocarbons deposits were discovered in the Palawan offshore area by Occidental and at West Linapacan a year later by Alcorn Philippines. The production of dry natural gas has rocketed from zero in 2000 to approximately 3trn cubic feet (cu ft) per day in 2006. An estimated 95% of the Philippines natural gas comes from the Malampaya deep water gas to power project.