Group Members:

De Guzman, Johannes Bruce L.

Roma, Allcris
Saut, Bonifacio
Part: Review of Related Literature

Alternative source of Energy: Practicality of Solar Power for

Filipino home owners
Topic

Energy as weve all known gives life and makes the economy run.
Energy is a foundation stone of the modern industrial economy. Energy
provides an essential ingredient for almost all human activities: it provides
electricity at home, services like transportation, even with the food that
provides us energy for school or work. Basically Energy is a powerful
engine of economic and social development. Energy production plays a
major role in establishing a self-sustaining state and towards a healthier
economy.
Not everyone knows that the world we currently live in relies on
non-renewable sources of energy: Fossil fuels, Crude oil/Petroleum, Natural
Gas, Coal and Nuclear fuels of the like. These sources diminish from time
to time and cannot sustain the human kind for a long span of generations.
According to a study conducted by British Petroleum and Royal Dutch
Shell, two of the worlds largest oil companies, by 2050, one-third of the
worlds energy will need to come from solar, wind, and other renewable
resources. Climate change, population growth, and fossil fuel depletion
mean that renewables will need to play a bigger role in the future than

they do today.
Every hour the sun beams onto Earth more than enough energy to
satisfy global energy needs for an entire year. Solar energy is the
technology used to harness the sun's energy and make it useable. Today,
the technology produces less than one tenth of one percent of global
energy demand. Many people are familiar with so-called photovoltaic
cells, or solar panels, found on things like spacecraft, rooftops, and
handheld calculators. The cells are made of semiconductor materials like
those found in computer chips. When sunlight hits the cells, it knocks
electrons loose from their atoms. As the electrons flow through the cell,
they generate electricity. On a much larger scale, solar thermal power
plants employ various techniques to concentrate the sun's energy as a
heat source. The heat is then used to boil water to drive a steam turbine
that generates electricity in much the same fashion as coal and nuclear
power plants, supplying electricity for thousands of people.
Solar panels are not so new here in the Philippines. It is currently
existent in the country but not widespread due to its high-end cost. But
how well knowledgeable are we that this type of alternative energy will
hurt our pockets more than the benefits it would give us in return?
According to Ray Kurzweil, the cost of solar panels is dropping
exponentially. The International Energy Agency predicts that we will
produce 662 GigaWatts of solar energy by 2035 following a $1.3 trillion
investment in this area, but frankly this estimate is highly conservative.
The second technology at play is satellite-Earth imaging, which enables

companies like solar City to make rapid and accurate decisions on solar
panel installations. Energy Storage Mechanisms Are Improving Rapidly The
third key technology transforming our energy economy is battery storage.
Is the technology too much for Filipinos to handle in terms of
financial incurrences? Is the technology still too new to make it practical
for homeowners? Dr. Dick Co quotes People think its so far away; that
the technology is not there yet. Thats a myth, Lets talk numbers. Right
now the worlds population uses about 16 trillion watts, or 16 terawatts, of
energy per year. Meanwhile, each year the sun puts about 120,000
terawatts on the earth, according the U.S. Department of Energy. This
makes the sun the biggest potential source of power around. In about an
hour we get all the power in the sun we need to run all of civilization for a
year, says Co.
In the rapid population rise here in the Philippine setting, along with
it demand for energy also increases and it cant be helped but think of
ways to solve this dilemma given the scarcity of our own resources.
According to Energy Minister Carlos Jericho Petilla, the expected power
outages are likely to far surpass previous emergencies. Companies and
business people will be forced into work interruptions of several days
duration which could lead to layoffs and economic constraints. Ordinary
citizens will suffer from the energy crisis as well. For example, water
shortages in the hot summer months due to failure of the electrical water
pumps, the cancellation of train transportation due to irregular power
supplies, and other doomsday scenarios are conceivable. The

government, however, has recognized these bleak future prospects and

has been actively seeking solutions for some years. According to the
Department of Energy, the Philippines comes out very far ahead in an
international comparison with 40 percent of its energy secured from
renewable energy sources such as wind, water and solar energy. In 2008,
former senator Loren Legarda stated that renewable energy will be the
primary issue of the future more important than war, famine, financial
crises, and even more important than the collapse of human civilization
(Manila Bulletin, 2008).