David, Mark Jefferson (11966955) Feb.

7, 2020
EMPTEC 11 -<ABM11-A>

Renewable Energy
Renewable energy (RE) sources have been used in since the 1970’s and have been
improving ever since, providing clean energy for the masses. There are 5 common renewable
energies available that has been utilized by almost every country and those are, solar power,
wind power, hydroelectricity, geothermal and biomass.

Development History of Renewable Energy (RE) & Their current use

Solar energy – discovered by a French physicist Edmond Becquerel in 1839, where he
experimented with cells made from metal electrodes in a conducting solution, where he
concluded that the cell produced more electricity when it is exposed to light. Many countries
have utilized this type of renewable energy and with access to new and affordable solar panels
for homes and commercial areas, it becomes more prominent to see them from the United States
to countries in the South East Asia such as the Philippines. According to (Mondal, Rosegrant,
Ringler, Pradesha, & Valmonte-Santos, 2018), “The renewable energy potential of the
Philippines is relatively high and could contribute to the supply of modern reliable services and
improved overall energy security”. The Philippines currently has solar farms situated in Tarlac,
Pampanga, Ilocos Norte and many more that contribute to the country’s electricity needs even
in a small yet significant amount that if improved drastically could end the use of fossil fuel in
the country.

Wind – created by Prof. James Blyth in 1887, built to produce electricity in Scotland. In 1888
showed the first known wind turbine created for electricity production in home use. The use for
wind turbines has been developed to stand in high altitudes in order to capture more wind
force; therefore, generating more electricity. They can be seen in high altitude areas such as our
very own wind farm in Bangui, Ilocos Norte and some are in plains of Luzon.
Hydroelectricity – 1827 saw the creation of a turbine capable of producing energy around 6
horsepower it was later then developed by James Francis to create the first modern water
turbine in 1849 which remains to be used in dams today. In the Philippine context It seems that
the priority RE source is hydropower due to its geographical location as stated in (Bakhtyar,
Sopian, Sulaiman, & Ahmad, 2013), “The Philippines is rich in freshwater resources; therefore,
generating electricity from hydropower has always been a priority for its government.
Technically, the Philippines can produce 11,223 MW of electricity in small and large scales. It
also has the ability to produce 1847 MW at a mini scale and 27 MW at a microscale”. Its current
use and the Filipino’s dependency in these kinds of renewable sources show their importance,
as a famouse example the Angat Dam in Bulacan that provides both energy and water sources
for the Filipino’s.

Geothermal – An Italian scientist named Piero Ginori Conti conducted an experiment to use
steam to generate power, thus, the invention of the first geothermal power plant in 1904 began.
The said experiment later became a potential that was noticed by the United States where they
too started their own in 1922 that has a capacity of 250 kilowatts. An example in the Philippines
would be the Mt. Apo, North Cotabato-Geothermal Power Plant generates power across the
area and is seen to be really useful as it utilizes the advantage of the Philippines being a country
in the pacific ring of fire using steam from areas to generate electricity.

Biomass – Its been used since the cave-men era and later received its name in the 1970’s where
scientists began to take an interest on replacing fossil fuels with biomasses. In 1998 near
Burlington, Vermont the first American biomass gasification plant started its operation. It is
seen that the Philippines has an abundant source of biomass in the country ranging from rice
hull, coconut husks, cane trash, and many more where its current use is for household needs,
fuel, cooking and heating purposes. In March 17, 2012 the first biomass gasification plant in the
Philippines opened in Dinalungan, Aurora that provides affordable power to the porvince of
Aurora.
 In the implementation and challenges brought by renewable energy sources less
fortunate countries are struggling to fully implement is as some factors such as political
conflicts, financial problems, lack of knowledge etc. The United States has been improving their
renewable energy resources for as early as the eighteen hundredths whereas some countries
such as the Philippines only discovered its utilization around then 1980’s. The issues
encountered by some countries in the use of renewable energy sources. First their country does
not have enough financial support from the government to utilize their country’s renewable
energy potential. Second maintenance problems as it can be seen that renewable energy sources
like solar, wind, hydroelectricity and geothermal require adequate knowledge in their operation
in order to be maintained and to produce energy at full efficiency as stated by (Brooks & Urmee,
2014), “Problems that are due to poor communications, inadequate facilities or equipment,
financial constraints, bad organization, poor institutional or organizational capacity or a variety
of other situations will not go away with a good training program”. Third is that some countries
have full reliance on oil and fossil fuel energy sources due to their government that have
connections with big corporations delaying the growth of renewable energy sources in their
country. These are the three main challenges in the development and use of renewable energy
where hopefully throughout the years will be resolved to further increase its use and decrease
the use of traditional fossil fuel and oil as energy sources.
Bibliography
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