Readers talk about coal use, solar energy

Here is a rather lengthy letter from Melanchthon C. Bernil who introduced himself as the vice president of Rio Verde Water Corp. Following are his views on my recent column, “Balancing concerns on coal,” where the sensitive issue of coal use for power generation is discussed in view of the country’s commitment to the recently concluded Paris accord.

Let’s hear him out: “I publicly know you since you were with Shell Oil company. Your article above-captioned is good, but not good enough when it comes to scientific truth and realities in the real world.

“The latest technology on coal to minimize CO2 and pollutants is the so-called ultra-supercritical firing in the boiler in tandem with low NOX burners. I don’t know your educational background, so I could not explain it to you because mostly chemical engineers can understand what I am talking about.

“If you want actual practice of using renewables (solar and wind) and minimizing fossils (bunker, diesel, LNG, and coal), check with Germany. The Germans are now experiencing energy poverty.

“Even here in Philippines, an increase in power rate was effected early this year because of renewables. You must be familiar with FIT or Feed-In-Tariff.

“But don’t get me wrong, our company is also into renewable energy projects because that is the in-thing this time.

Hoax

“The so-called climate change problem attributed to anthropogenic CO2 is a hoax. Even the original proponent of the greenhouse gas theory, Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish scientist, was not able to prove by actual demonstration or experiment that absorption of the Earth-emitted long wave infra red by CO2 can cause the atmosphere to increase in temperature, and in turn, heat up the Earth. 

“Long wave infrared is a cooled radiation. You cannot even feel it. The very hot ones are the short wave radiation, which are the UV-A, UV-B and UV-C (ultraviolet lights). These are radiation direct from the sun.

“The New World Order (NWO), among them Al Gore, etc. are trying to fool the ordinary people, especially third world scientifically-ignorant citizens. Al Gore has not even studied science. He finished law, but has never practiced as a lawyer.

“So, for sanity, check Patrick Moore, the former head of Greenpeace. Or Richard Lindzen, a PhD, and professor emeritus of MIT. Or Roy Spencer, the former NASA officer, with PhD.

“I am an experienced chemical engineer for 40 years in various industries, and mostly I dealt with Western engineers in my early years of practice. And I pity those who are feeling self-righteous about climate change.

What’s the fuss?

“Climate change is normal for the last four or five billions years of Earth’s existence. There was a time when almost 90 percent of the Earth’s species were extinct because of harsh climate change.

“The official UN-IPCC (UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report in 2013, the last one prior to their AR5 report, has not mentioned about the things the so-called climate change enthusiasts are harping on. 

“Drought, sea level rise, hurricanes, etc. are worse before than today, says the IPCC with high confidence. So what’s all the fuss about? It is for the interest of those people who would be making undue advantage to others, and will be making more money.

“Imagine, they blame it on CO2, which is a measly 0.04 percent in the atmosphere! Where can you find, in this universe where less than one percent, or worse, 0.04 percent, is the one controlling the events?

“Above all, scientifically talking, their theory is a violation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. That law in essence is expressed in entropy (the degree of disorderliness), and means a body cannot be heated by energy coming from it.

“But of course, you would feel disbelief because almost everybody thinks that the climate change problem is due to CO2 and is correct – just like many would be surprised to hear that Dec. 25 is not the true birth date of Jesus.

“On this particular topic, when I made the research and asked my professors in theology in college, they all agree Jesus was not born on Dec. 25. On this date, Israel is very cold and you cannot see shepherds roaming in the fields.

“But I think you will check these things because I don’t believe that all old dogs don’t learn new tricks. There are exceptions. But don’t ask Loren Legarda or Heherson Alvarez or even the Climate Change Commission chairman because all of them did not study chemistry or physics in college. 

“So, if they encounter the Stefan-Boltzman Law (The rate of long wave energy emission is proportional to the absolute temperature of the surface raised to the fourth power), they will not understand. Savvy?”

Make it happen

Here’s another reader who wrote about his views about my earlier column about renewables. Jon Harrington is from Costa Rica, which was mentioned in a previous column (“Keeping our Commitment to the Paris Accord,” May 26, 2016) for its abundance of hydroelectric power. Here goes.

“I read your post on shifting to renewables. I understand how the government has to get behind the initiative. Here in Costa Rica, we expound on how much we supplied from the hydro plants. But it is risky in a changing environment to put all your energy production into one source. But that is where we are now.

“I have been in business here for several years. Last year the only legal means to install solar energy to the grid, and net meter that energy, was shut down. For over a year, the government and power companies delayed any start of distributed generation programs.

“Last month, we got a new program initiated that will still make solar economically feasible in most cases.

 “But in a country that tells the world, ‘You should be like us,’ we have 0.06 percent of the energy installed capacity as solar. It adds up to less than 7 MW. I think the county I lived in before moving here from the US, with a population of 30,000, has more installed solar than Costa Rica.

“Make it happen in the Philippines. Your society depends on that shift.”

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Should you wish to share any insights, write me at Link Edge, 25th Floor, 139 Corporate Center, Valero Street, Salcedo Village, 1227 Makati City. Or e-mail me at [email protected]. For a compilation of previous articles, visit www.BizlinksPhilippines.net