Can SMEs and homeowners save by adopting solar energy now?

Can we please add the nation’s energy security and the environment as issues for the upcoming 2016 national elections? How can small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) as well as ordinary consumers here in the Philippines overcome the high costs of electricity locally, said to be the second most expensive in all of Asia? How can our leaders help us tap alternative energies such as solar, wind, geothermal and other cheap energy sources?

Solar power is not new to me. I paid a higher initial investment to install a hybrid or partly solar-powered air-conditioning system at the old café I restored this year in the 76-year-old Kamuning Bakery Café in Quezon City, and I’m happy with my savings on monthly electric bills. I’m now studying how to convert this historic artisanal bakery café into an entirely solar-powered establishment, since I believe even SMEs should plan long-term and adopt the best technologies to remain competitive in this 21st century.

Top photog Sara Black installs solar power to Pangilinan house

Top fashion photographer Sara Black is now a solar power entrepreneur with her brother Alex Black and business partner Carlo Pineda.

Top fashion photographer Sara Black, her business partner and brother Alex Black, their business partner Carlo Pineda and their senior business development manager Carlo Canieso were behind bringing Yes! Solar to the Philippines. They told me in an interview: “Yes, solar power is now affordable and feasible for homes and businesses in the Philippines. Among our first customers were celebrity couple Anthony Pangilinan and wife Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan in their house in Westgrove, Laguna.”

I asked how much the solar panels for the house of the Pangilinans cost and how much were the savings in their monthly electricity bill since then? Alex Black said: “The average monthly electric bill of the Pangilinan family was P18,000 a month in their five-bedroom house. After we installed 12 solar panels, they are now paying only P12,000 per month in electric bills. For this whole system of three kilowatts, the costs totaled P330,000, with inverter, including all materials and installation costs, and 25 years warranty.” 

Sara Black told me: “The rooftop revolution is a global movement away from traditional sources of energy and towards a modern way of energy consumption, it is about sustainable and responsible stewardship of our environment, and it makes financial sense.” Carlo Canieso reminded me that we in the Philippines have “the ninth most expensive electric power in the world and the second highest in Asia, so investing in solar energy makes good financial sense.”

Another young solar power entrepreneur bullish about this new opportunity is Lean Legarda Leviste of aggressive start-up Solar Philippines, which has tied up with shopping malls to install solar panels. Can we encourage more solar power entrepreneurs to help modernize the Philippine economy and save the world from further global warming?

Celebrity couple Anthony and Maricel Pangilinan, who had solar panels installed in their home to cut energy costs.

Apple, Inc. announces new solar power investments in its China factories

Even the world’s two rival superpowers are joining hands in solar power to help save the earth’s environment. Just recently, on Oct. 21, Apple, Inc. CEO Tim Cook announced in Beijing that the iPhone and Macbook maker would dramatically increase its solar power investments in its China factories which will eventually include two gigawatts’ worth of solar power installations. These would reduce manmade greenhouse gas emissions by about 20 million metric tons of carbon dioxide — the main global warming pollutant — by 2020.

Andrew Freedman of Mashable explained: “To put it another way, the solar installations (of Apple in its China factories), if completed, could have the equivalent effect of taking about four million passenger vehicles off the road per year, the company claims.”

How can solar power make financial sense for homes & SMEs in the Philippines?

I asked Yes! Solar executives Alex Black, Sara Black and Carlo Canieso to explain specifically how rooftop solar panels make financial sense. They replied by pointing out three advantages: bill reduction, energy replacement and inflation control.

First, Alex Black said: “Solar power makes great financial sense because it reduces your monthly electric bill. For example, a three-kilowatt Yes! Solar system can save you a monthly average of P3,900, while a five-kilowatt Yes! Solar system saves P6,500 and a seven-kilowatt Yes! Solar system saves P9,100.”

Second, Carlo Canieso said: “Solar energy makes financial sense because it replaces your traditional source of energy that is costly with clean and sustainable energy that is free after your investment has been returned. We now pay P11 per block of energy (or kWh) in the Philippines that we use to power our homes — second highest cost in Asia — and what solar does is it replaces this P11 per kWh with zero pesos per kWh. After the return on investment period of five years, solar converts your expenses into savings. Once this period has passed, you have freed up cash that you could spend on other things because your solar investment will continue to generate money for you for the next 20 years.”

Canieso added: “Solar energy makes financial sense through inflation control. Your utility provider dictates the price of electricity — you don’t have control over it. Rates have increased and have spiked: this is based on historical data. Having solar means having more control over the price of electricity you pay because you produce your own electricity.”

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Congrats to the dynamic yet media-shy realty tycoon Stephen Lee (not related to me) of publicly-listed Anchor Land and Vikings buffet restaurant chain for reportedly purchasing control of the Meylin and Tong Yang restaurant chains from the entrepreneurial Go family. The Go family’s forebears were also founders or kin of the owners of downtown Manila’s Polland and Holand pastry shops.

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Philippine STAR readers Arch. Romolo Nati of Italy and Jose Leviste III of Italpilipinas Development Corp. (IDC) are also developers using the concept of “biomimicry” for sustainable and also ecology-friendly projects in Cagayan de Oro City and other secondary cities of the Philippines. They foresee the ecological trend increasing in Philippine realty developments in the future.

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Rise of the so-called ‘gig economy’ good for inclusive economic growth

While our politicians seem to have failed to achieve faster inclusive economic growth for the Philippines, I believe the rise of new technological options is a good equalizer. An article in Economist magazine reported: “The rise of the ‘gig economy’ is one reason. Platforms like Uber, a taxi-hailing app, and PeoplePerHour, a website where freelancers hawk their professional skills, liberate people from their employers’ clutches.” I believe Asians, including Filipinos, are ideal “first adaptors” to cash in on this exciting new trend. Let us therefore lobby for better and cheaper Internet services!

Congrats to “telecom king” Manny V. Pangilinan for having his PLDT Home digital services provider becoming a strategic business partner with the world’s No. 1 ride-sharing tech giant Uber starting this month of October. Kudos to his executives Smart EVP Ariel P. Fermin and PLDT vice president Gary Dujali, and also to Uber Philippines general manager Laurence Cua for sealing this partnership.

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