Unplugged refs and carbon diets

In a report released last week, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Paris-based energy watchdog for oil-consuming nations, made an unusually strident call for the industrialized world to lessen its oil dependency. The mainstream economic agency, which acts as a policy adviser for the United States, Japan, and 24 other member states, raised its long-term forecast for oil prices by as much as a third and painted a bleak picture of the future if the global appetite for oil and gas is not curbed.

If the IEA, whose anxiety-laced report reflects a consensus among experts of industrialized countries, is leaning on the wealthy to wean themselves off oil, what does that signify for us, the impoverished cousins?

Hey, don’t look at us women. It’s been la vie boheme for a lot of us: scrimping on essentials, relighting charcoal stoves, ironing with charcoal, cooking only once for a day’s worth of meals, unplugging appliances – even refrigerators, mind you – and thinking of simple, not sumptuous as before, noche buenas this Christmas. (We salute Mrs. Mildred Mariscotes of Fr. Martinez Street, Diliman, who, just by adhering to the Department of Energy’s energy conservation tips, shaved off 60 percent — repeat 60 percent – from her Meralco bill last month.)

Let’s see how well government offices are faring. We actually have not seen or heard about the latest report on this matter which prompts us and very possibly many others, to ask whatever happened to strict compliance with Administrative Order No. 126 that "aims to promote judicious use of energy resources through intensified conservation efforts and efficient utilization."

Wasn’t government supposed to "set the tone for a nationwide conservation program" that was to trim their electric and oil consumption by a mandatory 10 percent?

Enercops were unleashed on public offices and state agencies not too long ago to much banging on drums and blaring of trumpets. We’d like to know how their efforts have fared.

Thankfully, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla and his posse are busy quelling consumer apprehensions about the effects of e-VAT, warning major and minor players against overpricing and unfair trade practices, sending out price-spies to monitor gas stations and LPG refilling plants (1,435 stations and 2,400 LPG outlets nationwide as of last count). But really, who’s conducting the enercon checks and keeping score? Who’s asking the ticklish questions? Have the bosses sold their gas-guzzlers? Are official vehicles fuelled by 5 percent ethanol-blend? Have incandescent bulbs been replaced with compact fluorescent lamps? Is air-conditioning switched off during the lunch hour?

And then what happens to the violators, the laggards, the profligate, the backsliders, the unrepentant? What punitive sanctions are being imposed?

Alright, already, it hardly ranks in the headline-grabbing annals of either the broadsheets or the sensationalist tabloids, but after all that hoopla about the government going on a strict carbon diet, we’d really like to see some results.

We’d like to know, especially after the IEA’s Faith Birol, chief economist and author of the study, warned that governments in the Persian Gulf states may constrict production for higher prices, saying, "This is not a sustainable energy future. We are ending up with 95 percent of the world relying for its economic well-being on decisions made by five or six countries in the Middle East."

The world now burns about 85 million barrels of oil a day, two-thirds of which are pumped out of the Middle East. But because consumption has been unabated and refineries are few and supplies are light, disruptions have sent prices through the roof – witness the spikes after hurricanes Rita and Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico.

Even the IEA is prescribing increased use of renewable resources such as wind and wave power to lower dependence on hydrocarbons. Its World Energy Outlook states that the biggest savings would emanate from the power generation sector, where coal use would decline by utilizing more efficient technology and shifting to less carbon-intensive fuels such as natural gas. The transport sector would also contribute as fuel efficiency is heightened and alternative fuels such as compressed natural gas or bio-fuels are used to power cars.

Admittedly, the Philippines IS taking steps in the right direction: coming out on the heels of e-VAT, are bits and pieces of good news that warm the cockles of our hearts. The third reading of the ethanol bill on the house floor, soon to become law. The Malampaya oil rim exploration awarded to PNOC-EC. The successful harnessing of alternative energy sources: from windmills in Bangui Bay and soon on various other sites: indigenous, clean, eco-friendly renewable – nay, inexhaustible – sources!

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MIDWIFERY has become a very respectable profession, judging from the huge number of women who hold certificates which they receive from teaching institutions after two years of hard work, and passing board examinations. And it has become a profitable source of income for those who have become members of the Well-Family Midwife Clinic Partnerships Foundation, Inc. (WPFI). About 149 of these midwife-entrepreneurs will be attending their fourth national assembly at the UPAA Bahay Ng Alumni in Diliman tomorrow and Thursday (November 17-18), whose topic will be, "The WFMC Franchise: Touching Lives Through women Empowerment and Entrepreneurship."

WPFI is a non-profit, non-stock foundation that manages the franchise network of Well-Family Midwife Clinics (WFMCs) all over the Philippines. As WPFI Executive Director Reynaldo P. Chang describes it, the Foundation is "committed to provide affordable, quality, convenient health care to clients belonging to the lower-and-middle-income brackets."

Outstanding midwife-entrepreneurs will receive Diamond Awards tomorrow. Keynote speakers will be Solita "Winnie" Monsod and Francis Kong, a well-known writer of inspirational books. To be discussed at the assembly will be such topics as trends in family planning technology, monitoring perinatal events (labor and delivery), legal implications of maternal and infant mortality, brand management and equity in franchising business, and breastfeeding and lactation management.

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TODAY’S BULONG PULUNGAN at Westin Philippine Plaza will tackle the issues surrounding Avian Flu, an epidemic among fowls that has resulted in the killing of more than 150 million chickens in some parts of the world. The phenomenon, also called chicken cholera, has spread to some Asian countries. And the greatest threat which health experts are trying to prevent, is the transmission of the virus to humans. Reports show that a number of people have died from viral contamination.

Today’s resource speakers will be Dr. Jean Marc Olive of the World Health Organization; Dr. Luningning Villa of the Department of Health; Dr. Samuel Animas, Department of Agriculture, and Ruben Pascual, Philippine Poultry Export Board.

The public is invited to attend the forum. A minimal lunch fee will be charged.

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A PAINTING contest-cum exhibit to be participated in by Muslim artists residing in Metro Manila’s lone Muslim showcase village called the Maharlika in Taguig City, will be held on Friday, Nov. 18 at the Galleria de Magallanes Clubhouse in Magallanes Village, Makati as part of the Eid it Fitre (after fast) celebration. The event, the first of its kind in the Philippines, aims to preserve the fast-disappearing Moro (Muslim) heritage and culture and highlight exclusively Philippine Muslim art and artists perceived to be inadequately given attention.

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