Saving the sun

With the sweltering heat, I am sure our electricity bills would not come as a surprise to us.  We can’t even dare to go out of our offices, let alone our homes or even our rooms in fear of the draining heat of the sun.  Ironically, this major source of life is also energy depleting.  The humidity and high temperature gets the better of us and we walk in a daze trying to find our equilibrium.

Just as we heckle with El Niño, we are reminded of the coming La Niña, another phenomenon that is likely to drench our country.  Too much sun, and too much rain.  What can we do about them?  How can we use these excesses to our advantage?

Jessica Soho in her news and commentary programs has consistently expressed the need to act on these prevailing conditions of El Niño and La Niña which are no longer new to the Philippines.  Her call is for us to do something about it as the government continues to declare that they are handling food and water security concerns fairly.

Although it is true that having no food or is a serious matter, I should say we have to find more sustainable solutions to recurring problems that beset us.This year we are expected to  generate close to 50 inches of rainfall in Cebu alone.  If harvested could convert into irrigation systems, that could be placed on standby for the dry season.  The Department of Science and Technology along with the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration have come up with various projects and programs to prepare the country for the climate change.  Part of this is the utilization of renewable energy from different sources like the wind, sun, water current, and geothermal energies.

I tried to search through the net for solar powered panels and noted that the price range started from $300 to $7000 for home use.  That would save energy to water heaters and possibly air conditioning power.   The cost, considering the maintenance that goes with it is truly high, noting that you will need more than one panel to also power up the lights.  Looking at the cost truly makes our shoulders sag with helplessness.  Still, we must not be disheartened by these.  Remember the cell phones and SIM cards used to be very expensive then.  Now, people are almost giving them away with the plans.  Perhaps there is a way for us to take on a scheme that would also provide for something like a subscription to these solar sources. 

The reason for the high cost could be that the item has not yet gained popular use.  Eventually, when people find out that we in time save a lot, not just financially but environmentally, we may be able to get more and more buyers of solar energy devices. Our solar powered calculators have saved us a lot of dry cell carbon batteries and have somehow reduced toxic waste.  Although lithium batteries are still here, solar strips provide efficient power to some of our gadgets.

There possibly could be other ways to utilize what we seasonally have in abundance.  Sun, rain and wind; all natural sources; all from God.  It will just need more recognition and support of the scientists and their researches.  We just have to harness what we have, and from, there we can think of all the other things we can do naturally.

Meanwhile, let’s start by saving some of the sun.