Energy Columns in BusinessWorld

The nuclear trade mission to Canada February 22, 2024 | 12:02 am By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2024/02/22/577053/the-nuclear-trade-mission-to-canada/ The Canadian embassy in the Philippines has organized a Philippines Nuclear Trade Mission to Canada in early March this year. Officials from the Department of Energy, Energy Regulatory Commission, private energy companies, and some media people were invited. Canada is a good place to learn more about nuclear power technology and economics. As of 2022, it had 19 operable nuclear power reactors with a capacity of 13,624 megawatts (MW). In comparison, the US had 93 operable reactors with a capacity of 95,835 MW, France had 56 reactors with 61,370 MW, China had 55 reactors with 53,286 MW, Japan had 33 reactors with 31,579 MW, Russia had 36 reactors with 26,802 MW, South Korea had 26 reactors with 25,829 MW, and India had 22 reactors with 6,795 MW. Canada also plans to build 11 new reactors with a capacity of...

The nuclear option for Asian industrialization February 15, 2024 | 12:03 am My Cup of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2024/02/15/575711/the-nuclear-option-for-asian-industrialization/ It was a successful forum we held last week on Feb. 8. The 2nd Ruperto P. Alonzo Memorial Lecture, “The Nuclear Option,” saw about 160 audience members filling the UP School of Economics (UPSE) auditorium. This was not counting the hundreds who tuned in via Zoom, YouTube, and Facebook. The forum was organized and funded by the UPSE Program in Development Economics Alumni Association (PDEAA) and Philippine Center for Economic Development (PCED). The main speaker was Energy Undersecretary Sharon Garin, and the emcee and moderator was UPSE alumnus Jay Layug, Jr., who is a Senior Partner of Divina Law. The five panelists were: geologist Dr. Carlo “Caloy” Arcilla, Director of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI); Froilan Savet, 1st Vice-President and Head of...

The nuclear option to energize growth February 8, 2024 | 12:02 am My Cup of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2024/02/08/574259/the-nuclear-option-to-energize-growth/ The 2nd annual Ruperto P. Alonzo (RPA) Memorial Lecture will happen today, 3 p.m., at the University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE) in Diliman, Quezon City. The topic is “The Nuclear Option” and the economic implications. The event is jointly sponsored and funded by the UPSE-based Program in Development Economics Alumni Association (PDEAA) and the Philippine Center for Economic Development (PCED). PDE is a dear program of the late Prof. Ruping Alonzo who passed away in 2017 — today would have been his 76th birthday. The main speaker will be Energy Undersecretary Sharon Garin, the panelists are Dr. Carlo Arcilla, Director of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI); Froilan Savet, First Vice-President and Head of Network of Meralco; Lino Bernardo, Head of Specia...

Coal power and higher life expectancy January 30, 2024 | 12:02 am My Cup of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2024/01/30/571835/coal-power-and-higher-life-expectancy/ AMONG the common arguments against the retention of existing coal power plants in the Philippines and other countries is that coal is polluting and causes more sickness, lowering lifespans. I intend to verify and quantify how honest or dishonest this statement is. For international data, I got the total coal consumption (in exajoules, EJ) by country, then divided it with their population in a given year, then I computed the coal consumption in gigajoules (GJ) per capita. I divided the countries into three. In Group A are the countries in Europe and North America, in Group B are selected Asia-Pacific countries plus South Africa, and in Group C are East Asian countries. The results: 1. Many countries in Group A had huge coal consumption until 2022. “Greenie” Germany had 43 GJ/capita, t...