Electric Philippine Heroes

Here’s a resume/CV I wouldn’t mind having myself:

Professor Daniel M. Kammen, University of California – Berkeley
Daniel M. Kammen is the Class of 1935 Distinguished Professor of Energy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he holds appointments in the Energy and Resources Group, the Goldman School of Public Policy, and the department of Nuclear Engineering. Kammen is the founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL). Kammen is also the Co-Director of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment. Daniel Kammen is a coordinating lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which won the Nobel
Peace Prize in 2007. In 1998 was elected a Permanent Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. In 2007, Kammen received the Distinguished Citizen Award from the Commonwealth Club of California. His research is focused on the science and policy of low-carbon energy systems.

So what’s the point Dave, is this guy a Philippine hero?

No, he isn’t, but I noticed that virtually every time I mention alternative energy, particularly solar energy, I get feedback from people who perhaps don’t think about these things on their own but toss back quotes form “experts” about why solar energy (one of the great riches the Philippines is sitting on and doing very little with) even when the opinions of the “experts” are demonstrable facile and wrong … such as extrapolating US conditions and US prices to the rest of the world.

Well a week or so ago I had the pleasure of watching a show on Discovery Channel (also run by US experts by the way) hosted by Dr. Kammen.  It’s part of a series titled Ecopolis and I highly recommend watching the series no matter where you live and what your alternative energy feelings are.  You might learn something … or maybe not.

Anyway the focus of the episode I watched was putting Dr. Kammen to a pretty string test.  He was asked to evaluate, critique and then select one, and only one, advanced technology demonstration for research funding and development funding for the US and the world’s future.  The competitors had been narrowed to a list of five.  I think just picking out five innovative systems is a big task but then to narrow them down to one, explaining the process, translating high level tech talk into TV viewer language and keeping in mind that you decision had a lot to do with how well the world survives the next 20 or 30 year ago is a task I wouldn’t want for any salary.

Dr. Kammen pulled it off with aplomb though, I must say.  He really has great talent as a teacher as well as a scientist.  Did a great job in explaining the factors he used in his decisions.  I learned a lot.

So what in the world does this have to do with the Philippines and Philippine heroes?  Simple.  Dr. Kammen’s number two choice … the runner up system that placed ahead of every other current alternative energy system:

The SOLARco electric Jeepney, brainchild of Filipino engineer and entrepreneur Robert Lopez Puckett.  Puckett and his team are would-class engineers.  They could probably go to any country in the world and make good money with their talent.  But they chose to stay in the Philippines and swim upstream to try to realize their dream.  I salute them.  And I again express my dismay and disappointment with the leadership and the media of the Philippines who spend so much of their time perpetuating the notion that there is no opportunity in the Philippines, that there is no scope for business here and that people who rush to the exits are “Philippine Heroes”.

Along with the eJeepney itself (which has some truly fantastic business numbers … it’s much cheaper than a traditional Jeepney, costs much less to run and would boost operator productivity as well) the program includes powering recharging stations from methane collection systems in Manila’s disastrously managed land fills.  Win win.  (I’m sure this series has been uninteresting to some, so I promise a new subject next article … I have lot more to say and a lot more info on alternative energy and the eJeepney on my PhilFAQS site.)

Dr. Kammen also considered how much value similar programs could have for dozens of other countries that share the Philippines economic and environmental challenges.

Of course the fact I mention the eJeepney was in second place gives a hint that something else won.  And it did,  In the end, Dr. Kammen gave the nod to a US proposal to generate electric power in commercial quantities from solar collectors/concentrators placed directly on city buildings that consume the most power.  Of course many “experts” still “know” that commercial generation of electricity is too expensive, but I guess they forgot to tell the Stanford Energy and Resources Group and other “non-experts” like me that commercial solar won’t work.

I’m taking a lot of risk with this article because it can easily be construed that I am criticizing those who take the OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) route.  This is not so.  Every person should have the right to make their own choices and pursue their career in whatever way the chose.  I salute those people as well, personally.

What I dislike, though, is the continual, on-going chorus of government, NGO and media voices that just repeat and repeat the same self-defeating message … exporting the talent and the true wealth of the Philippines, the country’s people is a “good thing” and something the government should spend tax money supporting and even promote, as if were the only choice  for the country.  It’s short sighted, it flies in the face of reason and good sense, and it’s one of those errors in leadership that could be changed overnight and at zero cost.

That’s one of the most depressing things I deal with every day living in the Philippines … the continual, sing-song copycat chorus of people who refuse to see the promise of their own country.  It’s something that a foreigner really needs to think through because it certainly is a negative attitude that will weigh upon you every day you live here.

Hard times?

You know, for a year or more now, financial times have been really bad worldwide.  The mortgage crisis has thousands of families in America losing their housing.  Banks are failing all over the world. Food prices are soaring.  Oil prices have skyrocketed, although in the past couple of weeks, they are falling back down to more realistic levels.  Stock Markets all over the world have been on a wild roller coaster ride.  It would seem that financially, we are in a very uncertain time.

The Philippines has been sort of an economic basket-case for decades now.  People are hungry, going without food.  Many of the poor get little or no medical care.  Frankly, the number of poor people here is seemingly uncontrolable.  With the added economic instability turning into a worldwide phenomenon, you would think that the Philippines would really be in terrible shape these days.

However, it doesn’t seem to be the case!  Davao is booming.  Some other areas that I frequent in Mindanao are booming right now too.  General Santos City has really seen some huge economic pluses lately, even while the fishing industry, which has long been the main-stay of the GenSan economy, has been on the downturn.

Here in Davao, over the past year or so, three new malls have been announced, and construction has already started on two of them.  All three of the new malls will be located on J.P. Laurel Avenue with two in Bajada, and one in Lanang, probably within 2 to 3 Kilometers of each other!  Actually, when these 3 new malls, there will be 6 malls that I can think of within a 5 to 10 minute drive of each other:

1. Chime’s Mall – Only about 1 1/2 years old, as I recall
2. Gaisano Mall
3. Victoria Plaza
4. Abreeza Mall (Ayala Davao) – One of the new malls under construction
5. Robinson’s Cybergate – Another of the new malls under construction
6. SM – they are constructing a second Davao location in Lanang soon

And, these 6 malls are not all of the malls in Davao City.  We also have other malls too, about 4 more that I can think of.

Frankly, I don’t see how Davao can support this many new malls.  We’ll see, though, how it works out.  I hope that they will all do well, no doubt about that.  One thing that is unique for the new malls under construction is that they each will be a mixed-use area, with mall shopping space, and also call center areas where BPO/Call Center operations can locate.  Davao has become one of the leading areas for Call Center operations in the Philippines over the past couple of years, so this is a wise move by these developers to include these spaces.  From what I can tell, by including this mix of spaces in the development, the developers are aiming to create sort of a “self contained city” in the mall area, where people can get all of their needs accomplished all at one place.  Imagine, a person can go to his place of employment and have everything needed within walking distance!

So, while the world is in economic turmoil, it seems like Southern Mindanao is booming.  Let’s hope that it lasts!

How Much Government Is Enough Government?

I was casting about thinking over several things I might write about this morning when my friend Bob kind of made my decision for me. Bob wrote a post about the advantages of free market versus government managed economy and some of the comments he received absolutely blew me away.

I’m a bit older rhan most around here … I can clearly remember sitting with my mom and a map and the radio listening to the news from Korea every night. I particularly remember one night when the news came over the air that Joseph Stalin had died. I cheered and my mom scolded me for being un-Christian and rejoicing in the death of a fellow human.

One of the reasons I felt that Stalin’s death was something to be glad about was my already well formed impression of how evil and oppressive the Socialistic form of government was and I thought that perhaps Stalin’s departure from the scene might herald a positive change.

Well, it took longer than I thought but most of the former USSR countries are doing well with free market economies. It amazes me quite a bit today how my own US has changed over the past 50 years or so. The Federal Government is now deeply entrenched in areas where, in my opinion (and in the opinion of the authors of our Constitution) they have no business being. One comment I saw to Bob’s post particularly caught my eye. Someone asked, “Why is the government allowing all the prices to climb while our salaries stay the same”?

I have news along those lines … it is not the responsibility of a free government to control either prices or salaries. “That government is best which governs least”.

OK, so I have shown my colors, but don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to start a revolution or even run for office (heaven forfend). In general I would win no points from Thomas Jefferson or from Thoreau (whos quote that is above). I’m a former government employee with a pension, actually, and I don’t advocate violent change.

But if you feel at all strongly about those sorts of issues, you have yet another reason to think twice about moving to the Philippines, long term. This is the land of “government at any cost” from what I have seen. And it is nowhere more apparent than in the interaction between government and the economy.

Bob’s post that I mentioned earlier had to do with the elaborate inflexible process of regulating “PUV” fares (Public Utility Vehicles) the common Filipino term for taxis and jeepnies. Buses, both ocal and long-haul are also technically PUV’s but their fares are set by another completely separate and just as convoluted process.

I suppose there is some valid argument in saying that there is justice in the government regulating jeepney fares because, after all, the fares might otherwise climb so high that poor people couldn’t use jeepnies to get to work. But if you have even the most rudimentary understanding of business and logic you can see the fallacy in that common argument. If fares climb so high that common folk can’t afford them, then those folk won’t ride jeepnies and drivers will have to reduce their fares until they are making a profit. It is amazing how many people never learned this kind of simple object lesson in ll their long education.

It is completely unnecessary for the government to intervene in this process, and in point of fact such government intervention insures that everyone, rich an poor pays more than the real value of a jeepney ride, because even if a driver wants to ‘hold a sale’ and carry people for less in order to fill his seats, the government takes away his right to do so … and someone has to pay all the bureaucrat’s salary as well

While researching some writing that I am doing on alternative energy ieas on my PhilFAQS.com site I found a company in Manila who already has a commercially viable all-electric jeepney on the road that not only runs almost 100% on solar energy, but will have zero polution. They claim they can sell it for less than a new conventional diesel smoker jeepney.

Will this work long-term?  Is it economically viable? Danged if I know, and danged if we’ll ever find out.  Why?  Because for nearly two years now they are still waiting for the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB), the government ‘protector’ of all Jeepney drivers and riders, to give them permission to place it in revenue service. Why should they even have to ask any government permission?

Couldn’t be because the major oil companies and the government are in cahoots to insure the demand for diesel fuel doesn’t drop, could it?  Naw, that can’t be, I promised no conspiracy theories.

Closer to home, three years ago a cousin by marriage, electrical engineering graduate and a pretty sharp young man, now in his 30’s, bought a franchise from a Chinese company to sell electric scooters and mini-motorcycles in the Subic Bay Economic Zone and surrounding cities. Cute little scooters, mass produced, well engineered, simple as a stone … charge them overnight like a cell phone, they run all day an 40 kph (way more than you can drive in the city traffic) and are a great source of transportation for the common man. Again, no direct fuel costs and absolutely zero pollution.

Never sold a one in two years.  Went bust and is now working for someone else. Why didn’t he sell any? It wasn’t becuase they didn’t work … they are proven technology and actually work great.

They could not be registered to drive on public roads … because the Land Transportation Office license plate people will happily sell even a decrepit, smoke belching motorcycle a license plate as long as the owner has a title which states the vehicle’s engine displacement. An electric motor has no ‘displacement’, thus, no license plate. Appeal after appeal has been filed but after three years, no decision. Eventually the LTO will render a decision, but the business is gone … how can investors wait years with no return on thier investment.

And it’s clearly the job of the “government” to protect us all from unproven new technology like electric-powered non-polluting vehicles (which have been the road since the early 1900’s) isn’t it?

If you are into free markets and a free society, the Philippines might not be a happy place for you to live, believe me. If you like waiting and hoping and wishing for ‘the government’ to cradle you in their arms, come on over. You know ablogging freind of mine once was advocating a new government agency to regulate shopping malls charging parking fees in their own parking lots … “Free parking to be Mandated by the Government”. Wonder why I stopped reading that blog? ;-)

Construction Everywhere!

In the past months Bob and I have been traveling a lot. I notice a lot of road construction. I just didn’t pay much attention to it until lately, because I realize that it is almost election time here.  Always here in the Philippines politicians will work on their projects when its almost election time to show people that they have done something during their term. It’s nice that they will have projects to work too, but they should do it not just during election time. I guess thats how they run there business here. I should say people are just used to it though.

I guess in some ways I wished to have election here like 3 times a year so that the Philippines will have good roads, nice capitols, traffic lights, bridges and so on. Lots of road widening projects. That will make our politicians busy here. And of course more jobs for the people.

One thing I wish people would do whenever they had improvements in there area like road construction. I really hope they maintain it.  Lots of time I’m seeing here that after the projects were done in their area, they just would not care anymore. It’s sad because they really work for it and it’s their money too that was spent on that project.