In a recent road test conducted by the Department of Energy on the latest cars being offered by car dealers in the Philippines, they were able to determine the top 10 cars in in the country with the lowest fuel consumption.
Majority of the vehicles who made this list have diesel engines. But this shouldn’t be surprising considering that diesel engines have higher energy conversion efficiencies than gasoline engines.
These cars were:
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Looks like it has all been left to Davao City Mayor, Rodrigo Duterte, to decide the fate of two interested stake holders of the Tamugan river in Davao City.
He has asked for more time to decide the matter as it is technical in nature and needs further consulting. He has however assured that the decision would be fair and legal.
In one corner is the Aboitiz Group’s Hedcor subsidiary, who plans to tap the river waters to provide electricity to the Mindanao grid via a hydro electric plant. On the other corner is the Davao City Water District (DCWD) the franchise holder of water distribution in Davao who plans to tap the water in the river to satiate a city’s thirst.
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With a ready buyer in Petron Corporation and Flying V, Leyte Agri Corp’s (LAC) recently opened ethanol distillery in Ormoc City is off to a good start.
June this year Petron announced that ethanol would be mixed with their fuel sold at the pumps. It was announced that the price of fuel would come out P2 cheaper per liter.
The plant can produce about 300,000 liters of ethanol per month. Some may say that it is a far cry from the total Philippine requirement but the good news is that we are on track to sourcing our bioethanol needs locally. One area for concern is that it uses sugarcane as feedstock, which is known to have such volatile prices and could therefore affect their bottom line.
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Energy Development Corporation (EDC) disclosed to the SEC that they have bought a majority stake (60%) in their sister company, First Gen Hydro Power Corporation worth $105 million. Both companies are subsidiaries of First Gen Corporation, the holding company of the Lopez Group of Companies.
First Gen Hydro operates the 112-megawatt Pantabangan-Masiway hydroelectric power plant which it bought from the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) in November 2006.
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Fiery Philippine Senator, Miriam Defensor - Santiago has filed a bill seeking the re-opening of the controversial Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. Filed as Senate Bill 2665, which mandates the immediate re-commissioning and commercial operation of the Marcos era Power Plant.
A little check in history will show that that project was riddled with so much anomalies due to massive graft and corruption that it was once decided to convert it to another type of power plant (oil, coal, etc) instead of trying to fix its problems. Eventually that idea too was scrapped because it would come out more expensive compared to building a new power plant using conventional energy.
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