About a year ago I posted that I was switching my household to GE CFL’s because of their penchant to last long. Recently while passing through ACE Hardware I noticed that there is a new product, one that I hadn’t seen before, this was the GE Edison Plus Long Lasting light bulb that is touted to last for 8 years. By Limited Edition, I’m wondering if this means that this isn’t for mass production?, but only a limited special product.

Comparing it with a regular GE CFL with a similar spiral bulb design (for brighter light) and wattage, the Edison Plus version has a higher lumen’s rating which means that it will radiate brighter than your regular GE bulb. Its a tad bit pricey however, with a cost that borders around the P300 mark already. If it works as it is promoted to be then it could be well worth it.

There are some caveats however that one should look out for when going for a longer lasting bulb. One is that if your electricity fluctuates in the house then this could be easily destroyed by the sudden surges. Another is since the brightness of a bulb degrades over time will its brightness still be usably bright in 8 years?

Last year I watched the Light bulb Conspiracy documentary that touched on the topic of Planned Obsolescence. Its quite an enlightening documentary that shows how manufacturers decided to make their products break at a certain point in time in order that the consumer will have to purchase a new one. One of the examples they used was that of the original light bulb that was originally designed to have a filament to last very long. But manufacturers found out that if they built it this way they would run out of customers to buy their products and they would eventually go bankrupt. In the documentary they even showed one of the first built light bulbs that till now was lighting the factory floor. My thoughts on this is that comsumers and producers must meet halfway, too long lasting a product and the producer will run out of customers and it will probably be out of reach for the consumer because of its cost. Too short a life will mean that the consumer is being short changed by the producer.

What I’m interested in however is the next generation LED Light Bulbs that are still ways off from regular consumer use because of its current exorbitant prices and questionable brightness. With LED’s we will have a light bulbs that can function at a fraction of the current electricity draw of a regular light bulb. Till we get there CFL’s are our best alternative.

In partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the DOE is promoting an National Electric Vehicle Strategy program for the Philippines that includes an electric tricycle among the modes of acceptable transportation, along with other electrically powered vehicles.

According to the article, the Contest mechanics in a nutshell are:

The design-an-e-trike contest is open to all Filipino citizens of legal age (18 years old and above), whether individual or group residing in the Philippines. Contestant/s must generate 2D and 3D computer-aided drawings of the best aesthetic and functional design for the prospect Philippine E-trike look (AutoCAD). Entries should feature a design that can accommodate a maximum of six passengers excluding the driver. It must also be a three-wheeled electric vehicle.

Can’t seem to find any data as to what the contest prize will be. As for electric tricycles, there are already a slew of electric tricycles plying the streets of some cities in the Philippines. Not so easily noticeable because of their electric nature, they aren’t easily seen or heard due to the quiet operation of their electric motors. In order to make them easily adapted by the driving public they first have to surpass or at least meet the performance of current fossil fuel based motorcycles. Chiefly they must have at least the same range as a fossil fuel powered motorcycle and be affordable in cost. Without that, they will just be a novelty.

I consider this a great step for the DOE to promote electric vehicle use in the country. Something that is desperately needed for a country like ours who don’t have substantial fossil fuel reserves that allows us not to be easily swayed by the fluctuating oil prices.

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10 years ago, if I’m remembering this correctly, there were only about 5 gasoline stations offering up fuel to the long distance travellers heading to some far off province.

As we sit in the cusp of what I believe will be a transition of gasoline powered transportation to one of electric within what I’m assuming to be 10~15 years time, it begs the question as to whether investing in a gasoline station is still a viable investment move? Also, if there is still enough time for those who recently invested in a gasoline station to recoup their investment?

At that time the drive to invest in a gasoline station seemed like a sound business decision because of the weekly rise of gasoline prices that could really net a business person a good price. Of course, like that age old saying: ” Necessity is the mother of invention”, the drive to transition from an oil based transportation to one of a cheaper one was staring all of us in the face because of the weekly increase in gasoline prices.

Some say that it might take a longer time for electric vehicles to ply the roads. But assuming that electric vehicles, because of their nature of bordering near being an electric product than an automotive product, are governed by the product development timelines of the former. This could result in a product development timelines, brought about by rapid advancements in technology, resulting in being in months rather than years. It wouldn’t be surprising therefore to see a reliable electric vehicle just within a couple of years that won’t have any range issues.

But then again, this is just wishful thinking on my part. Maybe 10 years down the road the lowly gasoline station might re-invent itself into something that might be useful (and profitable) in a post-fossil fuel world.

A few days had passed since the arrival of Tropical Storm Sendong (International Name: Washi) which caused an unexpected deluge that cost the lives of already a 1000 residents of Cagayan De Oro and Iligan City in the Southern Island of Mindanao. Nothing paints a more graphic view of the devastation and aftermath than the pictures found in the Atlantic.

I was watching the news and one of the first reports that came of the tragedy was of an interview of a resident who said that in the over 40 years that he had lived there, this was the first time that they had experienced something like this. It came suddenly in the night without any warning, because of which a lot of residents weren’t able to flee the rapid arrival of flood waters in their homes, so some of them drowned in their sleep. What really bleeds my heart was the news that majority of the victims were children.

What we all have to watch out for is the possibility of collateral damage even after the mud and grime has been swept away and we go back to our normal lives. An example of which was a friend who recently also had their house flooded. A few weeks later when they thought that things were going back to normal, their father died suddenly of a heart attack. Speculation as to what caused it was the undue stress and heavy mental burden of coming to grips with the realization of having lost everything they had in the house and having to start from scratch.

Our Thoughts and Prayers go to the people of Mindanao and Visayas that were affected by Sendong. Scientists who warn us of the effects of Global Warming always point out that we should expect harsher weather and with this, we should expect more events like this in the future and therefore should be prepared.

Personally I think it was really a bad political move to have bought the Porsche because public officials are recommended to live austere lives commensurate to their salary. Although the palace defended that the Porsche was bought with the President’s own money it was still a point of attack for the President’s detractors. In politics it has always been a good practice to never give people a reason to speak ill of you, whether real or perceived. Project an image cleaner than clean as the saying goes.

Since he announced that he is going to buy his dream car in 2016 and the press will most likely make news of it. Might I be so bold as to suggest that Our Dear President buy something electric or of hybrid in nature for his next car? That he way he will help our fledgling Electric Car/Hybrid Car Sector with an endorsement by means of a purchase.

Just imagine having a Nissan Leaf with only minimal servicing requirement come 6 months? Or a gas sipping hybrid? Great way to start your presidential retirement, in a nice set of environment friendly wheels.

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The past few months have been terrible for the country of Thailand as their country was swamped with was is reported to be the worst flooding the country has experienced in 50 years. South East Asia was expecting large amounts of rain in 2011 after 2010’s El Nino since La Nina historically always follows afterwards, what we didn’t expect was this huge amount of rainfall lasting a long enough time to engulf an entire country underwater.

I’ve never realized how bad the flooding was till I saw these set of pictures from the Atlantic’s online web site (here and here)

If you are still a doubter of Global Warming, then this should be the proof that you need. One of Global Warming’s end result is changes in weather patterns resulting in harsher weather conditions. Droughts will be longer in areas that are known to have less rainfall, while those that do have will experience a deluge.

What is to be commended is the resilience of the Thai people in trying to overcome this tragedy and get on with their lives.

According to the article, the government pays about P1.25 million/hour on electricity and water costs which is enough to build a classroom (of which the Philippines also has a shortage of) every 30 minutes. He said that by lowering the utilities consumption by just 5% would result in a savings of P500 Million alone.

Rep. Angara went even further by giving examples of what to do in order to reduce energy consumption, some of which are well known facts such as using fluorescent lamps (I think he means CFL’s) and adjusting air conditioning levels in rooms.

Some of the innovative ideas were for the Department of Energy to conduct a rating of the energy efficiency of government buildings then giving a reward incentive to those with high ratings.

Probably something that will require capital was the suggestion of retrofitting offices to make them more energy efficient. You might say this is not feasible, but just imagine that the cost you save will be well worth the capital investment.

Another of the idea floated was for the government to ask for a bulk purchase discount from the utility companies, which is justified by the large demand of electricity that they are requiring per year.

In my opinion, the best way to do this is to first do an energy audit of government buildings and their energy consumption. Then from there work on reducing appliance by appliance the energy consumed.

Also setting equipment standards and procedures would also be a good direction to go. An example of which would be like setting a government wide standard for the electric bulb power (wattage), light output (brightness in lumens) and average life span (hours before failing) to be bought for each light socket. Another example is like setting a yearly cleaning schedule for airconditioners installed in government buildings. This way efficiency will never drop and energy consumption increase. These are but some of the suggestions we can think of to help government reduce its electricity consumption.

And speaking of the problem of too little classrooms. I can’t help but think that we can easily solve that problem if we try our darnest to control our population growth. Land, air and water aren’t infinite you know.

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I found this little piece of information about the all electric Nissan Leaf from Autoblog green quite fascinating.

The article points out that the first regular check up clocks in at 24,000 km (15,000 miles) or 6 months. All that is required to check up are the under chassis (suspension, brakes, etc) and rotate the tires. Compare that to a regular fossil fuel powered vehicle that requires a regular oil change every 5000 kilometers or 2 ~ 6 months depending on the driving conditions.

I was having a talk with an old and wizened mechanic whose face has seen the wrinkles of wisdom and experience carved into it. He said that the 5000 km oil change was only a recent thing because of the advancement of paved roads. He said in the old days oil changes were done every 2500 km because of the dusty roads. Pretty soon, oil changes are going to be a thing of the past.

What the world needs right now is an innovator like Henry Ford, who was able to reduce the price and improve on the electric automobile to make it accessible to the masses in both price and durability.