For the past week or so, the United States has been experiencing the weirdest weather ever. For instance, the people of Hawaii spent the weekend of December 3 worrying about a blizzard warning issued a day before. While rainfall was inexplicably drenching the Pacific Northwest, irrationally warm temperatures swathed across the Midwest and South, and a major snow famine in the Rockies signaled that Denver’s first winter snowfall has been delayed.
Across six states—Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, and Tennessee—multiple tornadoes left a path of devastation with at least 80 people feared dead. Communities in parts of the central and southern US dug through wreckage in the aftermath of the powerful, out-of-season storms and tornadoes that swept overnight.
Asia and Europe have also had their share of unexplained severe weather disturbances. But even as the whole world grapples with the negative impact of climate change, there are ordinary citizens, government officials, and big-business representatives who refuse to believe scientists and researchers who have been warning for the longest time about the effects of climate change and global warming.
Parties in this year’s 26th global climate summit, or COP26 (Conference of the Parties), held between October 31 and November 12, agreed to reduce the increasing global temperature to within 1.5°C. Participated in by 197 countries, COP26 laid out the need for the whole world to transition to low-carbon emission, irrespective of each country’s development status. To achieve a net-zero carbon future, the urgent next steps for all nations include the improvement of energy system efficiency and increased use of renewable sources (RES). Heightened RES use will have a positive impact on the environment, considering how the combustion of fossil fuels emits greenhouse gases (GHG) that contribute to global warming.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, approximately 2,000 gigawatts (GWs) of renewable generation capacity existed globally at the end of 2015. IRENA noted that the greatest new renewable energy capacity installation ever recorded was in 2016, with wind and solar energy accounting for majority of this capacity due to falling technology costs. This is good news in the light of how one of the major challenges of the 21st century is providing people with clean, reliable, and affordable energy that does not pose environmental risks.
One of the best options for reducing emissions and improving air quality is replacing coal and diesel with natural gas. As a critical support for wind, solar and hydroelectricity, natural gas helps match supply with demand. Natural gas is also vital in parts of the economy, including industrial processes and freight transport, that are more difficult to electrify.
Data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) show that natural gas has between 45 percent and 55 percent lower GHG emissions than coal when used to generate electricity. This is why replacing coal with natural gas to generate electricity will significantly reduce air pollution.
Aside from quickly compensating for dips in solar or wind power supply and rapidly responding to sudden increases in demand, natural gas makes for a good partner for hydropower, providing secure electricity supply when there is insufficient rainfall. If light industries, such as textile manufacturing, were to switch from coal to gas boilers, they would greatly reduce their production costs, lower GHGs, and improve air quality.
In heavy industries, such as iron, steel, cement and chemicals, switching from coal to gas to produce the intense heat required in furnaces can significantly reduce emissions. Natural gas will also continue to be a central component in the production of everyday products, such as plastics and fertilizers.
On the national and international levels, using natural gas will enable developed countries to enjoy combined heat and power systems that are highly efficient and free from GHG emissions. In developing countries, natural gas will replace wood and coal in heating and cooking, which will boost environmental protection and improve human health conditions.
Energy systems that use natural gas also support the integration of low-emission sources of energy, including geothermal heat and power, solar, wind and batteries. When converted into high-quality, cleaner burning gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuels for heavy duty vehicles, inland and seagoing marine vessels, natural gas helps diversify the fuel mix and reduce air pollution.
Since it occurs naturally and can be collected and processed to generate power, natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel, releasing less than half the emissions of coal. It only takes minutes for a natural gas plant to start up, making it flexible enough to adjust to shifting power demands.
When there is not enough sunlight, flexible gas plants can quickly provide the missing power, helping keep the lights on. Current discourse on decarbonized development focuses on the use of natural gas and other RES as the viable step toward transitioning to a secure, sustainable and competitive energy supply, although initial conditions for this transition may vary across different regions and countries.
Here at home, six companies are investing P82.3 billion to put up LNG terminals. One of these companies is Energy World Corp. (EWC) which has an LNG project in Pagbilao, Quezon, that is 95 percent complete and set to commence operations in the early or middle part of 2022.
Six proposed LNG infrastructure development are likewise expected to augment the country’s natural gas supply in the face of the fast-depleting reserves of the Malampaya gas field. FGEN LNG Corp. is investing P13.28 billion for the construction of an interim floating storage and regasification unit LNG terminal in Batangas City. It will have a capacity of 5.26 million tons LNG per annum. Other LNG terminal projects include the 4.4-MTPA project of Excelerate Energy L.P., with investments amounting to P6.39 billion; the 3-MTPA LNG terminal of Atlantic Gulf & Pacific Company of Manila, Inc., with project cost amounting to P15.33 billion; and the 3-MTPA project of Shell Energy Philippines, Inc. worth P2.52 billion.
Although EWC’s 400-megawatt Pagbilao LNG power is already 95% complete, it has not been allowed to tap on any existing power plant’s transmission grid. Had EWC been allowed to do so, it could have started exporting power two years ago. Its request to use the existing transmission grid in the area was rejected by the government upon vehement opposition from Team Energy Inc., which ironically processes coal to produce electricity.
The EWC project has had to hurdle protracted bureaucratic red tape and cold-shoulder support from government agencies tasked to ensure stability in the country’s energy mix. The company is now building its own transmission line and switching station in order to connect the plant to the main grid. Once operational, EWC intends to install a 200 megawatt (MW) steam turbine. Similarly, the final stages of development of its 2-MTPA LNG facility are on track.
For now, it is imperative for the Philippines—and the whole world, for that matter—to keep the natural gas option for renewable energy, inasmuch as technological diversity and advances widen the innovation scope that results from differentials in resource endowment and short-term priorities. With natural gas, there will be no threat of struggle with fossil-dependent countries, thereby paving the way for a smooth, socially acceptable, and economically feasible transition to a decarbonized energy system.
