Wind Power
Energy from biological sources such as corn are making headways due to the high cost of oil. Ethanol derived from either corn or sugarcane is mixed with diesel to produce bio-diesel. Other additives are also used and the resulting mixture is called bio-fuel. The Philippines had long used ethanol from sugarcane because of its vast sugar plantations. This project was once a government priority when the price of sugar in world markets slumped in the 1970s, making the production of sugar hardly economically viable. Many sugar planters looked for alternative income sources for their excess sugar production. Actually, the bio-diesel (bio-fuel) idea originally came from Brazil which is one of the largest sugar producers in the world.
The conversion of large tracts of farmland planted with wheat and re-planted with corn or sugar to produce ethanol has caused food prices to go up worldwide. The price of bread has gone up and almost doubled within a short span of 2 years because of reduced wheat yields. However, Brazil countered that the rise in food prices is not due to farmland conversion but due to speculation in world markets. It even produced data that its added corn production came from marginal lands rather than from land with wheat. At any rate, it is now more profitable to plant corn in some areas than to plant either wheat or rice. The demand for ethanol is very high and simply keeps rising.
Wind farm
The Philippines achieved a sort of first in Southeast Asia - it is the first country to have installed the largest commercial wind farm with 15 turbines installed in Bangui, Ilocos Norte. It can produce up to 25 mW (megawatts) when fully operational that can supply the entire energy needs of the whole province. There are 16 other areas already identified by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory that has enough wind power potential. This potential is around 76,600 megawatts that can be produced from 10,000 sq-kms of windy land in the country. The Philippines has greater wind potential than Germany (14,000 mW), Spain (6,000 mW), the U.S. (6,000 mW) and Denmark at 3,000 mW. The Northwind Power Development Corporation is a joint venture between Filipino and Danish businessmen; Denmark provided the equipment. It is the world’s leading supplier of wind power turbine technology. This Philippine wind farm is in line with Philippines’ Power Development Plan that ambitiously aims to reduce its dependence on imported oil to only 40% by year 2010. This plan is in conjunction with its rural electrification program contained in the Philippine Medium Term Development Plan.