A UNITED Nations agency executive said it is expecting a big jump in the use of solar energy globally in the next few years.
“The popularity of solar energy has already gone around the world. It is already present in so many areas. It is a powerful source of energy that is free to us. All we need to do is to figure out how to harness that energy first, then how to store it so that we can use it when we need it,” United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said at the news conference at the Tesda Women Center in Taguig City recently.
The price of renewable energy (RE) becomes more competitive with the price of fossil fuel-based electricity sources like coal and petroleum. Solar energy’s cost decreased by 80 percent since 2008 and its efficiency has gone up 40 percent, Figueres said.
She also noted that 2014 has registered the highest investment in RE with $312 billion.
With its goal of having $90 trillion in the next 15 years, the fund was not enough to reach the least developed countries and those prone to disasters.
Some $90 trillion was set to be invested in infrastructure that are resilient to catastrophes. She said $10.2 billion is set to be dispersed this year for projects on climate-change adaptation and mitigation.
She also said people are more aware now of both the threats of climate change and opportunities to adapt and mitigate climate change.
Figueres expressed admiration for Liter of Light, a project of My Shelter Foundation in the country, for its initiative to create sustainable energy.
The project has been recognized by the UNFCC’s momentum for change initiative and won the 2015 Zayed Future Energy Prize.
The discarded plastic soft-drink bottle that is filled with water and bleach provides light to indigenous communities and slums, which could not afford electricity. It has become a do-it-yourself solar light.
“How much more can we do if we empower the communities rather than rely on imported, patented and expensive technologies? Why not put power back in the hands of the people? We have a simple solution that anybody can build,” Liter of Light COO Ami Valdemoro said.
The Liter of Light project began in San Pedro, Laguna, in 2011. More than 150,000 solar-bottle lights have been currently installed in 72 cities in the Philippines. In effect, it lessened carbon emission. The project aims to light 1 million homes around the country this year.
Since the country was hit by the Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) in 2013, the Liter of Light project has donated more than 5,000 home-lighting solutions in parts of Tacloban, Cebu and Iloilo.
The open source network also trained 76 local partners to make and install the solar lantern in an effort to reach communities affected by heavy flooding and landslides.
Figueres also expressed awe in the resilience of Filipinos, with the disaster having energized them to become strong and courageous.
Image credits: Cyril John F. Barlongo