Millennial power comes to the fore

A rocket-like contraption sits on a small piece of dry land, surrounded by the sacred mountains of Sierra Madre.

Though bare and lacking the bells and whistles of the sleek machine it seeks to copy, the device attracts the attention of Dumagat children who eagerly await whatever it can spew from its recesses.

Aptly called “Bathala,” this little device can be used to cook food, desalinate water while charging small gadgets, all at the same time.

“It’s a ‘great provider’ that can provide food, water, electricity—all the basics needed for survival,” says Jeremy de Leon, 3rd year engineering student from the Mapua Institute of Technology in Manila. De Leon and his team from Mapua visited Sitio Suha in Barangay San Mateo, Norzagaray, Bulacan, several times last year to look into the situation of the Dumagat tribe protecting this side of the mountain range.

While government agencies and nongovernment organizations have been visible in this remote area more than two hours drive from Manila, traces of poverty combined with lack of electricity and water continue to affect the lives of one of the oldest tribes in the country.

Some Dumagats still use firewood to cook food, exposing them to lung illnesses caused by smoke inhalation. Others still drink unfiltered, dirty water.

“This [contraption] uses firewood when cooking, but it encloses the smoke. Heat is then captured to distill water on one side, while the other stores energy to charge a gadget,” de Leon says. The prototype can store at least five watts, enough to charge a cell phone.

On the other side of Bulacan lies another rural area that ends its backbreaking work at 5:00 p.m., before the sun goes down.

Sitio Kalawakan Doña Remedios in Trinidad, Bulacan, is off the grid, forcing residents to end the day’s work early before the dark envelopes homes.

Teachers don’t give students homework since they are not able to do it at night.

Bulacan State University students led by engineering major Hyacinth de Guzman saw the sorry state of the residents during their visit there last year.

“They told us, ‘We are already used to this.’ We asked them why they don’t have electricity, they told us, ‘That’s because we only earn around P1,000 a month,” says de Guzman.

Residents in the area use an unreliable generator set fueled by kerosene obtained from the nearest municipality, some five hours away by foot.

De Guzman and her team put together a device that uses gravity to generate electricity. A small compact bag is dropped to the ground, pulling a string to spark a bulb attached to a scrap of wood.

The contraptions developed by students from Mapua and Bulacan State University were a few of the ingenious systems presented during the 2015 Sikat Design Challenge held early this month.

Mapua placed first, while Bulacan State University was one of the six finalists. The runners-up were students from De La Salle University and Ateneo de Manila University.

“It’s very heartening to see all the innovative ideas … From solar power solutions to scalable hydro plants, all these ideas prove that innovation and creativity are alive and well in our youth. It’s this spirit of curiosity and creativity that allowed them … to explore new and practical ways for the benefit of more Filipinos who reside in areas that are still wanting of the basics in life,” First Gen Corp. chair and CEO Federico Lopez says.

First Gen is a stakeholder of the Sikat Solar Challenge Foundation, Inc. (SSCFI), which developed the contest challenging students to come up with renewable energy ideas that have practical uses in rural areas.

Lessons learned from solar cars

The foundation was put up almost a decade ago to increase the public’s awareness and knowledge of renewable energy.

To generate buzz, the foundation tapped young students to build solar cars that could withstand the grueling 3,000-kilometer long Australian outback. The foundation organized support for the team that managed to earn top spots in all races held in 2007, 2009 and 2013.

It was, from the perspective of publicity, effective since the program involved sophisticated technology and cars. But the foundation said the program had already served its purpose.

“We saw that solar has come to being as an industry. Maybe it was time to change the program,” says SSCFI president Arthur A. de Guia. He says the foundation reviewed its mission and vision to focus on the real goal of electrifying poor and rural areas too far to access power from the national grid.

“At the end of the day, we said we wanted the money that we spend used such that it would impact the lives of people closer to home,” adds SSCFI vice president Henry T. Co.

He says car racing is all about technology, which means constant spending of money and tinkering to bring out the car’s efficiency.

He says a solar car is worth “around 10, 15, or at most 20 [ordinary] cars.”

De Guia says the new goal of the Sikat challenge is “not straightforward technology, but something that will benefit the community in terms of livelihood, education, health, especially if they have electricity.”

De Guia says the contest is not about “rocket science” but it’s about putting more weight on the sustainability and benefit of the design to the communities.

Rational use of energy

One of the judges, Nanyang Technological University Energy Research Institute senior director Hans Puttgen, says the key challenge for scientists and engineers these days is to look for systemic solutions that should lead to the rational—rather than efficient—use of energy.

“For example, in energy storage, if you put energy in a battery and you take it back out, it’s not efficient because there is a loss. Another example, you have too much sunshine during the day and then you are able to store it for use at night, that’s the rational use of energy,” he says.

He says the rational use of energy also means there is not a “single application” for the use of a device. This is why he described the rocket stove as something “intriguing” because it “integrates some electricity production, it integrates cooking which is fundamental, it integrates water desalination and purification. So it’s a whole system.”

Puttgen says the use of systemic solutions is slowly becoming a trend worldwide, something that should challenge the entire Philippines as a nation.

“We’re getting there [recognizing this trend], because that’s the next challenge that we need to start looking at … In reality, we need to look at how all these renewable energy [systems] will work together, depending on where it is, the geography, the end users,” he says.

Lopez adds that the Sikat challenge could not have come at a more opportune time.

“With the passion, commitment and ingenuity … shown in connecting with communities, and in building … projects, I am hopeful that we will have a fighting chance in realizing that low carbon world that we all aspire for,” he says.