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By Christine Joyce S. Placino, Contributor
The mere mention of Payatas invites thoughts of
shame and despair. On the infamous dumpsite is disposed Metro
Manila’s solid waste. Payatas may not be a source of pride, but it
might soon be known for something innovative.
The Payatas-based internationally recognized
Biogas Emission Project will create an alternative source of energy
by converting methane gas, an element 21 times more potent than
carbon dioxide, generated from the wastes at the dump and turn it
into a source of electricity.
“[The project] will contribute to the
reduction of biogas [that mainly causes the greenhouse effect which
results to the dreaded Global Warming], in order to help in the
efforts to prevent the worsening of the effects of Global
Warming,” said Col. Jameel “Roberto” Jaymalin, head of the
Payatas Operation Group (POG).
The project is the brainchild of Quezon City
Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and POG Head Jaymalin, in cooperation
with the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) and Pangea Green
Energy Phil. Inc., a renewable energy company that invests in biogas
projects worldwide.
“It [Biogas Emission Project] developed after
we noticed that many people are using methane gas for cooking, which
we know is harmful to the environment, so we talked to the PNOC to
research about the matter,” explained Jaymalin. Through their
research, they discovered methane can be gathered from garbage, an
alternative energy source.
“[From this], we acquired 100 megawatts of
electricity,” Jaymalin shared.
The planners put up the facility on a 1,500
square meter property in Payatas. It was accredited by the United
Nations and now registered with the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change as the country’s first Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM) activity.
“All of this materialized in only a year’s
time, which impressed the signatories of the Kyoto Protocol,” said
Pangea President Fedele Micheli in his speech during the
inauguration of the project.
Mayor Belmonte gives his full support to the
project, as the city government would benefit from the “carbon
credits” or greenhouse gas emission reductions that the project
would earn.
These “carbon credits” would
then be sold to Italy-based Pangea Green Energy Company to help
Italy meet its quota under the Kyoto Protocol.
“Whatever will be collected from the sold
carbon credits will be used for the city’s socio-economic projects
like construction of bridges and livelihood programs for the poor,
etc.,” Jaymalin said.
Although Jaymalin said the credits could
actually be sold to any developed country that has signed the Kyoto
Protocol, the Pangea Green Energy Company was among the first to
show interest.
The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement that provides
unprecedented opportunity for members of the Organization for
Economic Operation and Development, such as Italy, to work on
reducing greenhouse gas emissions and also help developing countries
by investing in their climate-friendly technologies.
In turn, these countries organize CDMs in order
to attain their obligations under the protocol of reducing the
emission of these environment hazards by an average 52 percent below
their 1990 levels by 2010.
If the full-capacity of the 10-year operation of
the Biogas Emission Project is achieved, at least 100,000 tons of
carbon dioxide will be prevented from being released into the
atmosphere. For the Payatas residents, it helps them improve the
ecological conditions of the landfill and air quality in their area.
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Sec. Lito Atienza also vowed to promote the project.
Payatas will benefit most from the project,
Jaymalin said. “It will make a very big difference for Payatas. It
was once a mere dumpsite, but now it is very clean with several
plants growing on it. They will see [and recognize] it as it has
transformed into an environment-friendly place.”
Project proponents hope that Payatas can now
slowly shed off the stigma of the trashslide, or the dumpsite
tragedy in 2000 that took hundreds of lives.
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