Typhoon damage

I was briefly stranded on Lubang Island last week as another typhoon battered the Philippines. Just a few days after typhoon Reming caused 100s of deaths in the Bicol region another typhoon with winds up to 185 kmh struck the country. A 3 day trip turned into a week long stay until it was safe for boats to sail again. Historically typhoons start petering out in November and are non-existent in December. In recent years there have been stronger typhoons and storms that have been lasting well into December. Some scientists attribute this phenomenon to global climate change.

The typhoon only caused damage to crops and killed cattle in Lubang although many 1000s of families in other parts of the Philippines were displaced from there homes due to flooding or had electricity and water cut off. Not only does the longer storm season disrupt communities for a longer time period but the changing hydrological patterns make it difficult for farmers to manage crop plantings and harvesting. Ironically, it is always the poorest communitities who are most vulnerable in disasters, people who have never driven a vehicle or switched on an air conditioning machine .

Project Management

The flow chart desribes the process followed for the installation of a community based wind energy system. 4 months into the project the pre-feasibility studies have been completed and the project is into the system design and full feasibility study. Fabrication of three wind turbines is also ongoing.

Population growth

At Kusang Loob, the community on Lubang island chosen for the water pumping system, the average number of children per household is 5 (although one couple have 18 children). The entire island has a population of 32,000 and a growth rate of 2.48%. If this growth rate remains the population will double to 64,000 in only 30 years. A growing population will put an increasing burden on the environment and social structures on the island. The majority of the labour force work in the agricultural or fishing industries, although there is a high rate of unemployment or underemployment. Increasing agricultural output sustainably is difficult due to the lack of available water. Increased fishing may lead to reduced biodiversity and fish stocks in the area. Solid waste management is also proving difficult to manage as the population increases. Many schools are reaching capacity and there is no tertiary education available on the island.















A group of children on Lubang island.

The problem of population growth is not restricted to Lubang. The 89.5 million population of the Philippines is set double in 40 years if it remains at the current 1.8% (the population growth is 0.28% the UK and 0.91% in the US). The land area of the Philippines is a little larger than that of the UK. The growing population puts an increasing burden on already scarce natural resources accelearting environmental degradation. The Philippines is already witnessing uncontrolled deforestation especially in watershed areas; soil erosion; air and water pollution in major urban centers; coral reef degradation and increasing pollution of coastal mangrove swamps that are important fish breeding grounds. There are also many social problems due to the population growth. Rapid urbanisation has seen Manila grow to a city of 11 million, many of its residents living in squatters home without access to clean water. The rate of unemployment, crime and drug abuse is high.

The Philippines is a devoutly religious country, 81% of the population are Catholic. The church is a powerful and influential institution that actively advocates against contraception use and abortion. There is not the political will, or willingness to go against the church, at the national or local level to implement an effective family planning policy.

Old Wind Turbine Technology

Wind powered water pumping systems has been attempted on Lubang Island before. The photo's show wind systems that were installed about 20 years ago by a German Catholic priest on the island. The systems were installed for potable water usage and irrigation of rice fields. Unfortunately neither system survived longer than a few hours operation and they have been left to rust.

Mechanical wind system at Looc for rice field irrigation.

Both are mechanical wind systems, unlike SIBATs electrical turbine. The mechanical power from the rotation of the blades is transferred to a vertical shaft running down the centre of the tower to a pump. The main advantage of this type of design is that the machine can operate at low wind speeds. The start up wind speed is low due to the many blades, providing greater torque and slower rotational velocity than the 3 blade systems. However, the system is not appropriate to areas with strong wind and typhoons as the system easily 'runs away'. The massive torque from the blades in high wind speeds puts too much stress on the shaft and bevel gears, in the case of Lubang, causing almost instant fracture. In Cabra the wind turbine has been completely destroyed leaving just the rusty tower to support the pulley which the community use to haul 4 gallon containers of water up 37m to the surface.

Mechanical wind system at Cabra for potable water

There are a number of advantages of the 3 blade electrical wind turbine over this type of design:

- The electricity generated by the wind turbine is not restricted to water pumping

- More energy can be harnessed as the wind turbine is designed to operate in higher wind speeds (energy in the wind is proportional to the cube of the wind speed)

- The tower can be higher (as power is tranferred by wire rather than a shaft), allowing the wind turbine to be placed in stronger winds

- The wind turbine can be easily lowered for protection during typhoons and maintenance

- For water pumping, the wind turbine does not have to be placed directly above the well