DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 18 January) – The city council has been urged to pass a measure encouraging local government agencies to use e-vehicles to keep carbon emissions down.
Ruth M. Tawantawan, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 11 director said that electric vehicles must be the “future of transport” here due to its low energy carbon system, which is a big step in making Davao a “green city.”
“Being the primary agency tasked in the management of our environment, we try our best to be pioneers in the use of sustainable energy and other ecologically sound practices, so that we can model the principles that we preach,” she said.
In a statement on Wednesday, Interface Development Interventions (IDIS) executive director Chinkie P. Golle agreed that government agencies must use e-vehicles.
Good Samaritans push a stalled jeepney along a flooded JP Laurel Avenue in Davao City Wednesday night (3 May 2017). MindaNews photo by Manman Dejeto
But she added the council must also pass a measure on renewable energy that will require government buildings to install solar panels in order to lower electricity consumption.
“The ordinance should provide for annual budget appropriation for purchase of renewable energy equipment and should line up a comprehensive plan of gradual conversion into renewable energy technologies,” she said.
The city was declared as a Clean Air City with Mayor Sara Duterte as a “Clean Air Champion” by the Clean Air Philippines Movement, in November 2017.
Tawantawan said air quality of the city ranges from 40 to 80 microgram per normal cubic meter, rated “good and fair.”
“These alternative vehicles actively reduce the amount of carbon emitted into the environment and I say, any technology that actively reduces the amount of carbon created is welcome in the city,” she said.
In February 2017, Mitsubishi Motors signed a memorandum of agreement with DENR as partner in identifying and implementing projects that aim to reduce carbon emissions and support the government program on vehicle electrification.
The DENR 11 office received two units of electric vehicles – Outlander Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) and i-MiEV – and a quick charging station installed outside its office in Lanang here from the Mitsubishi Motors Corporation on Tuesday.
These were among the five units of Outlander PHEV, five units of MiEV and four units of EV quick chargers delivered by Mitsubishi Motors to the DENR Central Office in Quezon City.
“We need additional vehicles in our motorpool to help us achieve our growing targets for this year and the succeeding years. We are grateful to have been chosen by our central office to be the one of the recipient regions of this gracious gift from Mitsubishi,” Tawantawan said. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
