This new series is produced for the purpose of reinforcing discussions from the 2021 Aboitiz Leaders’ Conference. Its intended audience are ACO, AEV, and AP leaders, Aboitiz Family Council, and all Aboitiz LeadCon attendees. It is provided for information purposes only and views contained herein do not claim to represent the position of the whole Aboitiz Group or any of its connected entities.

Dear All,

There is an orgy of environmental activism that has been turbocharged by COVID as many other activities have been fueled by this St. Covid that Einstein’s God sent us.

Just a while back Lyndon Johnson called Malthusian concerns as the most serious problem the world faced. Savonarola did the same thing in the times for Machiavelli — all would go to hell. Edmund Burke had no faith in man’s foresight. History has taught us over and over about the error of man’s alarmism.

A whole pile of actors including DiCaprio, Harry of Windsor and his wife, who are actors, get together in a resort in Europe to alarm the world on climate change. 45 private jets land. They have super yachts docked on the coast. Harry and Megan fly to Ibiza and then to Mallorca — the carbon emissions they consume were equivalent to that one on Britain for a whole year.

I am not saying that the climate issue is not an issue. It probably is. Like all world burdens, it cannot be carried by the poorest people in the world as DiCaprio and Harry suggest in their actions.

We all know that all wealth comes from energy — manual energy, brain energy or physical energy from nature. More and more we are relying on brain power and electricity. The more brain power, the less electricity is needed. The more manpower, the more electricity is needed.

Like all world burdens, [climate change] cannot be carried by the poorest people in the world.

Energy alarmists, like most alarmists whose emotion is greater than their reason, actually do harm. We cannot allow them to slow down the battle that we are fighting, as a nation, against poverty. Much has been achieved over the past decades. Our GDP is triple what it was 20 years ago.

Shellenberger presents arguments that we can learn from in our battles for intelligent, pragmatic ‘clean-ergy’ activities. The cleaning has to be paid for by those who dirtied it in the first place. Is that not basic equity and fairness? DiCaprio and Megan should clean the energy they produce.

The investments in coal that our nation made were executed to provide reliable and inexpensive power. It worked. We have it. We see from the latest CSP of Meralco — a triumph for the economy, a triumph for the EPIRA, and a triumph for cheap competitive power. Let us remember we came from the most expensive form of power — no power. Manila had 8 to 10 hours of brownouts.

Energy alarmists, like most alarmists whose emotion is greater than their reason, actually do harm.

The FIT (feed-in tariff) program of years ago is proving to be a total failure as it is screwing the Filipino people by forcing them to pay multiples of what they are going to pay San Miguel for this latest Meralco bid. There is serious moral hazard in the FIT and it has to be corrected. We produce 2 million tons of sugar a year and import 600,000 tons — what do we do with the sugar land in San Carlos? We turn them into solar farms. FIT IS A FAILED EXPERIMENT THAT ACTUALLY DID HARM.

Now we are going to experiment with a Green Energy Auction. This is a version of FIT. It is about forcing the Filipino consumer to pay more for renewable power. By definition, if market forces are competitive with all costs included then why is an auction needed?

Experience in Germany and California prove, as per Shellenberger, their solar programs end up costing the consumer much more than prior.

The cleaning has to be paid for by those that dirtied it, in the first place. Is that not basic equity and fairness?

Then there are the environmental concerns of solar and wind, which are so conveniently kept hush, as per the author. Solar panels end up in solar waste. The panels need to be disposed of. Wind turbines kill trillions of insects and hundreds of birds.

I do not have an opinion because I do not have enough information to have an opinion.

People like Shellenberger help us with perspectives. Is he completely right? Probably not but let us act informed.

Let’s let reason reign over emotion!

Now we have all seen the damage caused by puritanism in all sectors of society — in the world of drugs, they have caused the militarization of the police forces and has fueled the rise of Latin gangs that have, with drug-fueled assault rifles, the guns of the Italian mafia.

We see what puritanism has poisoned common sense in religion as a whole. Dogma over practical outlooks on life. Witches were burned. The Spanish Inquisition and its abuse is proof of what crooked minds with questionable intentions can destroy.

Clean air is about a higher quality of health and life. That is a good enough reason to seek these goals for us and our children.

Now, let us not allow those seeking for purpose and secular religious satisfaction to slow down the exit from that violence we have all lived with for too long — Philippine poverty.

Let us get rich first before we help others clean their air. Let us double our GDP twice before we build intermittent renewables with contingent costs that are not imputed into the renewable rate. Let us not fool ourselves for this warm and fuzzy feeling by some proponents of renewable energy ahead of poverty alleviation.

Let us not fall for all the nonsense some people create.

All the best,

EMA

The worst of all violences…POVERTY.

P.S. These explain things a little deeper:

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