The day will soon arrive that when you press on the gas pedal, it won’t be just gasoline or diesel that your car burns. Honda Cars Philippines Inc. (HCPI) and the Department of Energy (DOE) gave us a glimpse of the possibilities as they presented an alternative-fuel and technology forum at the Palms Country Club, Alabang, on 27 October 2006. The forum discussed the various fuels and propulsion methods currently available, and presented vehicle technologies that can best take advantage of those solutions.
Honda highlighted its various products that can run on fuels other than gasoline or diesel. The local Honda lineup runs only on gasoline, but there are a variety of solutions available in other countries.
One such alternative fuel is compressed natural gas (CNG). CNG is composed mostly of methane and small amounts of propane and butane. The fuel is considered a cleaner alternative to gasoline and diesel as its produces less emissions and pollutants. Taxis in Hongkong, Singapore, and Manila have been adopting the fuel as a lower-cost alternative. For private cars, states such as New York and California are encouraging the use of CNG vehicles. Honda has an entry in that market also, the Civic GX, a dedicated CNG powered passenger-car. The Civic GX is rated at 16.6 km/liter on the highway. A home-refilling station that taps into natural gas supply lines is also available to lower costs even further.
Another possibility is ethyl alcohol, also know as ethanol. Ethyl alcohol can be produced biologically through the fermentation of sugar. Flexible-fuel vehicles (FFV) can run on various mixtures of gasoline and ethyl alcohol. In 2006, Honda unveiled new Civic and Fit (aka Jazz) FFVs that can run on up to 100 percent ethanol. The cars will be introduced in Brazil, where ethanol is widely available, thanks to a progressive and deliberate government policy to promote the renewable fuel.
In about ten or twenty years’ time, the least-polluting solution may become a commercial reality—the hydrogen fuel cell. In a fuel cell, onboard hydrogen fuel is combined with oxygen in the air to produce electric current and pure water as the only emission. Honda has been a proponent of the technology with its FCX. The FCX is a three-door hatchback powered by an 86 kilowatt fuel cell developed in-house. This is the first fuel car that was made available for lease by individual customers—a Californian family started leasing an FCX in 2005. The FCX boasts not only of zero emissions, but also remarkable efficiency—three times that of a gasoline-powered vehicle, or twice that of a hybrid.
HCPI President Takashi Sekiguchi hosted the event, with several experts presenting on various topics. Mr. Michio Shinohara of Honda’s Environment and Safety Planning Office started off by presenting Honda’s development of each of these alternative propulsion technologies.
The Minister of Embassy of Brazil in Manila, the Honorable Paulo Fontoura, described the adoption and increasing use of ethanol as a vehicle fuel. The process took decades, following a four-stage development from the 1920s to the present day. The government provided subsidies and incentives to stimulate industry development in the earlier days, and then weaned the industries from such preferential treatment when they became more self-sufficient. The incentives included tax breaks for manufacturers of both the ethanol fuel and vehicles that could use it. Brazil would also tweak its policies during the years when fossil fuels were cheap and sugar (used to produce ethanol) more expensive—the two usually following a see-saw relationship. “Government should take the lead in process to establish basic parameters for the adoption of biofuels,” according to Mr. Fontoura.
Speaking for the Philippine government was Dr. Mario Marasigan, of the Energy Utilization and Management Bureau, DOE. He said that the Philippines in 2005 reached a self-suffiency level of 55.87 percent. Most of our indigenous supply came from geothermal energy, coal, and natural gas. The DOE’s vision is to achieve a 60 percent self-sufficiency level by 2010.
The biofuels bill, recently passed by the Senate and set for a final combined version from House and Senate, will help in achieving this goal. The bill requires mandatory use of two kinds of biofuel: bioethanol from sugarcane as an additive to gasoline, and biodiesel from coconut oil as an additive to diesel.
The law requires a five percent ethanol in gasoline by 2007, and a 10 percent blend (E10) by 2010. For diesels, a two percent blend of biodiesel is required by 2010. According to Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, the mandatory five percent blend of bioethanol will save the country $ 160 million annually, while the 10 percent blend in the fourth year will save the country $ 354 million.
As a representative from the oil industry, Mr. Khalid Al-Faddagh, President and Director of Petron Corporation, expressed support for the biofuels bill. However, he wished to retain the flexibility to set proportions of the biofuel mix by area (e.g., Manila can have a 20 percent mix, remote areas down to zero percent). The industry also needs time to ensure steady supply of the biofuels.
Current gasoline-powered cars can run on E10 without modification, but need revisions to parts such as the fuel line for ethanol blends above 10 percent.
Alternative propulsion is still in its infancy, but slowly gaining ground. Earlier this year at the Manila Auto Show, three manufacturers displayed hybrid trucks, flexible fuel vehicles, and a hydrogen fuel-cell car. At least one car model here, the Ford Focus, is ready to run on up to 20 percent ethanol mixture, and other manufacturers may soon follow when they perceive sufficient demand.
In a blow to the adoption of alternative fuels, the Supreme Court recently declared on a technicality that vehicle owners, specifically public utility vehicles, cannot be compelled to use CNG. A group led by Hilarion Henares Jr., a former Malacañang adviser, had sought to compel public utility vehicles to use CNG, citing that the right to clean air is provided for by the Constitution and the Philippine Clean Air Act.
“Yet, as serious as the statistics are on air pollution, with the present fuels deemed toxic as they are to the environment, as fatal as these pollutants are to the health of the citizens, and urgently requiring resort to drastic measures to reduce air pollutants emitted by motor vehicles, we must admit in particular that petitioners are unable to pinpoint the law that imposes an indubitable legal duty on respondents that will justify a grant of the writ of mandamus compelling the use of CNG for public utility vehicles,” the Supreme Court pointed out. Our lungs be damned, then.
Honda also took the occasion to demonstrate its Civic Hybrid, which runs with a 1.3-liter gasoline engine paired with an electric motor. The Civic Hybrid has a rated mileage of 21.68 km/liter.
Aside from legal obstacles, which will hopefully be properly overcome, there is a bright future for alternative fuels, particularly for biofuel. With our immense agricultural potential, we have the means to use these fuels as substitutes for the fossil fuels we are currently burning. By learning from countries such as Brazil, the Philippines can adopt its own progressive policies to encourage the use of alternative fuels.
By Jason K. Ang
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