A LAWMAKER from Mindanao on Friday urged for the passage of a measure seeking the creation of a research and development agency that will harness deuterium as an alternative energy source to address the rising fuel and energy costs in the country.
In pushing for House Bill 11295, Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said some members of the scientific community have identified the Philippine trench, also known as the Mindanao Deep, located off the coast of Surigao del Norte, as having the largest deuterium deposits in the world.
“It is imperative to explore and invest in alternative energy sources like deuterium that are sustainable and environmentally friendly. The continued dependence on fossil fuels as the main energy source exacerbates global warming through excessive carbon emissions, threatening ecosystems and the well-being of future generations,” Barbers said in news release on Friday.
He said the creation of a Philippine Deuterium Research and Development Authority (PDRDA) will enable the country to take proactive steps toward exploring deuterium which is still an untapped energy resource.
Deuterium, widely known as a fuel for nuclear fusion reactions, is a hydrogen isotope with a neutron, which occurs in about one out of 6,400 hydrogen atoms, and is said to be naturally abundant in oceans.
As of 2021, reports said the use of deuterium as a large-scale power source is still in the early research phase, and according to the Philippine National Oil Company, the study is still ongoing.
“It is a clean energy source that produces no harmful carbon emissions, with its byproducts limited to water vapor or steam. It can also serve as a replacement for traditional fuels such as gasoline, [liquefied petroelum gas] and aviation fuel, offering a versatile and sustainable solution for powering internal combustion engines,” Barbers said.
Under his proposed measure, the PDRDA office shall be an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) which, aside from being an R&D office for deuterium, would be authorized to facilitate the entry of foreign expertise and resources to accelerate the scientific information and technology transfer of local expertise on deuterium-based energy source.
Aside from the creation of a Board of Trustees composed of government officials coming from energy research and related fields, representatives from the private sector and from organizations of scientists and engineers in energy research and development will be tapped or hired to work under the PDRDA.
Barbers said that since the 1980s, there had been persistent reports that the Philippines has the largest deposit of deuterium in the world, and that mining it would pay off for the benefit of the country’s economy.
He noted, however, that the same reports were debunked by “some quarters.”
“Di natin maisasa-isantabi na ang mga malalaking oil companies at ang mga bansa na nagpro-produce nang langis ay (We cannot ignore the fact that big oil companies and oil-producing countries are) threatened by the potential ng deuterium as an alternative energy source, dahil magigiba ang kanilang mga ekonomiya sakaling ma-explore, harness at makapag-mina tayo ng deuterium (because their economies will collapse if we are able to explore, harness and mine deuterium),” he added.
“So, hindi malayo na mag-e-exert sila ng effort or pressure o kaya disinformation para ma-diskaril and R&D natin sa deuterium na tinaguriang (It is not far-fetched that they will exert effort or pressure or even disinformation to derail our R&D on deuterium, which is touted as the) ‘fuel of the future’,” Barbers said. (Jose Cielito Reganit)
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