TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, July 20, (PIA)—From then on, the Department of Transportation wants all succeeding air infrastructure projects to be using similar technologies modeled by the New Bohol Panglao Airport, reveals airport general manager Atty. Rafael Tatlonghari.
Speaking during the DOTr-organized media briefing on the government’s Build, Build, Build and the eco-technologies in place at the country’s first eco-airport, the manager said that as gateway to the islands which gives premium on eco-cultural tourism, the move towards eco-technologies is just but right.
Part of the 17 airports completed and rehabilitated by the Duterte Administration, Panglao Airport, which was conceptualized as eco-airport uses Japanese and international technologies which also comply with the local environment requirements, DORt Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines officials also claimed.
Part of the technologies in place are the adoption of solar power generation system.
With the rising bias against fossil fuels and their tendency to escalate global warming, the option for clean and renewable power generation system provided by solar is the closest option, explained Tatlonghari to the media on tour.
Solar panels are installed on the roof of the Passenger Terminal Building to supply usable solar power, which is estimated at 624,539 kWh per year, power generated only during daytime supplying nearly 15% of the power requirements for the Passenger Terminal Building, headed.
And to maximize the solar power, the airport uses the energy efficient Light Emitting Diodes (LED) lights, which normally consumes10 to 15% of the conventional lights type, and it is more long lasting.
The lights are not only in the facility’s interiors but also in its exterior as well as its access roads and car park.
And while the photovoltaic cells absorb heat, this is also an inspiration to generate solar hot water, through a system installed on the roof deck.
The solar water heaters transfer heat absorbed from the sun by the solar collectors to the water storage tank through the natural thermo-siphon principle, and its system is designed for high efficiency for use in the hot water requirements of the facility’s kitchens, showers and lavatories’ vanity basins.
As the facility’s pre departure lounges uses natural ventilation, its walls have wooden louvers on the external façade and it also has curtain wall glazing with low emissivity (LowE) coating to reduce the heat gain from extraneous heat sources. This also minimizes the energy consumption of air conditioning systems.
Inside, the facility uses energy-saving type air condition system and natural ventilation for short dwelling-time passengers.
With the passenger terminal and its cluster of buildings which the public has access, wastewater is supposed to be an issue, but not of the new facility.
The airport is equipped with a modern sewage treatment facility compliant with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources standards for water quality and general effluent standards.
What is unique about the airport’s treatment facility is its engineered wetland which uses natural vegetation, soil and organisms to treat wastewater and remove pollutants.
Processed waste water is bled to the soaking yard, and after evaporation, the treated sludge can be used as fertilizer for the landscaping inside the airport.
While the facility has state of the art waste water treatment, it also a material recovery facility (MRF) to keep up with the reduce, reuse and recycle approach of minimizing solid waste dumps by segregation of airport generated wastes.
As to hazardous wastes, the facility also puts up appropriate management system where the generated hazardous waste inside the airport will be appropriately transported and treated through contracting out special treatment companies possessing treatment technology which are registered with DENR-EMB. A waste tracking system of recording data of waste generation, transport, treatment and disposal would also be implemented, airport officials assured.
As to the facility surroundings, the airport landscaping is so to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHGs) emission.
According to Atty Tatlonghari, the total quantities of landscaping for the airport include 1,700 trees for the main entrance, car park and access road, 240 thousand pieces of shrubs and ground cover and 11 hectares of sodding.
More than this, the airport project also implemented compensatory reforestation (Biodiversity Conservation) as per demands of the Environmental Compliance Certificate.
With this, a total number of 624,100 seedlings is being planted across Bohol Island to compensate for the cut trees at the project site. In fact, for a single tree with 15 centimeter diameter cut in the project site, 100 trees are planted to replace it.
These replacement trees are of endemic species and are planted in Dimiao, Guindulman, Loay, Alburquerque, Dauis, Panglao, Balilihan.
The airport project also incorporated in its design a rainwater harvesting facility to reduce the laod on the drainage system. The collected water can be for domestic use such as watering the trees of the landscape inside the airport.
Also central to the technologies in the airport is the 17.5 hectares of soaking yard which was designed and constructed inside the airport to prevent the impact of direct water flushing and soil erosion by flood on the surrounding area as well as prevent ocean contamination.
The collected rainwater and treated water at the STP will be infiltrated into underground to maintain the function of the recharge of the aquifer.
With these technologies in place at the new facility, DOTr officials assured that the centerpiece facility keeps up to the environment protection vision of Bohol and the country’s intent on mitigating the effects of global warming and climate change. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)
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