WATERFRONT, CEBU CITY—the RE Congress-SEECON – with the theme “Road to 100% RE: Energizing Development, Empowering People and Institutions” was held last September 25-27, 2019. The main goal of the SEECON is to bring together researchers, experts, practitioners, and other stakeholders from government, communities, parishes, industry, and from both local and international academic institutes with a special focus on renewable energy.
Climate change has been one of the oldest global issues that is still prevalant up to this day. Ever since the industrial revolution, the burning of fossil fuels has boosted the economy and led to the improvement of technology all around the globe. Unfortunately, along with its benefits is the tremendous amount of greenhouse gases which has several adverse effects on our global temperature and most especially affecting our coastal and marine ecosystems.
The SEECON is organized annually by the University of San Carlos and Center for Research and Energy Systems and Technologies, while the RE Congress and Exhibit is held yearly by the Center for Empowerment, Innovation and Training on Renewable Energy (CentRE) and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). In the last two years, the SEECON has gathered researchers and scientists here and abroad to present their researches and projects and provided opportunities for networking and sharing of updates on energy-related issues among professionals from the academe, government, and industry
The first day of the conference focused more on the just transition, energy democracy and energy policies which are essential in the future renewable energy transition of the Philippines.
The second day of the conference’s theme was on the different case studies on energy access, and the technologies used by modern scientists. The afternoon breakout session then presented the researches of different graduate students on renewable energy technologies, energy access, energy policies, and energy efficiency.
As a closing topic, the third day is centered in financing renewable energy, and what are the different ways stakeholders are able to receive funds for supporting renewable energy in local communities.