Your Phone Needs the Forest

Forests provide the oldest source of renewable energy: wood. Wood fuels many aspects of our daily life – from preparing food to producing heat and providing power.

But forests also protect other energy sources, such as geothermal energy and hydropower. In fact, a healthy and well managed forest is crucial for these industries. They both depend on sufficient water levels which forests help regulate.

Managing a forest, however, is a tall order. In the Philippines, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), joined hands with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and two corporations in the energy sector to take on the towering task of protecting the forest as an energy source of a different kind.

In partnership with the USAID-funded Biodiversity and Watersheds Protected for Stronger Economy and Ecosystem Resilience (B+WISER) Program, the National Power Corporation and the Energy Development Corporation now implement the technology-aided Lawin Forest and Biodiversity Protection System to manage and conserve forests in their areas of operations. Lawin helps watershed managers of both companies design forest protection activities that avoid forest degradation. But what do well protected forests have to do with geothermal or hydropower generation? Well, healthy forests improve the capacity of the landscape to regulate water movement which impacts groundwater levels and the amount of water in streams and aquifers.

But how is water turned into energy or, more precisely, electricity? Let’s take a closer look.

Wet steam field geothermal energy is found where the earth’s inner heat meets water. Add heat, and water turns into steam. When harnessed appropriately using turbines and generators, steam’s pressure can be converted into electricity. The Energy Development Corporation has the capacity to generate 7,570 gigawatt hours of electricity per year from geothermal activity in the Philippines, enough to light 2.1 million households for a year. The company needs a healthy forest to protect and maintain aquifers and groundwater levels to keep their operation running.

Hydropower, as the name indicates, also relies on water as a power source. To turn water movement into energy, it has to be channeled. That is what dams are for. They stop the natural flow of water and release it in a guided way through turbines. Generators then turn this movement into electricity. In Mindanao alone, the National Power Corporation generates about 3,474 gigawatt hours of electricity per year through hydropower, which is enough to power 970,000 households for a year. The company needs the forest to regulate the water flow in streams that fuel their turbines.

The geothermal and hydropower generated by the Energy Development Corporation and the National Power Corporation is enough to power 5.5 billion smartphones per year, more than 36 times the total number of smartphones in the Philippines! So, the next time you plug in your phone to charge, thank a tree!