DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/07 August) – Majority of local residents wanted the government to put more emphasis on the development of alternative renewable energy sources in addressing the power crisis, the results of a survey showed.
The Institute of Popular Opinion (IPO) of the University of Mindanao bared Monday the results of its survey on solutions to the power problem, noting that 95.65 percent of the respondents preferred renewable energy sources.
Majority or 92.52 percent of the respondents voted for the promotion of self-imposed discipline on energy conservation as the best ways to address the city’s energy crisis.
Only less than half of the respondents or 34.96 percent prefer implementation of “rotational brownout” and at least seven percent wanted more production from non-renewable energy sources.
IPO, led by Maria Linda Arquiza, said that while the respondents are willing to protect the environment, they are not willing to give up the comfort of having continued energy source even at a high cost.
Only few of them indicated that they are willing to endure brownouts and power outages than face high cost of energy, IPO said.
The survey also revealed that Dabawenyos have a high level of concern about environmental issues such as global warming, deforestation, urban flooding, energy crisis and air pollution.
The current levels of concern, IPO said, were due to their relevant knowledge and experiences.
IPO said eight of 10 respondents showed concern about the pollution of drinking water, coastal degradation and loss of marine resources, including pollution of rivers and water reservoir.
Seven out of 10 were concerned about mining and its effects, urban sprawl and loss of open spaces and maintenance of Davao city’s fresh water supply.
“The results further suggest that the public is not fully satisfied and confident on the existing policies governing these environmental issues,” IPO said.
The institute further said the government has to show to the people that it is capable of addressing the environmental problems.
Conducted in May this year, the survey involved a total of 1,150 respondents, whose ages range from 18 years old and above, in all barangays of three districts in Davao City. (Lorie Ann Cascaro/MindaNews)
