A CERTIFIED green energy company finds their products and services critical as the country has pinpointed the need for storage facilities that can balance the food supply and stabilize prices in this time of crisis.
Jenelyn Yuson, chief executive officer of Dazzling Lite Enterprises, pointed out that the country’s location in the ring of fire makes it even more challenging for its agriculture and keeping its harvests safe for the next cropping or for the times when the harvests are low.
As the government uses conventional storage facilities like bodegas and grain silos, devastating typhoons often blow these out ruining millions worth of prime seeds and potential supply stabilizer during off-harvest seasons.
During typhoon Odette, unconfirmed sources leaked to the media said Bohol lost about P10 million worth of rice seeds which were stored in a storage facility at the Bohol Experimental Station, when the strong winds peeled off the roof of the building and exposed everything to the rains.
Yuson, whose company is the sole authorized builder of the monolithic dome structures in the country said they offer disaster proof dome buildings that have been tested to withstand 750 kilometers per hour of winds.
Using the dome design of an inflated air form, builders then spray the fire resistant insulation, install the steel rebars and rebar hangers inside the done to reinforce it and then spray concrete on the insulated walls using high powered concrete sprayers, Yuson explained of the building methodology.
The result is a compact building that is generally round so the winds would just follow the curve and dissipate and, with the insulation and the concrete walls, the heat of the sun is trapped and stabilized by the concrete walls, making the inside temperature of the dome way below the outside temperature.
That is without even putting in air conditioners, Yuson, who came to Bohol to build the P51M monolithic dome rice storage facility in Ubay.
Using a bigger design that their template, the rice seed storage facility at the Ubay Stock Farm can accommodate 40,000 bags of rice seeds, in temperatures that preserves the seed’s germination efficiency.
Dazzling Lite’s monolithic domes are approved by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a disaster proof structure and at the same time, it is a green building because we do not cut trees to build the dome, Yuson, whose company also sells and installs solar lighting projects and are leading the switch to LED light campaign of the Department of Energy.
Coming at a time when the new Administration is tackling food security amidst an economic crunch, Dazzling Lite sees an opportunity to help the government in its programs.
“In Bohol, for example, the monolithic dome here can store the harvests of some 500 hectares, well enough for the next harvest season, but Bohol has 165,000 hectares of rice fields. Where do we secure these harvests,” asks Roden Guinto, Dazzling Lite’s consultant, in a separate interview.
The monolithic dome, Dazzling Lite’s officials said, can also be repurposed to some other needs: housing, evacuation centers, schools and cold storage facilities which will only need half of the energy needed to keep fresh fish and vegetables in regulated temperatures to keep them from rotting.
This will allow Bohol to store whatever is in excess supply now to be released to the market later when the supply is low and stabilize prices.
Interestingly, newly elected Bohol Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado, has also hinted of building cold storage facilities that could help Bohol fishermen store their catch for local distribution. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)
