An Assessment on the Biomass Energy Resources for the Province of Laguna, Republic of the Philippines

Biomass is one of the very important fuel sources in developing countries, in case of the Philippines. Thus, the energy extracted from these resources can provide several advantages in terms of energy security, socio-economic development, and environment. An illustrative case study is conducted for the whole province of Laguna, Philippines, in order to utilize the energy assessed from biomass, particularly on the livestock waste exploitation on cattle, swine, and poultry. The assessed energy potential for Laguna may lead to have a solution for energy crisis and environmental concerns. The researchers have visited the six (6) local government units of Laguna, namely the cities of Binan, Sta. Rosa, and Calamba, and the municipalities of Los Banos, Calauan, and Cabuyao, in order to gather data and information. Several data from other farms in some areas in the Philippines are also provided, in order to develop a mathematical model that allows the estimation of the electricity consumption in the farm. The evaluation and ultimate selection of the most appropriate livestock waste system is a multi-level and multi-criteria decision problem. This study thus utilizes the Weighted Decision Making (WDM) for problem structuring and eventual ranking of the livestock waste systems. Finally, the location of the proposed biomass-energy plant is determined by utilizing the graphical representation method.