Coal Fired Power Station in Davao

Probably be a culture shock for you then, Just like most South East Asian City's, only worse.

Which island is that on Jim?

I have been to Jakarta and Manila. Presumably Valencia is nowhere as big. From what she says it sounds quite small.

I think I would find Sagbang a culture shock, from how she describes it.

Ahh Negros. Never been there. I did see it in the distance across the Tanon straits.

Cost.

The requirement for new power stations on Mindanao is pretty urgent and it's quicker and easier to commission a coal-burning plant than to do test drillings in the proximity of a volcano. And there are bound to be political reasons too!

My understanding is that drilling for geothermal energy is more expensive than drilling for hydrocarbons. However it does depend on depth required to drill. If the energy source is close to the surface then the wells would be cheap(er). A well in the proximity of a dormant volcano would encounter a higher temperature gradient than on other parts of the planet and would therefore only need to be a couple of miles deep, if that. However, I guess if the coal is cheap it might be enticing but that seems to go against the grain of the local attempts at a clean air policy.

I wouldnt know where they get their coal from but their is a technique called CBM which is a bit cleaner where the coal is left in the ground and methane is extracted from it whilst under ground. If the coal is at all local then it would have been a better approach.

I notice the fluidised bed system in use involves a kind of limestone "scrubber" and the end product will contain the polluting effluent but I wonder where they will put it? Probably in someone else's back yard if not their own. I would think there would be a considerable amount of limestone involved in the process.

A clean process maybe but there will still be a considerable amount of harmful waste by-products.

My understanding is that Mt Apo does not have a vertical cross-section that is similar to, for example, the Taal volcano. The land rises steadily quite some distance away from the base of the volcano. Unlike other dormant volcanoes in the country, Apo hasn't shown any signs of life since before the Spanish came here.

The coal feeding the Toril power station most probably comes from an open cast mine in Cotobato which would make it cheap since it's entirely possible that both the mine and power station are owned by the same family/corporation.

The high geothermal gradient is a good clue to its potential. And the fact that it has not erupted since the Spanish moved in is not an indication that it is no longer active. The records appear to suggest the last eruption was pre Holocene. However it is a slumbering dragon with one eye still open and gently smouldering through its nostrils.

The activity of Apo or otherwise, like other volcanos in the Philippines, is an expression of what is going on tectonically, in the region. Apo and its surrounding districts are as much a part of that as any other tectonically active region of the Philippines. Not even Rodders can do anything about that.

Pinatubo was classified as dormant, until a few years ago.