Mindoro hub certified 'zero-carbon ready'

THE Mindoro Biodiversity Conservation Center (MBCC), located at the foot of Mt. Malasimbo in Puerto Galera, recently received its Level 2: EDGE Advance Certification from the Philippine Green Building Initiative, signifying its status as «zero-carbon ready.» It is one of only 19 projects in the country to receive the EDGE Advance certificate.

MBCC was established to serve as an information and education center promoting Mindoro's unique biodiversity and cultural heritage, with emphasis on their impact on society and climate change.

EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) is a green building certification system established by the International Finance Corp. in response to the need for measurable and credible solutions from a project's design to post-construction stages.

With the EDGE Advance certification, MBCC is now considered a green building with a resource-efficient design that is expected to result in 78-percent reduction in energy use, 51 percent in water and 69 percent in materials' embodied energy. The facility utilizes power from a solar energy system donated by the Department of Science and Technology-Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), enabling it to save on energy consumption by at least 40 percent.

The structure is a one-story building with 600-square-meter gross floor area that includes a museum, library, amphitheater, research laboratory, nursery and other features.

The MBCC was developed by the Mindoro Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Inc., a nongovernmental organization that has been pursuing conservation programs for Mindoro since its establishment in 2008 through funding support from the Malampaya Joint Venture Partners comprised of Prime Energy Resources Development, UC38 LLC and PNOC Exploration Corp.