Anna Swierta

Energy consumption reduction in Brasil : what are the key factors ? Brazil is the 10th largest energy consumer in the world. At the same time, it is an important oil and gas producer in the region and the world's second largest ethanol fuel producer. The country has the largest capacity for water storage in the world, being highly dependent on hydroelectricity generation capacity. Hydroelectric plants account for 77% of total installed capacity, with 24 plants above 1,000 MW. About 88 percent of the electricity fed into the national grid is estimated to come from hydroelectric generation. Natural gas generation is second in importance, representing about 10% of total capacity. (source : Wikipedia.org) Energy is at the heart of the debate today in Brazil, with the recent launch of the controversial hydroelectric plant project in Belo Monte, which is planned to be the third biggest hydroelectric plant in the world, but also accused of having an impact on the local nature and indigenous people. The debate is about the real need and benefits of building this kind of infrastructure versus thinking more about a reduction of the energy consumption. Indeed, 12% of the energy produced in Brazil is wasted, according to an Eletrobras study. Since 1995, the energy consumption has been growing more than the production capacity. Reducing this waste would clearly be a key objective. This loss may be reduced at the production source (for example with by pump storage systems in the hydroelectric plants), on the distribution network, or by changing habits or inefficient domestic appliances among all kind of consumers. How to drive all those changes, in particular on the final demand point of view , without forgetting that there is still a lack of energy in the country ? 10% of the people dont have access to energy yet. There is certainly a problem of distribution, and it seems also clear that who uses the most energy are the companies and the Brazilian upper class. The idea would then be to focus firstly on those segments of the population without disadvantaging those who clearly need more energy. In this study, we will consider three key influence factors on energy consumption : education, investment in infrastructures, economic and juridical measures. Then we will analyze a particular weak point in the Brazilian energy consumption : the electric showers, and show which effective measures can be applied. Education This process has just begun in Brazil through governmental initiatives, but there is still much to do in changing the minds, in particular among classes which recently acceded to a greater purchasing power. The idea of sustainability and responsibility are still weak in a country mainly developed through frenetic consumption. Infrastructures The Brazilian government has to resolve the energy access inequalities problem while keeping in mind the sustainable development. An efficient initiative would be to substitute the precarious installations and old appliances which result in higher energy consumption in low-income households, with higher priority on refrigerators, for various reasons : high participation on the residential energy consumption, high appliance dissemination among low-income households, and because the less developed regions are the North and Northeast, where the ambient temperatures are higher and therefore refrigerators consumption is higher.

Anna Swierta

Investments should also be made, for example on reducing the length and improving the quality of the electricity lines; which means preferring small, local energy nodes than one big source of energy for a big territory. Economic and juridical measures The major consumers concerned would be the companies. Juridical and financial measures in order to stimulate companies as well as households already exist. But is it really working, and could energy cuts be a radical but more effective solution ? Brazil has already been exposed to sudden electricity cuts because of a strong demand and no conditions to supply this demand. Indeed, the dependence on hydropower makes Brazil especially vulnerable to power supply shortages in drought years, as was demonstrated by the 2001-2002 energy crisis, one of the most serious energy crises in its history. The crisis was the direct result of a sequence of a few years drier than average. Additionally, several delays in the commissioning of new generation plants and transmission problems in the third circuit from the Itaipu hydropower plant accounted for a third of the energy deficit. Reservoir levels reached such low levels that supply could not be ensured for more than four months. It was soon clear that strict demand reduction programs would be needed to avoid widespread blackouts. It was made though a program called the Energy Efficiency Law, setting up special tariffs, implementing compulsory rationing and blackouts, and bypass normal bidding procedures of the purchase of new plant equipment. Instead of resorting to rolling blackouts, the government chose to apply a quota system. Quotas were established for all the consumers based on historical and target consumption level, applying bonuses for consumption well below the prescribed level, penalties for overconsumption and some freedom for the large users to trade their quotas in a secondary market. The real impact of this national shock on the attitude towards energy is discussed. Although some figures talk about more than 20% consumption reduction in eight months, over US$200 million in bonuses paid by the government to residential, industrial, and commercial customers, and the creation of a virtual capacity of 4,000MW, some researchers criticize the effectiveness of all the measures of the Energy Efficiency Law, arguing that the money spent hasnt been allocated rightly neither managed to reduce highly the energy consumption. One example : Brazilian electric showers Let us see a concrete example of those three perspectives applied to the consumption of the Brazilian households. If we have a look on the electricity use in a typical Brazilian house, the weak point seems clearly the choice of electric showers, using more than 70% of the energy while being used. A high use period is observed between 17h30 and 20h30, and it is during this period that high demand happens to lead to general breakdown. Consumers are now encouraged to change this habit through communication, but also with the recent price model adopted, differentiating the electricity price depending on the hour. But the only presence of the electricity heater, which is responsible for the major part of the electricity households electricity consumption, is still an aberration. The technical response would be substituting the electric shower by a cleaner energy such as solar heaters. Some solutions already developed, like offering solar energy heaters to the favela (Brazilian slums) inhabitants, seem quite appropriated. Conclusion

Anna Swierta

The energy challenge will be complex and will imply a combination of a national strategy and focused local initiatives, dealing with the often observed and criticized gap between the law and the concrete application of this law on such a gigantic country full of discrepancies and the complexity of a global politic coordination. Brazil shall deal with the opposition of the economic agents who have interest in a higher consumption, such as energy providers since the 1990s energy market liberalization, but on the other side, is following an international pressure for a more sustainable development.