Energy in Brazil: Toward sustainable development?

Revista Ibero-Americana de Ciências Ambientais, 2012

Natural Resources Forum, 2007

2014

In principle, there is no contradiction between exploiting the deepwater oil reserves (pre-salt) and the commitment towards a low-carbon economy, if the intelligent management of royalties and production strategies is guaranteed. Furthermore, investments in second-generation ethanol, with a greater technological content are needed and the exploitation of the pre-salt has to be accompanied by an expansion of the technological capacity. The income generated this way could be channeled to foster structural reforms in the fields of education and social infrastructure and to contribute to the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Recent developments and outlook of Energy and Sustainable development in Brazil

Natural Resources Forum, 2005

This article aims to demonstrate how the government of Brazil can make the energy sector sustainable in order to collaborate in the fight against global warming and to bequeath the existing energy resources in the country to future generations. According to the International Energy Agency, oil, natural gas and coal are the energy sources most responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In the world, the use and production of energy are responsible for 57% of the emission of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In Brazil, the energy sector is responsible for 21% of greenhouse gas emissions. The electricity sector in Brazil has 19.7% of energy sources based on fossil fuels (natural gas, petroleum derivatives and coal and derivatives) and 2.2% of energy sources based on nuclear power plants. In turn, Brazil's energy matrix as a whole has 53.3% of energy sources based on fossil fuels (oil and derivatives, natural gas and mineral coal) and 1.3% are energy sources based on nuclear power plants. For Brazil's energy sector to be sustainable, all these energy sources based on fossil fuels and nuclear power plants must be replaced by renewable energy sources (hydro, solar, wind, tidal, wave, biomass and hydrogen).

Revista Catalana de Dret Ambiental, 2015

This article aims to present what the future would require for the production and consumption of energy in Brazil based on the use of clean and renewable energy. To avoid the catastrophic future that is predicted for humanity resulting from global warming, it is imperative, among other measures, to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases by replacing the current global energy matrix based fundamentally on fossil fuels (oil , coal and natural gas) by another global energy matrix structured based on renewable energy resources (hydroelectricity, biomass, solar energy, wind energy and hydrogen). In Brazil, the Ministry of Mines and Energy prepared the National Energy Plan 2050 (PNE 2050) in 2020, which does not adopt measures capable of preventing the emission of greenhouse gases in both the electricity and oil sectors.