Search

The importance of renewable energy policies to obtain sustainability in global energy system is presented.

The pros and cons of using gas in light vehicles are assessed based on the data from Brazil. Suggestions are also offered to handle the emission issues there from. The adverse implications of wrong or under developed technology being transferred to developing countries are also discussed.

After the Johannesburg World summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD), there has been growing interest in the establishment of a minimum share of renewable sources in the world energy matrix, which poses a question about how the new technologies can compete with the old ones. In Brazil , over the last 25 years, ethanol is used as a replacement of gasoline and the Brazilian electricity matrix reinforces the country's commitment, to utilize adequate policies for achieving sustainable development.

Renewable energy is the basic ingredient for sustainable development. The so-called `traditional' and `modern' biomass are compared to analyze the sustainability of biomass, and the need for statistical information, which will allow the elaboration of scenarios relevant to renewable energy targets in the world, is discussed.

The Gross Domestic Product, described in constant US dollars with regard to purchasing power parity, is used to study the energy intensity paths in various countries between 1971 and 1992. The trends indicate that both industrialized and developing countries have a common pattern of energy use.

Continued industrial developments in developing countries are expected to result in a substantial increase in greenhouse gas emissions, which will eventually exceed those of industrialized countries by the year 2020. It is noted that reductions in carbon emissions in developing countries might have already surpassed savings of industrialized nations due to increased international pressure and policy changes. In particular, energy price reforms that have produced production efficiency and savings are seen as a cause of developments.

The concept of energy intensity is coming to be recognized as a useful tool for examining trends in energy usage in certain countries. In 1993, Nielsson plotted the energy intensities of 31 developed and developing countries for the period 1950 to 1988. The values of the energy intensities that were generated for developing countries suggest that the modern sector in Third World has a considerable impact on economic activity and energy consumption.

Economic growth and the development of developing countries can be achieved through the utilization of an enormous amount of energy and technology. Developing countries are left with many choices, the best of which is to leapfrog over some of the measures originally taken by industrialized countries and integrate currently-available modern and effective technologies into their development process. The ability to select the right technologies is vital to the success of leapfrogging.

The carbonization index can be used to track a country's use of energy technologies that are derived from fossil fuels. An analysis of the changes in the carbonization index of industrialized and developing countries in the period between 1971 and 1994 reveals that the carbonization indices of France and Brazil have fallen the most, reflecting these two countries' shift to non-fossil fuels. In the case of Brazil, the drop in the carbonization index was due to its shift to hydroelectric power, while from France, the drop could be traced to its shift to nuclear-generated electricity.

Studies show that Brazil's ethanol cost decline during the period 1982 to 1990 was at a progress ratio (PR) of 70%, while during the period 1990 to 1995 cost decline was at a PR 90%. PR is an indicator used to describe the exponential decline of product costs as production grows; the lower the PR the faster is the decline of costs. Brazil's increasing ethanol production PR necessitates further technological progress to lower the costs.

Brazil's ambitious alcohol fuel program was fuelled by the two overriding concerns: the dramatic rise in oil prices in the 1970s and the equally sharp fall in sugarcane prices in the same period. While the production cost of ethanol fuel obtained from sugarcane crops was initially a prohibitive $100 a barrel, the cost was subsequently halved because of economies of scale, allowing Brazil to increase production to 12.6 billion liters in 1995. Benefits of the ethanol program include savings of hard currency and environmental benefits accruing from the reduction of CO2 emissions.