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The planned expansion of biofuel plantations in Brazil could potentially cause both direct and indirect land-use changes (e.g., biofuel plantations replace rangelands, which replace forests). In this study, we use a spatially explicit model to project land-use changes caused by that expansion in 2020, assuming that ethanol (biodiesel) production increases by 35 (4) x [10.sup.9] liter in the 2003-2020 period. Our simulations show that direct land-use changes will have a small impact on carbon emissions because most biofuel plantations would replace rangeland areas. However, indirect land-use changes, especially those pushing the rangeland frontier into the Amazonian forests, could offset the carbon savings from biofuels. Sugarcane ethanol and soybean biodiesel each contribute to nearly half of the projected indirect deforestation of 121,970 [km.sup.2] by 2020, creating a carbon debt that would take about 250 years to be repaid using these biofuels instead of fossil fuels. We also tested different crops that could serve as feedstock to fulfill Brazil's biodiesel demand and found that oil palm would cause the least land-use changes and associated carbon debt. The modeled livestock density increases by 0.09 head per hectare. But a higher increase of 0.13 head per hectare in the average livestock density throughout the country could avoid the indirect land-use changes caused by biofuels (even with soybean as the biodiesel feedstock), while still fulfilling all food and bioenergy demands. We suggest that a closer collaboration or strengthened institutional link between the biofuel and cattle-ranching sectors in the coming years is crucial for effective carbon savings from biofuels in Brazil. deforestation | integrated assessment | livestock | policy analysis | Global Environment Outlook 4 doi/10.1073/pnas.0907318107

Electric utility tariff revisions in Brazil and its effect on industry earnings is evaluated.

The conditions required for expanding oil refining sector in Brazil are discussed.

The successful adoption of independent subsystems method by Brazilian electricity sector is discussed.

The importance of electricity generation through renewable alternative energy sources is discussed and the prohibitive costs of implementing associated technologies are mentioned. The need for government to offer incentives to encourage people to opt for such technologies is discussed based on the regulatory mechanism implemented in Brazil recently for lending impetus to alternative forms of electricity generation in the country.

A study analyzing the effectiveness of energy policies implemented in Brazil from mid-nineties is presented. The study focuses on effect of these policies on research and development activities as well as efficiency and investment in the energy sector.

A study using two important macroeconomic indicators, the emission-intensity ratio and energy-intensity ratio is conducted to analyze the environmental and energy policies in three developing countries, Brazil, China and India. The results show that the trends differ from the ones seen in industrialized nations.

Developing countries, which fall under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), are implementing domestic programs to lessen global climate change. Though Brazil is a Non-Annex I party to UNFCCC, it has further implemented energy policies in due course to lessen economic or environmental problems that resulted in lowering of CO2 emissions. The case of the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario of National Energy Policy Council of the Ministry of Mines and Energy (CNPE) examines that the discontinuity of these energy policies increases CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020 when compared to the hidden benefits from the continuity of these policies.

The studies of Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) show that natural gas is a viable alternative to firewood and other polluting fuels in order to sustain the growth of the Brazilian power industry for the period 1998-2010. The proposed specific actions, if followed, in application areas of natural gas such as industrial, electric power generation, domestic distribution and vehicular fleet conversions will have low environmental impacts.

Energy trends and energy policy objectives in Brazil are reviewed and twelve policy options to advance energy efficiency and use of renewable energy are proposed. Some of the policies proposed include new financial incentives while other policies include market obligations such as paying avoided costs for electricity from combined heat and power (CHP) systems and offering attractive payment for electricity supplied to the grid by wind, power and bioenergy projects.

The technical and economic potential for natural gas-fired cogeneration (NGCHP) in Brazil's chemical industry is estimated. Appropriate incentive policies on a stand-along basis may increase this potential by up to 18 times.

The thermo power sector in operation, under construction and on the drawing board, in Brazil, is explained. This is done with the help of the survey conducted and the questionnaires completed by companies owing these power plants.

The article outlines several ways in which Brazil can produce 17% of current energy more by reusing solid wastes.

The article examines planning for sustainable development, using energy resource management in Brazil as an example. Discussion focuses on technological leapfrogging, or the borrowing of technological knowledge and skills from industrial countries by developing countries.

Research describing the impact of environmental and energy policies in Brazil is presented. In particular an analysis of energy and emission factors is used to compare the influence of differing model structures on decisions.

A discussion is presented of the technical and bureaucratic challenges faced by the Golden Genesis Co. and Brazil's Fundacao Teotonio Vilela (FTV) in financing the development of photovoltaic power generation, which ultimately resulted in Golden pulling out of the project. FTV eventually convinced the Bank of the Northeast of Brazil to renegotiate its loan, and brought on board a new partner, BP/Solarex.

Research was conducted to evaluate the thermopower generation and the environmental conditions in Brazil. The growth in power generation and the emissions of pollutants from energy plants as well as the regulatory proposal for the electricity system and potential environmental risk were comparatively assessed. It was determined that the option of operating thermopower plants offered substantial opportunities to open the electric sector to private investors.

Electricity utilization has been increasing in Brazil since the 1970s, and households have been the major consumers with 20% of the total utilization. Electricity conservation programs have been introduced to create awareness among householders. The effectiveness of these campaigns was evaluated by conducting a survey of 7,000 residents in Sao Paulo. The results revealed that 80-90% of the residents were already aware of the need to restrict the use of major consumers of electricity

The Balbina dam cost nearly a billion dollars of public money, destroyed 236,000 hectares of primary forest, formed a gigantic lake of shallow stagnant water, killed millions of wild animals, flooded indigenous lands, is causing hunger and illness to riverine people -- all for just 80 megawatts of electricity. Even those responsible for the dam now admit that it is a disaster, yet similar projects are still being built and no investigation has been carried out to discover why, in the face of clear scientific warnings, balbina was ever constructed.

The aim of the project on indicators for sustainable energy development (ISED) in Brazil is to present energy related economic, social and environmental data to policy makers in a coherent and consistent form, showing interlinkages, time-series and cross-sectoral analyses and assess energy policy. The ISED set is useful for assessing Brazil's sustainable energy development.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is a leading multinational, multi-agency effort to develop a set of energy indicators useful for measuring progress on sustainable development at the national level. The IAEA completed a three-year coordinated research project for the implementation and testing of the original set of indicators in seven countries Brazil, Cuba, Lithuania, Mexico, Russia, Slovak Republic and Thailand.

Byline: Edmar Luiz Fagundes De Almeida, Helder Queiroz Pinto Jr. The objective of this paper is to analyse the background of the reform process in the Brazilian Electricity Industry and to examine the adequacy of the new energy policy being implemented as a way to restore the level of investment, in particular private investment. The Brazilian experience of market-oriented reform questions the ability of the operational competition to ensure long-term security-of-supply. This experience shows that the competitiveness of the new projects depends on the costs structure of the power sector. When the power sector is based on cheap hydro-based generation capacity, new projects for electricity generation tend to have higher costs than the installed capacity. In this case, long run marginal cost of expansion tends to grow, creating important political obstacles for implementing a free market for electricity. As the government hesitated in letting all electricity produced to be priced at the marginal cost level, new projects have problems in getting power purchase agreement contracts. New investment and the reserve margins decreased, exposing the country to a power shortage. This paper has shown that the reform process in Brazilian electricity industry opens the way for a more coherent energy policy. If well implemented, the new model can help reduce the risks for new investments, preserving a central role for the private sector in the industry's expansion.