Waste is already evident
at the beginning of rationing
Gilberto Januzzi calculates that the population has reduced consumption
of energy by 10% just by cutting superfluous expenditure

WANDA JORGE

The existence of energy waste was already evident in the first results collected after the implementation of the government's drastic measures to avoid blackouts. For researcher from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (FEM) at Unicamp Gilberto de Martino Januzzi, the immediate reduction in consumption of around 18% in the Southeast region and a little more in the Northeast showed that it is possible to obtain a quick response to the rationing call , mainly by the residential user.

“There was a break. At least 10% of the reduction obtained can be identified as energy that was wasted; the rest is due to a dose of sacrifice that the domestic sector is making”. For Januzzi, the public sector also contributed in this first phase, imposing time restrictions and serving as an example. The next agents must be commerce and industry, which need to learn how to operate economically and look for alternatives and technological improvement.

The initial positive impact, however, should not mask the reality: the major conservation areas have not yet been attacked. The Unicamp professor, who since May has been the manager of the Energy Sector Fund created by the Ministry of Science and Technology, points out that there is much to be done in the areas of electricity generation and transmission. There has been a lot of talk over the last ten years about the difficulties that the choice of energy matrix would cause for the country. All experts, including those from government sectors, already knew that the crisis was inevitable.

As soon as the Itaipu Plant came into operation in 1983, and four years later, with the cut in investments in generation and transmission, the current crisis began to emerge. Gilberto Januzzi marks the mid-90s as the time when the situation became more complicated, making the signs that reliability in the energy system was affected irrefutable.

In the researcher's opinion, it is not productive to keep talking about the past, as this will not help to alleviate the situation. The fundamental thing, in his opinion, is to direct efforts towards future solutions, an activity on which he has focused since his first book, Integrated Energy Resource Planning, from 1997 – discussing issues of the environment, energy conservation and renewable sources – , edited in partnership with North American researcher Joel NP Swisher. Topics that he returned to addressing last year, with the publication of Public Policies for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in the New Market Context. In this latest study, he compares the United States' experience in company deregulation with the privatization of the sector in Brazil.

Januzzi graduated in mathematics from Unicamp, but directed his specialization from his doctoral thesis in the area of ​​Energy Sciences, at the University of Cambridge, England, in 1983. He deepened his knowledge in 1990, with a post-doctorate at the University of Berkeley, California.

Energy Fund – The government became aware that the crisis was imminent in the last decade, which triggered a series of measures such as, for example, the adjustment of gas prices and the approval of the energy efficiency law, proposed in 1990 and approved only now, regulating the use of more efficient technologies for energy-consuming appliances and equipment. “These were positive actions, even if insufficient, that the crisis forced”, considers the professor.

The creation of the Energy Sector Fund, in May, with the allocation of 0,5% of companies' net annual revenue for research and development, is a fundamental decision to seek alternative energy sources, within stable political planning and long term. For this year, the estimated budget is R$80 million to be invested in personal training and basic and applied research. “Optimizing the energy system takes time and concrete measures to change consumption are always medium and long term. We are talking about at least five years, but this sector is characterized by the need for planning at least 10 years in advance. In short-term actions taken to manage crises, distortions are inevitable”, he warns.

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Lack of technology to produce wind energy

Researcher Gilberto Januzzi, from Unicamp, points out some energy options for Brazil, with great potential for use, such as wind power (despite the country's small technological dominance), or solar and biomass, two promising resources that already have installed capacity, but little employed to this day. In the case of taking advantage of the wind regime, there is enormous potential in the coastal strips of the Northeast, from Pernambuco to Ceará. The main obstacle is the lack of national technology, which would require the adaptation of those already existing in Denmark, Germany and the United States. There is also a lack of precise mapping of the regions where it is possible to use wind energy. Until now, there is only one Brazilian industry, in Sorocaba, in the interior of São Paulo, manufacturing wind turbines for Ceará with German technology. The role of the Energy Sector Fund will be to develop these adjustments, which will serve as a basis for our industry.

Januzzi announces that in-depth energy planning studies will be resumed to understand future demands and anticipate them. Another objective is to encourage the use of biomass, notably in the industries that transform sugarcane into alcohol and sugar, paper and cellulose, as well as other agricultural waste. Brazil can grow a lot in this area, with the advantage of already mastering much of the basic knowledge for its implementation.

Likewise, solar energy, which is not even included in the country's energy balance, despite being researched since the 70s, is an extremely interesting option for composing supply sources.

Ingredients – Brazilian GDP is very dependent on energy consumption and one of the ingredients to reverse this cost composition is the search for new technologies. “Alternative sources are complementary to hydroelectric and thermoelectric sources, but solar energy, for example, is completely suitable for thermal uses of electricity, such as showers, to name the most common case. It replaces the mistaken choice of the past, which prioritized electrical energy for such devices”, adds the professor.

Faced with the crisis, the risks of blackouts and the impotence in implementing viable and economical options immediately, the medium-term challenge will be to achieve the rationalization of consumption and the gradual diversification of the production matrix. Gilberto Januzzi believes that an important step in this task was the creation of the Fund, which constitutes a stable source of resources – a percentage of energy sales – and makes effective energy planning viable. As representatives of all sectors involved in energy policy sit on the management committee of this Sector Fund, the Unicamp professor believes that there will be more chances and political strength for the implementation of alternative sources in the future.