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Unicamp Newspaper - May 2000

page 11

the EVENT
The fountain that never dries up

Lbook shows how Brazil, whose name was taken from biomass, can use renewable energy to stand out within the globalized economy

AApproximately 40% of the primary energy consumed in Brazil comes from oil, 35% from hydroelectric plants and 25% from the use of biological materials such as firewood or sugarcane baggage – biomass. The imminent dissemination of natural gas in the country (through the gas pipeline from Bolivia) entails the risk of an even greater predominance of the use of fossil fuels, with their impacts, known and unknown, to the environment. Furthermore, they are sources that dry up.

The energy crisis will not hit humanity today or tomorrow, but it is so obvious that the most advanced part of the political, economic and scientific world has been paying special attention o creating a political basis for sustainable development. Members of the European Union and the United States have already set goals for the varied and balanced consumption of energy sources. And, in this equation, the production of energy from biomass, considered the most neutral in environmental terms, has increasing weight.

Industrial uses of biomass energy: The example of Brazil is a book authored by Harry Rothman (from the University of West of England) and Francisco Rosillo-Calle (from King's College), which brings an outsider's view of the advantages that Brazil would have if it implemented a coherent policy for the production of biomass energy. Published by Taylor & Francis, London, and launched at Unicamp on March 30, the work also brings together work by researchers Lu�s Augusto Barbosa Cortez, from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering ( FEM) and collaborator at the Interdisciplinary Center for Energy Planning (Nipe), and Sérgio Valdir Bajay, from the FEM Department of Energy.

Achievements and obstacles

Harry Rothman states that our country has a unique chance to benefit from the generation of biomass energy, in the event of competition in the global economy, taking advantage of geographic and particular climates. The author presents an overview of the achievements already achieved in the area by Brazil and shows the obstacles to be overcome in order to implement the industrial use of this type of energy, with investments in modern technologies.

The criticism that a lot of biomass is required to obtain little energy, which increases production costs, Rothman responds with what he calls externalities. "Oil, for example, seems advantageous, but atmospheric pollution and environmental damage caused by leaks such as the one in the Guanabara Bay do not factor into its final price. Ignoring these externalities , we create a picture in which the bad technological solution appears to be the correct one. If we calculate the true cost, we will see that the technical capacity for the use of biomass is much more favorable", argues the English researcher. It is estimated that Brazil wastes at least 15 million tons/year of forestry waste.

Despite this, Lu�s Cortez, from Unicamp, admits that the 25% rate in biomass energy production in the country is reasonable - a level maintained thanks to the increase in sugarcane bagasse to compensate for the decrease in firewood and charcoal. Even more so if this percentage is compared to the 12% target established in the European Union or to the resource used by the United States, which gives strategic importance to the addition of corn alcohol. Gasoline. "I usually emphasize that, if we add up all the renewable energy programs in Europe, there is no Pro�lcool", says the Nipe researcher.