Demanda de energia na indústria brasileira: efeitos da eficiência energética / Energy demand of brazilian industry: effects of energy efficiency

AUTOR(ES)
FONTE

IBICT - Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia

DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

09/03/2012

RESUMO

The conservation of energy, specifically energy efficiency is gaining importance lately in Brazil and the world due environmental impacts that intensive use of energy generates to the environment and for the fact that the supply of energy, mainly derived from nonrenewable sources, is becoming increasingly scarce. Studies which approach the impacts that efficiency gains can generate in terms of cost and energy conservation and, therefore, to reduce the effects of industrial activity on the environment are gaining importance. This work had as its main motivation to determine the impact of energy efficiency in energy demand of Brazilian industry. For this we used two complementary methodologies to discourse on the subject. First, the energy intensity was decomposed into two distinct effects: Intensity effect and Structural effect. The results suggest that the Intensity effect was mainly responsible for the loss of efficiency in energy used by industry. As the Intensity Effect is an important proxy for the Energy Efficiency, we attempted to determine the impact of energy consumption in Brazilian industry. Other variables were also used to compose the function of energy demand, such as industrial GDP, weighted average prices of different energy sources and the level of salaries paid in the industry. The results suggest that a 1% increase in the intensity effect has an impact of 0.297% in industrial energy consumption. We also sought to pursue the determinants of Energy Efficiency. For this purpose, we used as explanatory variables the Net Fixed Capital Formation as a proxy of the investment made by the industry, the Use of Installed Capacity as an indicator of excess or industrial underused and finally the Real Exchange Rate, as most energy-intensive industrial sectors are also characterized by a strong opening to foreign trade. The results suggest that increased use of installed capacity implies the loss of energy efficiency. On the other hand, increase in Net Fixed Capital Formation contributes to the reduction of the Intensity Effect which implies an increase in the efficient use of energy. It was concluded that the increased Rate of Investment in the economy, besides increasing the Energy Efficiency in industry, is also responsible for reducing energy consumption and thus benefit the industrial sector itself by reducing costs as well as the whole society through the benefits that the reduction of energy production can have on the environment and saving non-renewable resources.

ASSUNTO(S)

amazonia energy efficiency exploração florestal - análise econômica impactos ambientais industrial energy demand - brazil intensity effect manejo florestal método de monte carlo

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