While I too welcomed the NPE 2030’s emphasis on dropping consumption of wood and vegetable-based charcoal as fuel sources, I was puzzled by its relatively weak vision (compared to the government’s rhetoric in the past 4 yrs) for biodiesel and biomass co-generation.

I was even more confounded by its near dismissal of Brazil’s enormous solar & wind potential and its downplaying of the possibilities for energy efficiency savings. One thing I forgot to mention in my article is that the NPE envisions getting most of the energy efficiency gains in the residential sector, which is strange when the real big gains are more likely in motors in the industrial sector and building energy efficiency…

Brazil is one country that has the necessary tools in place (a fairly solid national energy efficiency law, a labeling system, a testing and certification authority (INMETRO) with substantial experience in this particular area, a good R&D and testing infrastructure, etc.) to realize significant gains in a short time frame. The Lula Administration needs to make better use of that than they have so far, in my opinion.

Best Regards,
Keith