Bioenergy in Brazil – from traditional to modern systems - Biomass as Energy Source: Resources, Systems and Applications - page 69

CHAPTER 4
Bioenergy in Brazil - from traditional to modern systems
Semida Silveira
4.1 FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRY TO LEADING ECONOMY
In the past decades, Brazil has moved froma position among developing countries to a key position
as a BRIC 1 country, member of the G20 2 , and soon the sixth largest economy in the world. 3 Behind
theBrazilian economicmiracle, a number of specific efforts have been particularly important. This
includes the efforts towards industrialization started in the 1930s, modernization of agriculture
started mainly after the 1960s, and stronger integration of the country with the global economy
after the mid-1980s. Political stability and economic growth has led to unprecedented poverty
reduction particularly after the turn of the last century (OECD, 2011). More recently, Brazil has
also emerged as a major scientific nation, a development that is gaining speed with increasing
efforts towards more innovation (Adams and Christopher, 2009). In addition, energy provision
and use, and the transformation of the Brazilian energy system have served as an important pillar
for the great economic transformation that the country has undergone.
In energy terms, Brazil has gone from strong dependency on traditional biomass to a diversi-
fied and modern energy matrix within less than half a century. In 1950, Brazil was still largely
dependent on traditional biomass for energy purposes, and only larger cities had access to elec-
tricity (Fig. 4.1). In fact, some 80% of the energy used in the country was based on traditional
biomass technologies. By the turn of the century, the country's energy consumption had increased
manifold, but then relying on modern and innovative energy systems largely based on renewable
energy sources. Brazil is now rapidly approaching full electricity coverage thanks to recent efforts
prioritizing universal coverage (MME, 2012; Gomez and Silveira, 2011).
The strong reliance on renewable energy sources observed in the Brazilian energy matrix
differentiates it from most countries. The common rule in the past decades has been that, as
countries became richer and more industrialized, they increased their dependency on fossil fuels.
In developing countries, such a development has gone hand in handwith the abandonment of wood
fuel in favor of more efficient fuels and technologies (Silveira, 2005). As a result, many countries
are trapped in imports of costly fossil fuels and unsustainable energy paths. Unfortunately, this
path is still the most common despite an increasing understanding about the need to deploy
sustainable alternatives. Also rich countries such as the G7 which, given their wealth, could have
chosen to evolve in a more sustainable direction have not done so in the past decades, and remain
largely dependent on fossil fuels.
The Brazilian experience shows that it is possible to evolve in a different way, also when starting
from low levels of economic development. Although Brazil did not manage to prevent continuous
increase in oil demand due to the rapid expansion of its economy and the development priorities
chosen, it has managed to modernize the energy sector and diversify the energy sources of the
1 BRIC is an acronym refering to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, which are considered as
being in an advanced stage of economic development.
2 G20 Refers to the group of 20 major economies: 19 countries plus the European Union. Together, the G-20
economies comprise more than 80% of the global gross national product (GNP).
3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17272716.
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