Today we had the pleasure of meeting with the state of Sao Paulo's Secretary of Energy, along with his team. We were warmly welcomed, and led to a large conference table complete with assigned name cards for each of us. After seating, sub-secretary Antonio Celso de Abreu Junior introduced himself to all of us before beginning the meeting. Secretary of Energy Joao Carlos Meirelles briefly met with us, welcoming us to the meeting before heading out to continue his energy duties elsewhere. Antonio Celso took over from this point forward.
After initial greetings, we began a an informative presentation on the Sao Paulo's energy sector. The State's goals include energy security, evolutionary chain competitiveness, and reduction of emissions. Actions to include these goals were primarily to promote the growth of renewable energy. The state (and the world, to a larger extent) have greatly been investing in the fields of solar and wind, with the former leading the way. In contrast, ethanol has seen a 42% decline in investments over the same time period, suggesting that a plateau has been reached for ethanol consumption and potential. We then explored how Sao Paulo compared to the world in alternative energy use, and it stacked up quite well: Worldwide, 81% of power comes from fossil fuels, with 14% from renewables and and the remaining 5% from nuclear. Sao Paulo, on the other hand, uses fossil fuels for only 42% of its power, and a staggering 58% from renewables. Out of the total energy supply, around 64% is imported, while 36% is produced in the state. Of the power created domestically, 69.7% is due to sugarcane biomass plants. Sao Paulo uses 74% of domestic power itself while the remaining 26% is exported. It was amazing to see these breakdowns, as it validates the claims that Brazil, and to a larger extent the state of Sao Paulo, as the world leader in alternative energy.
Everyone loves to talk about saving energy, but it's difficult to change the lifestyles of a population. Political entities must develop creative programs and incentives in order to motivate citizens to embrace the renewable movement, and Sao Paulo has done just that. One innovative idea is the Balancing Energy System, which regulates how energy is stored and used in peak vs low times and adjusts customers costs accordingly. For example, if more energy is created than consumed over a given time period, consumers get credits that can affect power bills. This excess power is stored, and later used when consumption demand is higher than the energy being created. Another policy, called Shared Generation, allows groups of homeowners to install a microgenerator and use this to reduce their cumulative energy bills. To do so, homeowners must live in the same area, buying power from the same power company. This particular idea seems so foreign to me. I can't imagine any power company in the US allowing customers to simply generate a portion of their power on their own, in order to reduce power costs. However, it's completely possible I just don't fully understand how the entire program works.
Sao Paulo truly is a world leader in alternative energy technology, creating the road map for the rest of humanity in the effort to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Antonio Carlos mentioned that this was not a simple change to implement on a large scale, as its difficult to adjust the mindset of a population in favor of power that is more expensive, who's ecological impact is largely unseen to the public eye. I greatly respect the focus that the Secretary and his team have put on this issue, and hope that other nations will follow this blueprint in the future. With a goal of being completely fossil fuel independent in 25 years, Sao Paulo is proving that it can be done - we just need to pull the trigger.
PS: An article was written about our visit that can be found on the government website. Pretty cool to be named in a document on an official website like this. It can be found here:
http://www.energia.sp.gov.br/lenoticia.php?id=1822
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