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ENERGY-BRAZIL: Hot Water from Sunshine
By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 1 (IPS) - Turning sunshine into electricity is still too
costly for it to become widespread, but using it to heat water is a viable
option that is expanding in many countries, and could make great strides in
Brazil.
Two initiatives by environmentalists and interested companies are giving a
boost to solar water heaters in Brazil.
In Sao Paulo, only a final decision by Mayor José Serra is needed for
legislation to go into effect that would make installing solar water heaters
obligatory in new buildings and those undergoing major reconstruction.
A draft law proposed five months ago by Vitae Civilis, a non-governmental
organisation, and inspired by a measure adopted in Barcelona, Spain in 2000,
has already been approved by the Sao Paulo municipal secretariat for the
environment.
In Barcelona, the plan led to a ten-fold increase in the number of solar
water heaters within three years, and has had repercussions throughout
Spain, Delcio Rodrigues, an energy expert at Vitae Civilis, told IPS.
There is all the more reason for something similar to happen in Brazil,
since Sao Paulo is the country's biggest city, with a population of 11
million, and as the main economic centre, it has a great influence over the
entire country of 185 million, he observed.
Another project in Belo Horizonte, the capital of the southeastern state of
Minas Gerais, is opening up new horizons for thermosolar energy with an
innovative business model. A sports and education centre at the local
Catholic University is to be equipped with solar-heated water for its
swimming pool and showers.
But the local electricity generating company, CEMIG, will install and pay
for the system, and then charge for the hot water it provides, though
obviously at a much cheaper rate than water heated by electricity.
It is important to set up alternatives of this kind, because the greatest
obstacle to more widespread use of solar heaters is the relatively high cost
of the equipment, which requires an investment of about 600 dollars for a
family of four, for example, while an electric water heater costs just over
10 dollars.
However, over two or three years the savings on electricity will exceed the
amount invested, and the equipment can last 20 years or more, according to
Antonio Placidelli, marketing manager of Soletrol, Brazil's leading producer
of solar water heaters.
Opening up ways of financing the purchase is therefore a decisive factor in
encouraging widespread use of the system, especially in Brazil, where
interest rates on bank loans are extremely high - often over 100 percent
annually in real terms, that is, disregarding inflation.
Solar water heaters are particularly important in Brazil, which adopted a
means of heating water for bathing based on what used to be cheap
hydroelectric energy generated by Brazil's numerous rivers.
Electric heaters provide hot water in more than two-thirds of Brazilian
homes. Vitae Civilis estimates that these, together with a lesser number of
hot water tanks, account for six to eight percent of total electricity
consumption in the country.
Furthermore, this consumption is concentrated between the hours of 6:00 and
9:00 PM local time. At this peak time, the share of total consumption is 18
percent.
Because of this, even electricity distribution companies wish to expand the
use of solar water heaters. They lose out on energy sales, but they save
much more by reducing peak demand, which causes immense waste.
As a result, CEMIG has adopted a policy of encouraging solar water heaters,
and is promoting their installation in 100 buildings in Belo Horizonte and
in a housing project for low-income families. Today this city of 2.4 million
people is the capital of thermosolar energy in Brazil, with 1,000 buildings
using solar-heated water.
Brazil has developed its own water heater technology and industry in the
last 30 years, reducing the cost of the equipment and even exporting the
heaters, according to the Brazilian Association of Refrigeration, Air
Conditioning, Ventilation and Heating (ABRAVA), which has an entire
department dedicated to solar water heaters (DASOL).
There are now 25 companies associated with DASOL, and all of their products
are certified by the state quality control board.
Countries like Brazil and its neighbours in Latin America and the Caribbean
have ideal conditions for using solar energy, but solar heating equipment is
scarce in comparison to other countries with less hours of sunshine, such as
several nations in Europe. Israel is also a leader, and has made it
obligatory to install solar heating panels on all buildings.
Solar radiation in Brazil could potentially generate 15 billion
megawatt-hours, 50,000 times the country's total electricity consumption,
according to Vitae Civilis.
What is needed is a national programme, directed by the government itself,
to promote the advantages of the system and offer incentives, Placidelli
told IPS.
Rodrigues and other environmentalists propose that this alternative energy
use be included in the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, as
eligible for certificates of reduction in emission of greenhouse gases.
These could generate income as an added stimulus to adopting solar water
heaters.
(END/2006)
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