Petroleum, which accounts for 43.1% of the Brazilian energy matrix, will continue as the main source of energy for transport in the next three decades and there is no substitute in sight on a short term.
This statement was made by Mauro Guilherme Jardim Arce, secretary of Energy of São Paulo, state in the southeast of Brazil.
According to him, alcohol – which comes from sugar cane or other components of Brazilian biomass – would be the most adequate substitute, but it is still necessary to advance in technology.
Arce was responsible for the opening lecture for the Seminar of Energy Technologies of the Future (Stef), which took place, Monday, May 8, in the Integrated Center for Businessmen and Workers of the State of Paraná (Cietep), in Curitiba, capital city of that state, in southern Brazil.
According to the coordinator of the event, Frederico Reichmann Neto, the idea of the event is to identify measures on the short, medium and long terms to reverse the trend of a collapse in the supply, foreseen for 2010.
"All it takes is for Brazil to restart its growth of 4% in the GDP per year that there will be an energy shortage," he alerted.
The president of the Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná (Fiep), Rodrigo da Rocha Loures, recalled that Brazil has all conditions to take the lead in energy supply, a strategic area as demand grows in the whole world, offering great opportunities for business in the country.
Arce emphasized that the greatest energy reserves in the world are in coal, but the challenge is in exploiting the resource in a clean way.
"You cannot produce energy without causing some kind of impact in the environment," he remarked. According to him, the challenge lays in making this impact the smallest possible.
The meeting, which ends this Tuesday, May 9, gathers specialists from the entire country and abroad.
The seminar is a joint promotion by the Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná (Fiep), Copel (the Paraná Energy Company), Government of the State of Paraná, Lactec (Technology Institute for Development), Brazilian Institute for Quality and Productivity and Paraná Institute for Development, with support from the Itaipu Binacional Hydroelectric Energy Plant, Eletrobrás (Brazilian Energy Company) and Compagás (Paraná Gas Company).
Omar Nasser works for Fiep, Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná
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