Reflections on Proposed Policies

      One proposal for decreasing the energy requirements of Brazilian residences is the adoption of minimum efficiency standards on common household appliances, including light bulbs. Depending on the final standards decided by the federal government energy savings of nearly 20-30% are possible for new refrigerators, air conditioners and lighting products. An argument in favor of making these standards more feasible is that if more efficient products become the industry norm an economy of scale will occur, greatly reducing the incremental cost of each product.

      Another policy change that is directed towards Brazilian citizens is the adoption of minimum fuel economy or CO2 emission standards for passenger vehicles. As of now there are no efficiency standards for light trucks in Brazil, a type of vehicle used continuously by small businesses and the self-employed. Employing CO2 reduction standards is specifically beneficial in Brazil due to the availability of ethanol as a fuel source; the combustion of ethanol produces significantly less CO2 than combustion of traditional and diesel gasoline.

      In conjunction with the previous policy, expansion of production and usage of ethanol fuel in commercial and industrial vehicles, along with passenger vehicles, is an obvious advantage for Brazil. Currently a fleet of ethanol based vehicles built in the 1980’s is slowing being phased out, this requires policy to create supply and demand for new, cleaner, more efficient ethanol based vehicles. One way to accomplish this need is to make available low-interest loans for ethanol plants and distilleries along with acquiring a 5-10 billion liter ethanol reserve for release by the federal government to tweak market demands.

      Currently there are no federal restrictions on carbon emissions from domestic power plants which produce roughly one third of all greenhouse gas emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency has constructed a proposal that sets carbon emission restrictions on all new power plants built in the United States, one further step would be to grant federal subsidies for refurbishments of existing power plants in order to reduce those emissions even further.

      Reducing emissions nationwide is not enough to combat the growing threat, renewable and clean energy production must also be accelerated. The federal government is currently making it easier for green energy companies to acquire larger and more numerous permits. Existing dams across the country are also being encouraged to install hydroelectric generators for obvious reasons. The Department of Defense, the single largest energy consumer in the United States, has committed to deploying renewable energy generators at many large military bases, including solar, wind, biomass and geothermal sources.

      Just as Brazil and many other countries worldwide are setting industry efficiency and fuel economy standards, the United States hopes to take a leadership role using similar policies. Heavy duty vehicles, used mainly by industry, are the second largest source of greenhouse gases domestically. New mpg and CO2 standards are now set in place for all models of heavy-duty trucks, buses and vans produced in 2014 to 2018. Ambitious fuel economy standards for passenger vehicles have already been set by the Obama administration; these standards would require all passenger vehicles produced after 2025 to maintain an average performance equivalent of 54.5 mpg.