Energy and environmental protection in brazil

Energy and environmental protection in Brazil
Starting from the objectives stated by the Brazilian Ministry of Mining and Energy, we now proceed to an analysis of the future development about energetic mix and environmental protection:
* Preserve national interest
* Promote free competition, development; extend labor market, energy conservation and valorization of energetic resources* Protect environment and consumers interests on price, quality and offer of hydrocarbons and bio-fuel by-products
* Grant the furnishing of petroleum by-products in all the national territory
* Enhance the participation of bio-fuels in the energy matrix on economic, social and environmental basis
* Attract investments in energy production sector.
The purpose of Brazil, at least inthe written intentions, is to continue with its responsibility towards environmental conservation.
If we look at the ten-year plan of energetic expansion, the country forecasts a growth in the energy demand and in energetic efficiency. Its goal is to reduce the participation of non-renewable sources of energy in favor of renewable ones, until getting to an energetic matrix composed for the 83% ofrenewable energy sources.

Here, a brief summary of the main changes in the matrix

OIL
Brazil achieved self-sufficiency in oil in 2006 after offshore field discoveries, and became exporter in 2010.
The main oil producer is Petrobras, a government-owned company; it is involved in oil production, processing and distribution, although involved in natural gas and ethanol sectors.
Thanks toPré-Sal reserve exploitation, the country will triplicate its production of oil, destining a half of it to the exportation, reaching benefits from selling and from avoiding a high in emissions of gas, even if the extraction will represent a technologic defy: the reserves are located at thousands of meters in depth, behind a salt layer half rock, half fluid. The size of the capital requirements neededrequired the government to create a legal framework for exploring and exploiting the reserve, and is probably going to create a new state oil company, Petrosal, which will manage the reserves, together with a governmental found that will manage the income from the reserves in order to redistribute them in social expenditures.

NATURAL GAS
Brazil projects a great expansion of national offerand also of imports. It doesn’t have a significant internal production, so its main concern is the construction of pipelines in order to transport it from supplier countries: to achieve this goal, Brazil would need long-term agreements with the gas reserves rich countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela and Peru), but till now the low level of political integration in the region represented a problemin this sense.
It is used most of all for industrial use, as well as for fuel for buses and taxis.

BIOFUELS
The country foresees a great expansion of demand for ethanol, due to the increase in the number of flex fuel cars (cars that can use both oil and bioethanol, or a blend of the two), so they plane a triplication of the offer
For over 30 years universities and private entreprisestogether have developed new technologies in order to adapt sugarcane to the different microclimates, maximizing its productivity. Great innovation came also from automotive industry (firs ethanol-powered car in 1976), thanks most of all to the creation of the flex fuel technology (2003). Ethanol costs a 40% less than gasoline, generating competitiveness for the entire economy, also because it keepsdown the price of gasoline. It has reduced emissions of greenhouse gases in comparison with gasoline.
It is important to stress that Amazonia doesn’t offer the ad equate conditions to the cultivation of sugarcane, so the improvement of this crop will not be a cause of deforestation. Another point in favour of this cultivation is that the growth in production of bioethanol also increasese food...