CO2 emissions in the Brazilian industrial sector according to the integrated energy planning model (IEPM)

During the 1990s, Brazilian industry accounted for over 34% of CO2 emission s deriving from fossil fuel consumption, and over 58% of the net CO2 emissi ons deriving From biomass consumption. Such as the energy intensity indicat or commonly used to measure the energy consumption efficiency of the indust rial sector, the emission intensity indicator was adopted to measure the CO 2 emission efficiency in economic terms. However, this indicator masks key variables in the analysis, such as the structure of the industrial park, th e average monetary value of production and the growth in industrial output. The effect of these variables becomes apparent when comparing the developm ent of emission intensity with the development of energy intensity, through a third indicator: the specific energy emission. In this article, this com parison is based on a prospective analysis carried out through the IEPM mod el for three different energy consumption growth scenarios for Brazil's ind ustrial sector. According to the results, it is possible to conclude that e ven with a high share of biomass sources in Brazil's energy grid, maintenan ce of the industrial production structure based on energy-intensive industr ies that produce low added value goods is not environmentally suitable. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.