Avaliação do ciclo de vida de geração de energia elétrica no Brasil: histórico e perspectivas futuras em termos de aquecimento global

Abstract

The present work aims to evaluate the environmental performance of electric power generation in Brazil of past compositions and future prospects in terms of global warming. For this purpose, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool was used to evaluate the environmental performance of the energy matrix in Brazil in terms of global warming. It is observed that at the same time the main energy source of the country are the hydroelectric dams, whose source represented 64.0% of the generation of electric energy throughout the national territory in 2015. Even the hydroelectric dams corresponding to the renewable source, other clean sources are gaining space in the national and international territory, as is the case of biomass, wind and solar. For the construction of the theoretical reference was used a systematic review, including the research in the international database for the collection of the main articles that deal in parallel with LCA and electric power generation. In carrying out the scientific survey was chosen the use of Methodi Ordinatio. In addition, a search of data concerning the main Brazilian energy sources was carried out in the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the National Agency of Electric Energy, composing the study with the analysis of scenarios for Brazil between the years 2014 and 2024. The Umberto NXT Universal software, ISO 14040, ISO 14044, ecoinvent v 3.3 database for methodological procedures, generation and analysis of results. Among them, the main environmental impacts are concentrated in non-renewable sources, highlighting natural gas, oil and coal. Carbon dioxide is the main contributor to atmospheric emissions across the national energy matrix over the period analyzed. The IPCC 2013 was used to generate the results for GWP category 100 years. Renewable sources, such as wind, are seen in the country as promising because of the clean source and the ability to generate electricity through locations with high winds. It should be noted that the generation capacity of electric power will increase by 55.70% by the year 2024. It was verified that the performance by reference flow (1 MW) will show significant advances, it will suffer reduction of 10.40% in the environmental impact (per MW) of electric energy generated in Brazil until 2024. In this way, the work is effective for directing public policies, promotions of development actions and incentives of different energy matrices.