How Efficiency Can Reduce Brazil’s Energy Demand

Brazil needs a smart solution to meet rising energy demand while keeping itself on track for Net Zero targets – energy efficiency is the answer.

Alexia Ross

Brazil’s energy demand is growing fast. At present the national grid is being stretched to its limits. This is linked to increasing demand for energy intensive services like cooling in the face of high temperatures and frequent heat waves.

Brazil needs a climate-friendly, people-positive solution to keep emissions down while also supplying the energy needed to serve its growing population. In late 2024, CLASP and national policymakers visited the Itaipu hydropower dam in Foz de Iguaçu to learn more about the history of Brazil’s renewable energy sector and reflect on how appliance energy efficiency could relieve the strain on Brazil’s grid.

Brazil is powered by renewable energy

Brazil has been a global leader in sustainable energy with 89% of its energy coming from renewables. The country utilizes a diverse energy mix to power itself, including a high reliance on renewables like hydropower and wind. Itaipu is one of the largest hydropower dams in the world, providing Brazil with 8% of its energy and Paraguay with 98%. The plant took nearly ten years to build and has been in operation since 1984. It is a marvel of modern engineering – towering over the surrounding nature and stretching over eight kilometres long. Just one of its 20 rotors produces 700 megawatts of power a day – enough electricity to serve 30 million people.

An outdoor view of the Itaipu hydro-power dam.

One of Itaipu's 20 rotors.

The CLASP team and national government partners tour the Itaipu facilities.

The CLASP team and national government partners tour the Itaipu facilities.

With demand expected to rise by 3.5% by 2029, Brazil needs to reevaluate its current energy mix to ensure services stay available to all grid-connected communities and are extended to many who are still off the grid. Currently, the country’s hydropower capacity is forecasted to drop by a staggering 15% in the decade from 2019 to 2029 due to drier, warmer conditions caused by the climate crisis. To fill this gap and address additional demand, Brazil has proposed increasing its methane use by 300% by 2029. This move would slow or even reverse the country’s progress toward Net Zero targets.

The most efficient energy is the energy not used

Instead of expanding fossil fuel infrastructure and locking-in future fossil fuel reliance, Brazil can leverage the proven, cost-effective solution that is hiding in plain sight: energy efficiency.

Improving the energy efficiency of the appliances Brazilians use every day will slash the national emissions and energy demand, while also reducing energy costs for households and propel Brazil’s appliance manufacturers into the global marketplace.

Brazil could be a global efficiency role model

As the host of the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP30, Brazil has a unique opportunity to be a global role model – showcasing effective, accessible energy efficiency solutions.

To prioritize appliance energy efficiency for climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience at this pivotal moment is to prioritize a cleaner, healthier future for generations to come. CLASP is working directly with Brazilian regulators across industrial, environmental, and energy agencies, in collaboration with industry partners, to advance appliance efficiency at speed and at scale.

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