1. Márcio Costa & Feni Agostinho Paulista University, PPGEP, São Paulo, Brazil feniagostinho@gmail.com Net emergy assessment of wind- electricity generation in the Brazilian northeast region 9 th Biennial Emergy Research Conference University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA January 6-8, 2016 http://www.cep.ees.ufl.edu/

2. Introduction Renewables 79.3% United Nation’s Climate Conference (COP 21), Paris, 2015 Goals:Reduce gas emissions which cause greenhouse effect by 37% until 2025 and by 43% until 2030 (baseline of 2005 yr). How: (a) To replant and restore 12 million hectares of forest (an area similar to the England size) and another 15 million hectares of degraded pasture land; (b) Economy decarbonization through increase of renewable energy sources demand.

3. Introduction... since 2004, a national program to stimulate alternative sources in generating electricity (PROINFA);... only 6 GW installed until 2014 vs. the world top 3 countries: 115 GW in China, 65 GW in USA, and 39 GW in Germany;... the 1 st place for the capacity factor in supplying wind-electricity under a worldwide perspective (300 GW or 36%);... planned an increase of 6 GW from 2015 to 2030, reaching 12 GW. Potential for wind-electricity in Brazil (wind velocity) > 8.5 m/s 7.0 – 8.5 m/s 6.0 – 7.0 m/s 5.0 – 6.0 m/s < 5.0 m/s Regarding wind-electricity, Brazil has... TheGuardian November 21 st 2014

4. Introduction A renewable energy source is essential when planning for societal development at long time period, however, during the growth/climax phases, net emergy should receive, if not higher, at least the same importance. Renewability is essential, while net emergy is a differential “Although developing knowledge of renewable systems of lower energy use is good policy for the future, renewable fuel systems have lower emergy yield ratios than the nonrenewable sources and used first.” (Odum, 1996 p.143) “... renewable system with short production cycles are not able to support the energy concentration of the present civilization”. (Odum, 1996 p.63) Producers

5. Introduction High demand of materials and energy during its life cycle Foreign technology is used, which reflects in high economic costs (for Brazilian case) Components are produced by different companies located far away from the Brazilian northeast region where the wind-turbines are installed (for Brazilian case) Main issues affecting wind-electricity net emergy Does the wind-electricity produced at Brazilian northeast region provides net emergy to society?

6. Methods: case study Wind farms Land occupation (ha) Wind-turbines a (units) Electricity generated b (GWh/yr) Ventos de Santa Joana IX2781670.08 Ventos de Santa Joana X3531670.08 Ventos de Santa Joana XI1871670.08 Ventos de Santa Joana XII5931774.46 Ventos de Santa Joana XIII2451670.08 Ventos de Santa Joana XV4891774.46 Ventos de Santa Joana XVI4431774.46 Total:2588115503.70 “Chapada do Araripe” wind-energy complex with 195MW

7. Methods: emergy indicators “The ratio of the emergy yield to that required for processing.” (Odum, 1996 p.289) “The emergy yield ratio of each system output is a measure of its net contribution to the economy beyond its own operation.” (Odum, 1996 p.71) Emergy yield ratio, EYR = Y/F Net emergy = Y - F “The emergy yield from a resource after all the emergy used to process it has been subtracted”. (Odum, 1996 p.289) Emergy baseline of 15.83E24 seJ/yr (Odum, 2000) UEVs do not account for labor & services Unit emergy value (transformity), UEV = Y/Electricity “... is the solar emergy required to make one Joule of a service or product.” (Odum, 1996 p.10)

8. Results & Discussion

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10. Results & Discussion UEV Energy Source ReferenceObservations 10,300WindDolan, 2007180MW theoretical offshore in Jacksonville, USA 17,400WindYang et al., 201330MW wind farm in Guagxi Zhuang region, China 59,600WindThis work195MW wind farm in Brazilian Northeast region 110,000WindBrown & Ulgiati, 20042.5MW plant in southern Italy 112,000HydroBrown & Ulgiati, 200485MW plant in southern Italy 145,000SolarBrown et al., 20121m 2 ground-mounted CdTe PV; EYR updated 159,000WindRiposo, 2008322MW Maple Ridge Facility, NY, USA 569,000OilBrown et al., 2012500MW oil-fired plant in Germany; EYR updated UEV comparison in seJ/J, including L&S (UEV=Y/energy output)

11. Results & Discussion EYR Energy Source ReferenceObservations 1.00SolarBrown et al., 20121m 2 ground-mounted CdTe PV; EYR updated 1.15OilBrown et al., 2012500MW oil-fired plant in Germany; EYR updated 1.21WindThis work195MW wind farm in Brazilian Northeast region 1.25WindYang et al., 201330MW wind farm in Guagxi Zhuang region, China 5.41HydroBrown & Ulgiati, 200485MW plant in southern Italy 5.59WindBrown & Ulgiati, 20042.5MW plant in southern Italy 10.34WindRiposo, 2008322MW Maple Ridge Facility, NY, USA 11.60WindDolan, 2007180MW theoretical offshore in Jacksonville, USA EYR comparison (EYR=Y/F)

12. Results & Discussion Net emergy Energy Source ReferenceObservations << 0.00SolarBrown et al., 20121m 2 ground-mounted CdTe PV 0.12WindBrown & Ulgiati, 20042.5MW plant in southern Italy 1.61WindDolan, 2007180MW theoretical offshore in Jacksonville, USA 1.65WindYang et al., 201330MW wind farm in Guagxi Zhuang region, China 1.89WindThis work195MW wind farm in Brazilian Northeast region 3.58HydroBrown & Ulgiati, 200485MW plant in southern Italy 967.00WindRiposo, 2008322MW Maple Ridge Facility, NY, USA 2250.00OilBrown et al., 2012500MW oil-fired plant in Germany Net emergy comparison in E19 seJ/yr (Net emergy = Y – F)

13. Conclusions (a)The obtained UEV ≈60,000 seJ/J indicates better global efficiency in converting resources into electricity compared to other usual sources as hydropower, fossil oil, coal, natural gas, nuclear and biomass (ranging from 100,000 to 400,000 seJ/J). This is strengthened by other published UEVs for wind-electricity (≈10,000 and ≈17,000 seJ/J). (b)The EYR (1.21) and net emergy (1.89 E19 seJ/yr) obtained shows that evaluated wind-electricity system is able to explore and make emergy available to society. Although positive, both indices are still lower than for some available alternatives for electricity generation (e.g. from hydropower with EYR of 5.41 and net emergy of 3.58 E19 seJ/yr), which could raise doubts about supporting wind-electricity rather than hydropower.

14. Acknowledgements: Proc. 2015/18856-4 Thank you!