O World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), together with CEBDS and support from Lafarge, held the “Energy Efficiency in Buildings Laboratory” from Tuesday, 14, to Thursday, 16/04, the first business solution of the Action 2020 to be implemented in Brazil, with the aim of contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and achieving society's goal set for the issue of Climate Change by 2020.
After editions in San Francisco, Shanghai, Warsaw and Houston, the event brought together in Brazil more than 40 interviewees and 27 technicians, including investors, designers, engineering companies, facility operators, users and administrators to discuss, identify barriers and define actions to be implemented, aiming at increasing energy efficiency in buildings in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Among them were Sérgio Ferraz Magalhães, president of the Brazilian Institute of Architects (IAB), Alexandra Maciel, technical coordinator of the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) and representatives of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Light, Rio Urbe, among others.
After two days of laboratory work, barriers were discussed and solutions were identified for implementing measures that lead to energy efficiency in the following areas: awareness (benefits of energy efficiency); financing and investment; workforce training; policies and regulation.
According to Marina Grossi, president of CEBDS, one of the major bottlenecks for energy efficiency is the obstacles to financing these projects in Brazil, as evidenced by the publication presented during the event. “Unlocking Energy Efficiency Financing in Brazil”. “What we have today is a lack of professionalism among banking agents, a lack of knowledge about available credit lines, and competition with other projects directly linked to the companies’ core business,” he said.
The study shows that there is an offer of R$400 million in financing lines and financial instruments exclusively for energy efficiency. If non-exclusive lines are considered, in which resources can be raised for efficiency projects, there is an amount of approximately R$42 billion available. Despite the availability of credit, Brazil has low energy efficiency rates when compared to the main economies in the world. The country uses less than 30% of its energy efficiency potential, ranking 15th among 16 economies analyzed in the publication.
For Roland Hunziker, Coordinator of the Laboratory of Energy Efficiency in Buildings at WBCSD, this was the first step of the discussions. “The work is not coming to an end, we have only given the start. We will develop an action plan to achieve market transformations based on commitments made here by all institutions present, through forums. In approximately two months we will present a document with tactical actions to be implemented in Rio”, he stated.
Representatives from companies were not the only ones who took part in the discussions. Nelson Moreira Franco, Manager of Climate Change and Sustainable Development for the City of Rio, showed some of the actions he has already been developing at the municipal level in this regard. “Government buildings will be the first to be efficient, precisely because we believe that the government should set an example for society,” he said.
One of the main obstacles raised by most speakers was the lack of regulation of the sector and tools for consumers to regulate their spending, which still needs to be improved and developed. Paulo Stark, CEO of Siemens, closed the discussion by raising the following question: “Why do we still allow the construction of non-eco-efficient buildings, if we have the technology to do so?”
Also present at the event were: Paulo Henrique Souza, EcoBuilding Manager at Schneider; José Guilherme Cardoso, Head of the Environment Department at BNDES; Alexis Langlois, CEO of Lafarge; Alexandra Maciel, Infrastructure Analyst at the Ministry of the Environment; Eduardo Camillo, Superintendent of Institutional Relations at Light; Myrthes Marcele Faria dos Santos, from SEBRAE, Pedro Rolim, from the City of Rio de Janeiro, among others.
