Energy habits are fast changing in Latin America’s cities
BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil: The Vaz de Souza’s were so keen on the solar water heater that they made it their mission and business, which prospered with the surge in innovation in their city, Belo Horizonte, recognised as the solar energy capital of Brazil.
In 1998 they founded the Maxtemper company, which has already installed over 40,000 solar water systems in homes, pools, companies and public facilities in the eastern state of Minas Gerais, mainly in Belo Horizonte, where similar suppliers have mushroomed.
“The success was due to the fact that ‘mineiros’ ( people from Minas Gerais) are thrifty, careful with their money,” said 62-year- old Cornelio Ferreira Vaz, co- owner of the company. The savings in electricity pays off the initial investment in a maximum of two years, and the equipment lasts two decades, he told IPS.
“Buildings used to be passive resource consuming spaces, but with the new concepts and policies they have become active in generating electricity.”
“It is appealing because of its economic and ecological benefits, for your pocketbook and for nature,” said his wife and partner, 59-year- old Aildes de Souza.
The household system, consisting of a solar collector, water tanks and pipes, costs nearly 1,000 dollars for a family of four or five to provide about 400 litres of hot water a day, he estimated.
It began to be used in the 1970s, but spread after the blackout crisis which led to power rationing measures between July 2001 and February 2002 and drove up its price, in this country of 207 million people.
“Our turnover has multiplied fivefold since then,” said De Souza. Maxtemper secured a contract with the state- owned Energy Company of Minas Gerais (Cemig) to install 14,000 heaters in new houses built by government social programmes.
At its height, the company had 110 employees. That number has been reduced to seven due to the economic recession that has plagued Brazil over the three last years, which forced many companies into bankruptcy. “We survived because there are still consumers seeking to save electricity and money,” said Vaz.
The use of solar radiation, not always taken into account in official reports on energy use, also benefits the entire national power grid, by replacing electric shower heaters, which are widely used in Brazil.
Electric showers consume a great deal of energy and trigger a peak in energy demand in the early evening, when most of the population takes showers, requiring an increased supply capacity.
Five per cent of households in Brazil – 3.4 million – already have solar heated water, according to the Brazilian Association of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, Ventilation and Heating.
Brazil ranks first in Latin America and fifth in the world in installed capacity of solar power for heating water – an aspect that tends to be ignored by the statistics because electricity is not generated and the solar collectors are somewhat different from photovoltaic panels. — IPS