Refrigerator Replacement Programs in Brazil

Abstract

Brazil’s Electric utilities have invested about 80 million dollars annually in low-income energy efficiency programs, about half of their compulsory investments in end-use programs under current regulation. Since 2007 the regulator has enforced the need to provide evaluation plans for the programs delivered. In this context this paper presents an assessment of refrigerator replacement programs for low-income households that have been introduced in the Brazilian urban and peri-urban slums. Several reasons contribute to make refrigerators attractive appliances for such programs: (a) high share of the residential energy consumption, specially in the Northeast and North regions; (b) high appliance penetration among low-income households; (c) most of low-income households own refrigerators more than 10 years old; d) the energy consumption should be higher in such households due to the precarious electrical installations and consequently inadequate energy quality and voltage provision, then reducing the performance of the appliance. Firstly the paper introduces an overview about refrigerator replacement programs in Brazil. The characteristics of the low income population and refrigerator stock in use are presented. A case study of refrigerator replacement program is presented at the end.

1. Introduction

More recently, following the example of many countries, Brazil has created mechanisms to finance public interest activities during the restructuring of its power sector [1] [2], guaranteeing funds to invest in energy efficiency, energy research and development (CTEnerg). Electricity distribution companies are obliged to invest part of their annual revenues in energy efficiency program under the regulator’s supervision (Table 1). Since 1998 part of these funds have been used by the distribution companies to invest in energy efficiency programs for low-income consumers. During the period 2005/06 almost 61% of the utilities investments in compulsory energy efficiency were dedicated to low-income programs [3].

Table 1 presents the current allocations of Brazilian utilities’ compulsory investments in energy efficiency and R&D programs. The total annual investments in energy efficiency programs is about R$ 300 millions [3]. Only Distribution utilities are required to invest in efficiency programs: amounting to 0.5% of their annual revenues. Public interest energy efficiency programs can be funded by the CTEnerg fund.

Table 1: Allocation of the 1% electricity revenues in Energy Efficiency and Energy R&D programs by the type of utility in Brazil (Law 9.991/00)

Notes: CTEnerg is the public interest energy fund; ANEEL is the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency, MME is the Ministry of Mines and Energy.

The present paper is structured as follows: firstly, a brief analysis is made of the Brazilian experience with energy efficiency programs of refrigerator replacement. Secondly the context of low-income population and refrigerator stock characteristics is described. Third results of a case study are presented and finally the findings of the present paper are shown.

1.1.National Experience

The domestic experience in Brazil on implementing energy efficiency programs for low income consumers is not so recent. It has been practiced for some time with different objectives by some utilities, especially through residential lighting programs whose objective is to substitute incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps. Such experiences have started in the early nineties by the utilities CPFL and CEMIG (Electricity Utilities located in the southeast part of the country), followed by CESP [4] and afterwards by other utilities through the National Electricity Conservation Program (PROCEL). It is worth mentioning the lighting program experiences for low-income households by CEMIG in the Vale do Jequitinhonha in 1995 and by COELCE (Electricity Utility placed in the state of Ceará) in the city of Fortaleza in 1997.

Since then, there is reasonable knowledge on different schemes and strategies to implement energy-efficient lighting programs, ranging from donation-based programs to more sophisticated mechanisms of commercialization, such as through rebates, financing or discount prices.

The experience of COELCE including those focused on the low-income population, of using rebates through the local retail market seem to be a feasible implementing strategy, even though difficulties were faced in that period related to the product novelty and lack of preparedness by the retail market sector for this kind of campaign. One of the advantages of seeking the involvement of the local commerce in energy efficiency programs is the higher assurance of promoting a gradual market transformation for energy-efficient lighting equipment.

Studies carried out by several utilities in Brazil indicate a significant waste of electricity in low income households due to inadequate electricity use, caused by the lack of information about its rational use, precarious electrical installation, use of refrigerators which are in bad condition and buildings without ventilation and natural lighting [5].

Field surveys carried out by COELBA (a utility from State of Bahia in Northeast Brazil) show that refrigerators represent until 70% of total low-income household’s electricity consumption whereas lighting accounts for 20% [6].

Table 2 summarize some results of refrigerator replacement programs for five electricity Brazilian utilities. The energy savings estimated with this programs range from about 43% to 82%.

Table 2 Refrigerator replacement programs implemented by utilities in Brazil.

COELBA CELPA CEMAT ELETROPAULO CEB

Number of refrigerators 8023 1300 2522 3150 2400consumption (MWh/year) – Before replacement

5362 2184 2300 4158 1604

consumption (MWh/year) - After replacement

2301 390 777 907 682

Energy saving (MWh/year) 3061 1794 1522 3250 921Energy saving (%) 42,9 82,1 66,2 78,2 57,5

2. The Low-income Population

About 37% of the Brazilian residential consumers are considered to be low-income consumers and receive subsidies amounting to around R$ 120 million per month. The proportion of low-income consumers is higher in the Brazilian Northeast and North regions, respectively 66% and 43% of their residential consumers. There are almost 18 million consumers classified as low income in the country, of which 43% are concentrated in the Northeast region, followed by the Southeast (36%). Information on low income consumers by region is provided in Table 3.

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Table 3 – Number of low-income electricity consumers by region (2005)

Source: [7]. Note: data from October 2005.

Data from PNAD 2004 (Survey from household sector) also show that the income of more than 30% of the Brazilian households is less than two minimum wages - SM1 (Table 4).

Table 4 – Distribution of households by income classes in % (2004)

2.1.The Refrigerators and the Low-Income Household

This report is based on the results of a country-wide field survey into household appliance ownership whose records were provided by ELETROBRÁS . For the present report, information was compiled related to household refrigerator ownership levels and refrigerator characteristics which were available from the survey. The survey was conducted on a sample of 9,850 consumers selected from the Brazilian electricity distribution utilities.

About 96% of the Brazilian households have refrigerators (Figure 1). The Northeast region has the lowest ownership, but nevertheless so reaches 92%. Refrigerators only are responsible by about 30% in average in the share of electricity consumption in the low-income households. See table 5

1 Minimum Wages same as Salário Minimo (SM)

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Table 5 –The structure and average consumption by end-uses by income classes in minimum wages (m.w.)1

Note: 1- Minimum Wage: In 2006 it has a value of R$ 350/month.

Figure 1: Saturation levels for residential refrigerators: Brazil and regions (% of electrified households)

Source: Own elaboration from the Survey Eletrobras

Around 30% of Brazilian refrigerators are more than 10 years old (Figure 2). Furthermore, the majority of the oldest refrigerators, as expected, are found amongst the lowest income families (Figure 3), averaging 8 years old. It was also possible to verify the most common refrigerator models in the surveyed regions. In the North and Northeast regions the model Consul 280 predominates; in the Southeast and Center West regions there is predominance of the model Brastemp 260 and in the South region, the model Brastemp 320. These are important inputs to carry out electricity consumption estimates. None of these models are grade-A labeled appliances.

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Figure 2: Refrigerators distribution in Brazil according to their declared age (years)

Source: Own elaboration from the Survey Eletrobras/PROCEL

3. Case Study

This case study was done amongst 141 low income consumers in the State of Bahia, in the metropolitan area of its capital, Salvador. These households have been surveyed in order to better understand their consumption patterns. Individual end-use metering was done in 20 households (refrigerators). Measurements were made continuously during 7 days on the existing refrigerator and ex-post measurements will also be made. A larger program consisting of 13 thousand low-income households is being designed by the same utility.

In this section the data collected on the existing refrigerators is presented along with estimates of the potential electricity savings expected from the replacement program.

About 35% of the existing refrigerators are in poor condition and 66% of the total surveyed are more than 10 years old. Regarding their size, about 50% have volumetric capacity equal or below 300 litres.

3.1 Ex-ante measurements

The end use voltage averaged 126,11 V, which corresponds to the voltage required by the refrigerators in use in Brazil. The power factor measured in the selected households is low, averaging 0.69 (ranging from 0.43 to 1), below what is established by the current national regulation (minimum of 0.92). These lower values indicate the situation of higher distribution losses in this area.

The average energy consumption of the existing refrigerators is about 83 kWh, twice as much the best models currently available in the domestic market. Table 6 shows the results from the measurement of 17 refrigerators.

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Table 6: Ex-ante measurements

Household Current

(Amps)

Wattage

(W)

Apparent

Power (VA)

Power factor

(W/ Va)

Consumption

(kWh)

hours on

(h)

kWh/month*

1 INITIAL MEASUREMENT 1,94 188 232 0,81 - -

FINAL MEASUREMENT 1,68 142 198 0,7 24,51 165 108,74

2 INITIAL MEASUREMENT 2,45 155 313 0,48 - -

FINAL MEASUREMENT 2,45 160 300 0,52 20,47 139 107,80

3 INITIAL MEASUREMENT 1,51 123 186 0,66 - -

FINAL MEASUREMENT na na na 1 9,97 184 39,66

4 INITIAL MEASUREMENT 0 0 0 1

FINAL MEASUREMENT 2,4 160 290 0,5 20,45 139 107,69

5 INITIAL MEASUREMENT 1,92 180 227 0,79 - -

FINAL MEASUREMENT 1,49 123 181 0,67 18,72 166 82,55

6 INITIAL MEASUREMENT 2,2 174 280 0,63 - -

FINAL MEASUREMENT 2,64 253 350 0,76 25,52 167,00 111,86

7 INITIAL MEASUREMENT 2,12 181 266 0,67 - -

FINAL MEASUREMENT 2,07 175 258 0,67 9,66 55,37 127,71

8 INITIAL MEASUREMENT 2,09 183 277 0,66 - -

FINAL MEASUREMENT na na na 1 14,41 138 76,44

9 INITIAL MEASUREMENT 1,96 173 228 0,74 - -

FINAL MEASUREMENT na na na 1 20,87 213 71,72

10 INITIAL MEASUREMENT 1,98 183 238 0,76 - -

FINAL MEASUREMENT 1,72 146 209 0,69 11,22 140 58,66

11 INITIAL MEASUREMENT 1,77 146 213 0,68 - -

FINAL MEASUREMENT 1,93 170 235 0,7 14,74 156 69,16

12 INITIAL MEASUREMENT 2,17 124 282 0,43 - -

FINAL MEASUREMENT 2,2 149 286 0,52 28,43 188 110,70

13 INITIAL MEASUREMENT 1,65 120 220 0,54 - -

FINAL MEASUREMENT 1,63 121 214 0,56 13,78 187 53,94

14 INITIAL MEASUREMENT 1,74 147 233 0,63 - -

FINAL MEASUREMENT 1,64 126 219 0,57 14,96 188 58,25

15 INITIAL MEASUREMENT 1,33 106 157 0,65 - -

FINAL MEASUREMENT 1,28 100 157 0,64 9,99 165 44,32

16 INITIAL MEASUREMENT na na na 1 - -

FINAL MEASUREMENT 1,77 138 232 0,59 24,06 164 107,39

17 INITIAL MEASUREMENT 1,26 105 148 0,7 - -

FINAL MEASUREMENT 1,21 98 146 0,67 15,63 165 69,34

Average 1,81 143,54 226,61 0,69 17,06 159,65 82,7

Notes: * assuming 732h/month. The final measurement was made seven days after the initial measurement. Three household measurements presented discrepancies and are being revised. na: not available (the refrigerator was disconnected at the time).

3.2 Ex-post and estimated savings: the new refrigerator

The program will replace the existing refrigerator by a new model with internal volume of 252 liters. The adjusted monthly consumption estimated is 16.8 kWh2.

2 This value will be checked against on site measurements that will be performed during June/2009.

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Comparing the existing measured average refrigerator consumption and the estimated consumption of the new refrigerator, the estimated savings per household is

82.7 – 16.8 = 65.9kWh/month

4. Conclusions

Refrigerators represent an interesting appliance for low income energy-efficiency programs. This is attributed to (a) their high participation in total residential energy consumption; (b) high appliance penetration among low-income households; (c) most of low-income households own refrigerators more than 10 years old; d) the energy consumption should be higher in such households due to the precarious electrical installations and consequently inadequate energy quality and voltage provision, then reducing the performance of the appliance; (e) when compared to newly available models the energy consumption gap is enormous.

These results illustrate the quantitative amount of electricity savings that can be expected from such programs. In the course of the following months further cost-benefit analysis will be made, together with evaluation of household satisfaction and the performance of the new refrigerator in that context.

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References

[1] Jannuzzi, G. M. (2000). Public Goods and Restructuring of the Brazilian Power Sector: Energy Efficiency, R&D and Low Income Programs. 2000 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency Buildings "Efficiency and Sustainability", Asilomar, California, ACEEE.

[2] Wiser, R., C. Murray, et al. (2003). International Experience with Public Benefits Funds: A Focus on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, Energy Foundation, China Sustainable Energy Program: 100.

[3] Vidinich, R. (2006). Impactos da Mudanças Legais e Estratégicas na Execução de Programas de Eficiência Energética. Apresentação. XVII SENDI, Belo Horizonte, MG.

[4] Jannuzzi, G.M., Dornelas, V. and Bittencourt, M. Evaluation of Residential Lighting Projects in Brazil. In: 4th European Conference on Energy-Efficient Lighting, 1997, Copenhagem. Proceedings: 4th European Conference on Energy-Efficient Lighting. Copenhagen, IAEEL. CD Rom.

[5] Mascarenhas, A. C. R. and D. Nunes (2005). Avaliação do Consumo de energia após melhoria nas instalações elétricas internas e substituição de lâmpadas em habitações populares. VIII Encontro Nacional sobre Conforto no Ambiente Construído - IV Encontro Latino-Americano sobre Conforto no Ambiente Construído, Maceió, Alagoas, Brasil.

[6] Mascarenhas, A. C. R. and A. C. C. Pinhel (2006). Doação de Refrigeradores Eficientes para a População de Baixa Renda na COELBA. SENDI Seminário Nacional de Distribuição de Energia Elétrica, Belo Horizonte, CEMIG.

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