BIOMASS RESIDUES AS ELECTRICITY GENERATION SOURCE IN LOW HDI REGIONS OF BRAZIL

Currently, there are 1.3 billion people with no access to electricity worldwide. Almost 1 million of those are in the Brazilian Amazon region. Yet, electricity access to allow basic needs is not enough to ensure a sustainable development. Hence, it is important to understand linkages among poverty alleviation, energy access, and carbon footprint of future energy consumption patterns. The paper focuses on municipalities with the lowest HDI so as to increase energy access for households and for productive use since they are fundamental factors for income generation in poor regions. The study's objective was to analyze the use of biomass residues as electricity generation source for productive purposes among poor households in isolated areas of Brazil. The study's main contribution is to enable local sustainable development in low HDI regions of Brazil by using local biomass residues as primary energy source. This study is an outcome of the BREA and ECOPA projects.