Estimating the cost savings and avoided CO^sub 2^ emissions in Brazil by implementing energy efficient policies

Investing more in renewable energy sources and using this in a rational and efficient way is vital for the sustainable growth of world. Energy efficiency (EE) will play an increasingly important role in future generations. The aim of this work is to estimate how much the PNEf (National Plan for Energy Efficiency) launched by the Brazilian government in 2011 will save over the next 5 years by avoiding the construction of additional power plants, as well as the amount of the CO2 emission. The marginal operating cost is computed for medium term planning of the dispatching of power plants in the hydro-thermal system using Stochastic Dynamic Dual Programming, after incorporating stochastic energy efficiencies into the demand for electricity. We demonstrate that even for a modest improvement in energy efficiency (