Energy 26 (2001) 413–429 www.elsevier.com/locate/energy The potential for electricity conservation and peak load reduction in the residential sector of Brazil Mauro Araujo Almeida * , Roberto Schaeffer, Emilio Le `bre La Rovere Energy Planning Program, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Technology Centre, P.O. Box 68565, CEP 21945- 970 Rio de Janeiro RJ, Brazil Received 26 October 1999 Abstract This paper summarizes the methodological approach and the results of a study aimed at assessing the potential for electricity conservation and peak load reduction in the Brazilian residential sector. The study splits the residential sector into 15 subsectors, considering five different geographical regions and three household income classes. Technical, economic and market potentials are determined both for electrical energy conservation and peak load reduction in the period from 2000 to 2020. The main findings show an electricity conservation technical potential for the residential sector of 28%, an economic potential of 14% and market potentials of 12% and 8%. The corresponding results found for the peak load reduction in 2020 were a technical potential of 21%, an economic potential of 4% and market potentials of 3% and 2%, with the large reduction in percentage savings for peak demand in the economic and market scenarios explained in particular by the omission of solar water heating from those scenarios. Finally, carbon dioxide emission reductions associated with the electricity conservation potentials and peak load reductions are also estimated.  2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction About 95% of Brazilian electricity consumption is supplied by hydropower plants. However, recent trends point towards a growing share of thermopower generation (coal- and, in particular, natural-gas-fired plants) in the expansion of the current installed capacity due to institutional reforms of the Brazilian power sector that are currently underway. These reforms have been leading to the privatization of power generation and distribution companies, formerly state-owned in their quasi-totality [1]. The high initial investments and long maturation periods involved in * Corresponding author. Fax: +55-21-562-8777. E-mail address: mauro@ppe.ufrj.br (M.A. Almeida). 0360-5442/01/$ - see front matter  2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S0360-5442(00)00071-2