Modernização e eficientização dos sistemas de iluminação pública municipais: o caso da Bahia

Abstract

The current study seeks to quantify the actual impacts resulting from the implementation of a series of actions aimed at modernizing and enhancing the efficiency of public lighting in 116 municipalities in the state of Bahia. The projects were carried out in two stages, covering the period between 1998 and 2002. The implementation of each one of the projects is analyzed, with the actual result being checked against the original goal that was established for reducing both demand and electric energy consumption. In addition, the pattern of electricity consumption in each one of the municipalities in both stages is also analyzed. The results indicate that the goals first proposed by the projects are not fully achieved and that, in most of the cases, there is an increase in the municipality’s electric energy consumption, which suggests that the replaced equipment might have been used for inefficient expansion of the public lighting system or maybe the electric charge has been moved from the class of Public Lighting to another class. In this study there is also a brief account of the performance of Procel, the Reluz Program, and the public lighting in Brazil and in Bahia. Some subsequent work is proposed, as well as measures susceptible of implementation by the federal, state, and municipal governments, with the purpose of improving the process of follow-up and control of public lighting efficiency and modernization projects in the country.