What is the relationship between the water and energy crises and deforestation in the Amazon? In a podcast by the Instituto Claro, Roberto Kishinami, coordinator of the Energy portfolio at iCS, states that there is a “weakening of the transfer of water through the atmosphere of the Amazon region, the so-called flying rivers,” which supply rain to other regions in Brazil.
Kishinami also provides details of the very high operating costs of the thermoelectric power plants, which have been brought back into use due to the crisis, instead of investment in renewable energy by the federal government. “There are thermal power plants that are operating continuously and which cost R$ 1,520.00 per megawatt/hour. This is enormous when compared to the R$ 100.00 per megawatt/hour of wind or solar power,” he says. João Paulo Capobianco, the vice-president of the Democracy and Sustainability Institute, also participated in the discussion.
