Efficiency in Brazil's industrial sectors in terms of energy and sustainable development

This article evaluates the efficiency of Brazil's industrial sectors from 1996 to 2009, taking into account energy consumption and respective contributions to the country's economic and social aspects. This analysis used a mathematical programming method called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which enabled, from the SBM model and the window analysis, to evaluate the ability of industries to reduce energy consumption and fossil-fuel CO2 emissions (inputs), as well as to increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by sectors, the persons employed and personnel expenses (outputs). The results of this study indicated that the Textile sector is the most efficient industrial sector in Brazil, according to the variables used, followed by these sectors: Foods and Beverages, Chemical, Mining, Paper and Pulp, Nonmetallic and Metallurgical.

Organic coffee under perspective of energy efficiency

The energy analysis development in this study contributes to the understanding of the dynamics of the organic coffee productive system, in particular to assess the independence of this system with respect to the use of industrialized input products. Thus, it provides information about the sustainability of that production system. Technical itineraries used in this study consist of energy expenditure made with coffee cultivation, according to the type, source and form of energy inputs, agricultural machines, equipment and labor force used in that production system. The energy expenditure, converted into energy units, quantified the input energy. And the organic coffee production, measured in kilograms of processed coffee beans, was the output energy. Primary data used in this study were obtained from organic coffee producers in the Southern region of Minas Gerais State, Brazil, in 2011. Energy balance identified was positive, since the estimated output energy was 626.465 MJ/ha and the energy expenditure was 112.998 MJ/ha, during the useful life of the crop.

A produção técnico-científica de James Precott Joule: uma leitura a partir da epistemologia de Ludwig Fleck

This paper aims an epistemologically analysis of the attempt of James Prescott Joule to replace the steam engine by the electric one. In this historical analysis, we use the epistemological categories: style of thinking, collective thinking, intercollective circulation of ideas and practices,Joule and other technicians in Machester received in that time financial incentives from governments and industry to replace the steam engine by the electric one, since it was in Manchester a culture of the technique of the accuracy and precision in which Joule was immersed, which allowed us to initially identify the styles of techniques thinking and experimental efficiency. However, Joule could not replace the steam engine by the electric; and the awareness of the problems faced by him, in the attempt to make such a substitution, led him to seek, through an intercollective circulation of ideas and practices, such as the studies of Faraday and Jacobi, a change of direction in his researches. According to our analysis, what happened was a change of style from a technical to a scientific thinking. In this sense, Joule began to investigate issues of a scientific nature, as the Joule’s effect and the mechanical equivalent of heat, which contributed significantly to the establishment of the principle of conservation of energy. We present here the contributions of this epistemological analysis to the discussion of questions of the nature of science in the basic education and for the training of physics teachers.