Reflection Blog

As I sit here in my air conditioned living room (I will never take this for granted again) with my omelet and home fries breakfast (Variety is key!), I’m looking back through the 800 plus photos I took over the past four week. I am trying to show and explain everything to my parents using these photos but sometimes you just had to be there.

As the trip began from when we landed in São Paulo, I was feeling very apprehensive to be in a completely new country with a language I had little to no education in. However, from the start we had two amazing guides with us, Angela and Louisa that led us on our four week adventures in Brazil!

One of the first few things I noticed about São Paulo was the attentiveness to being green. As a whole there were many little things I noticed throughout the trip that showed me ways that the U.S. can start to be greener too! All through the city there are recycling bins. Not any ordinary bins though that the United States only sometimes has around cities. There were bins that were labeled with every different type of recycling: plastic, glass, metal, and paper. These bins are everywhere when traveling around São Paulo and give convenience to the idea of recycling and encourage the residents of the city to recycle because it’s everywhere! It’s just such a small thing that can make such a difference!

Another cool way that São Paulo is greener than the United States is the amount of plants they have around the city! They use plants as a decoration on buildings and hanging from buildings! I saw many stores that had small forest areas on the roofs of their buildings. There were also hanging decorations that were small gardens that decorate the sides of buildings! It looks very pretty and helps to lower carbon dioxide in the atmosphere! This is another simple yet effective way to make a difference.

Some bigger and more important ways that Brazil is heading toward making it a greener country is using renewable energy. Having a class on renewable energy while we were in Brazil and then getting to see these technologies up close and personal at the same time really helps to reinforce everything we were learning. A trip to a solar plant, hydroelectric plant, and landfill all showed me and I’m sure the other students as well, that these technologies aren't something of the future anymore. These sources of renewable energy are the technologies of now and we need to learn about them, understand them, and hopefully someday be able to improve them.

Our first trip was to the Tanquinho Solar Power Plant. Tanquinho Solar Plant was built to be an experimental power plant using two types of solar panels and two types of mounting systems. They will also be implementing windmills into which will help create power along with the solar panels. The solar panels are already in place and were able to go see them in person but the windmills have not been built or put up yet. Because the windmills were not up yet our trip was focused on the two different types of solar panels they were using, amorphous crystalline silicon and poly crystalline silicon. The poly crystalline silicon panels were more efficient yet they were also more expensive. While learning about renewable energy on this trip this idea seemed to be common. The better and more efficient way of getting energy is usually the more expensive one. With this company they were doing the research to find out if the efficiency makes up for the cost with these two types of solar plants so that São Paulo will have a direction to take with solar energy. I personally think solar energy is a good option for the future of renewable energy because for all purposes the sun will never run out! However everything I have learned about it and all of the research that I have done on it tells me that the technology needs to improve drastically before it can be a practical solution for our energy problems. Though solar panels are getting better they still do not have the efficiency they need to have nor are they cheap enough to make up for their lack of efficiency. They are also very impractical in areas with little sunlight. Though I think they are a part of the solution for the future of energy I’m not convinced it’ll be a big part of the solution.

The next place we went to was the company Bosch. They gave us a tour and taught us about the flex engines they produce for cars. Brazil is currently producing over 80% of their new cars with flex engines! Brazil has put a lot of stock into flex engines and the use of ethanol which the United States has not done. 60% of people in the U.S. who have flex engines in their cars don’t even know they do! This technology is being used in the U.S. but it’s not being publicized or advertised at all! In Brazil I would see a price for ethanol at every gas station we passed by while in the United States I have never seen that! This is because ethanol is such a big market for Brazil and even more specifically São Paulo. They have enough land to use sugar cane for food and for fuel (Milton Flavio taught us that!). The United States does not have enough corn nor is corn efficient enough to use for us to be mass producing ethanol! If we could find a new way to make ethanol, a new crop or a better way using corn then maybe this would be a more feasible option. If anything it’s a way to start a transition from just gasoline to using a greener fuel and hopefully a cheaper fuel!

The next place we went to was the Henry Borden Hydroelectric Plant. Hydroelectric energy seems like one of the best options we have as a nation but also a worldwide answer that could help. It’s a relatively efficient source compared to other forms of renewable energy and has less drawbacks. Though there are issues such as polluting other river ways, destroying wildlife, and misplacing indigenous tribes and entire communities, I think all of these problems could be fixed or solved. Right now the focus should be on improving the current hydroelectric plants already in place. If we can make them more efficient and to start producing more power this could continue to be the number source of renewable energy.

The final site we went to see was the landfill which uses trash to make energy. There were a few landfills in the area, some of which had already been filled and were now being turned into energy. The landfill we saw was not creating energy yet because of money issues. This seemed to be the number one issue that I had with the waste to energy idea. It takes years before there is enough to make energy from it and there is a loss of money with this system. Because of this many people or entrepreneurs would not want to start this business. Unless we can find a way to make it more profitable and quicker to supply energy it won’t be a practical option.

Besides all that I learned about alternative energy I also learned so much about the culture while I was there. We had many different field trips and speakers that came to talk to us about Brazil and what it means to be a Brazilian. A major part of Brazilian culture that you can see everywhere is their graffiti. It’s everywhere and so well done! In the United States graffiti has a bad connotation and is usually associated with gangs or ruffians. In Brazil it looks like true artwork and really livens up the buildings in the city!

Another major part of not just Brazil culture but most of South Americas’ culture is their love and passion for soccer! You can find kids or adults everywhere playing in the streets or the parks with a soccer ball. It’s not always games of soccer either; sometimes they just fool around with a soccer ball and have fun. This if different because soccer is not such a big sport in America and professional soccer is hardly talked about at all. We had the opportunity to go to a soccer game while there which was exciting and fun to watch. The fans are obviously very dedicated to their teams and are very passionate about the players as well. Things started to get a little heated when the home team began losing so we left a little early. It’s interesting to compare Brazils love for soccer to The United States love for football. The feeling at the game is very similar to the feeling of being at an American football game and is the closest thing I could find to their dedication to soccer!

Another cool part of their culture we got to experience is their dancing. They have the samba dance which takes a lot of hip and a lot of rhythm, both of which I don’t really have! The samba class was so fun and silly because we we’re all just trying to keep up with the teacher! I admit going to the samba bar was very intimidating because everyone there looked like they belonged on Dancing with the Stars! It was incredible to watch but scary to try and compete! I can’t believe how naturally samba dancing seems to come to them! They’re all naturals and make me look like a typical white girl trying to dance!

All in all this was a trip that really opened my eyes to a culture I had never had the opportunity to really see or learn about. It’s so similar yet so different to the United States and finding out what those differences and similarities are is all a part of the adventure. It’s fun and exciting to discover new foods, new languages, and especially new cultural activities. Getting to experience so much of their culture first hand is really what made this trip special and something I’ll never forget.

My trip to the Dump

On Thursday this past week we all woke up bright and early and made our way to the dump. It was quite cold, coldest day Brazil has had in years in fact and the cherry on top of it all? It was raining. However, being a morning person who literally wore layers on layers of clothing to stay warm, packed snacks, and had her daily cup of coffee I was feeling pretty good! We got there and had a presentation about the workings of the landfill and how they harness the energy and gases from the trash. We then were taken around to a few different places to see it all up close and personal. At this point the smell was a little atrocious but nothing a scarf over my nose couldn't help with!

Because trash emanates harmful gases such as methane, the landfill has to put measures in place to keep that from building up and creating an explosion. This has happened before in other locations so many safety measures are put in place. They also have measures in place to keep the contaminants away from the drinking water below and are testing the water, vegetation, and animals in the area twice a day.

The landfill collects the gases that come from the trash and first separates the different gases by condensing them. They then separate them again using centrifugal blowers which tells them what exactly the gas contains. Because the trash is not always consistent and there can be many differences, the gas they capture is different every day. The next part helps to tell them what the mixture is. They then burn the gas in a contained area and hopefully use that to help create power. The landfill we were at didn't have the capacity yet to generate powers but the other ones near by did and we went to see where the power is generated!

And finally we got to see the generators which generate the power! I think it's pretty awesome that they are literally taking trash, something humans will always be creating, and getting energy out of it. It decreases the volume the trash takes up, creates energy form something that won't get used for anything else or will run out, and it's relatively safe for the environment! I think the US should definitely adopt this idea in more areas because from what I know we don't have a better plan in place for trash disposal or for finding new ways to create energy. However, the smell of it and the "idea" of having a dump near your home is very unappealing which I can understand. If the government offered incentives to people within a certain radius it may help to alleviate any anger that residents in the US may have of putting up a landfill near by. They do cover the hills with trash so when finished you can't even tell what you're looking at! Overall, I think the idea of it is smart and something that will eventually be adopted all over the world!

Meeting the Sub-Secretary

This past week has been just as busy as the last few! We've been taking field trips all over and learning about even more different types of renewable energy. One of the most enlightening things we've done since getting here was getting to meet the Sub-Secretary of Energy for the state of Sao Paulo, Milton Lautenschlager.  

We went to a meet him and he talked to us about Sao Paulo renewable energy initiatives. I was very excited to hear what he had to say because he's someone who is personally involved with all of the technologies we've been learning about and someone who gets to make important decisions involving these new technologies. A lot of what we've been doing in class is discussing policies Brazil and the U.S. have so hearing it from someone so closely involved with those decisions was a good point of view to have. It was also good to hear all the specific policies that Sao Paulo was initiating for the future of the state.

At first Milton talked to us through a translator and had a power point presentation prepared showing statistics and information about the policies he was discussing. It's always a little hard to follow when you have a translator going back and forth but overall he had a lot of information for us and seemed to be quite knowledgeable! I'm always surprised how much Brazil is using renewable energy and Milton told us Sao Paulo state specifically has 55.5% coming from renewable energy! They are a leader in Brazil for renewable energy usage and lead the country to better practices for renewable energy.

Milton explained to us some of the goals for the future of Sao Paulo. They hope to increase renewable energy technologies while keeping the economy growing, continue to be the leader in ethanol production, and to help industries, producers, and consumers make changes to switch to more renewable sources of energy. They hope to do this by giving tax incentives, credits, and loans to companies who integrate these new sources of energy. When asked about their ethanol production and if this would be competing with their food production land he seemed unconcerned and said that Sao Paulo has enough land to do both. This is different from the US because our land needs to be used for both food and fuel and we don't have enough to do enough of both if those are competing.

Sao Paulo is currently looking into incorporating solar panels into building such as school buildings instead of funding farms of solar panels. These would be used more for heating the building than electricity. I think that's pretty cool because it's a way to start getting the people used to the new looks of solar panels and the idea of a new technology without going full force. It could also lead to homes and apartment buildings having those technologies. They have no plans of expanding their hydroelectric power because of the pollution it costs the rivers and other waterways. this can already be seen in the river that runs along Sao Paulo and is a dark brown color due to pollution from the hydroelectric plant we went to see. However, Brazil does have plans further north of Sao Paulo to implement a new and huge hydroelectric plant that will provide power to the state as well as many others in Brazil. This is a very controversial project going on because of the people and wildlife it will be displacing.

Overall I was very impressed with the discussion we had with Milton and what he had to say about Sao Paulo. He seemed to know what he was talking about and patently answered our many questions! I was glad we got to talk to a politician who actually cares about the future of renewable energy and is involved with making decisions about it every day!

Fruit Market!

Well we went to a fruit/vegetable/meat/etc market yesterday! It was super cool because there were so many stands around with food every where. There were stands with fruits, meats, nuts, candy, pastries, and even more. They pretty much had every thing you could think of! We were tasked with finding 10 new fruits or other interesting foods and taking a picture and finding out exactly what they are! Here's what I learned about and ate today!

                                                    Rambutan which is related to a lychee fruit

                                                  Caju: where the cashew nut comes from!

                                                            Figo Roxo or Purple Fig

Tamarillo or tree tomato or dutch eggplant

                                                     Mangostin which has no English translation
                                                              it has a delicious white core

                                                   Granadillia is in the passion fruit family
                                                 also known as Sweet granadilla or Grenadia

                                                         Pitaya Exotic or dragon fruit

                                             Cocoola or Coconut shavings that are sweetened

                                                             Docinhos which is sweets
                                                it had a jelly inside with sugar on the outside

                                                           Arkeller beer: funky flavored!

Field Trips Part 2

Today's field trip was definitely my favorite, possibly because I knew the most about it! We visited Usina Henry Borden Hydroelectric Plant in Santos! It took a loooooooooong time to get there but once we did it was very cool! We learned about the history of the area and how they started the plant. It was built by a Canadian company but with and American engineer! Yay America! The way it is designed is to use the natural rivers height to start the water at top and get that potential energy and use it! Because it uses water ways that already start that high the energy used to get the water that high is minimal. Most of the work is done by mother nature! They then have a reservoir to hold the water and then let it fall over the side of the mountain into turbines which create the energy. Obviously this is very simplified but still a recap of how it works! We were taken to see two of the locations where the turbines are working, one above ground and one below ground! The one below ground was cool because we all got to go into a cave! I also found it fascinating that the turbines rarely need maintenance or replacement and most parts have been there since it was built! I found this trip so exciting because the idea of hydroelectricity is definitely a huge part of both Brazil's and the United States future in renewable energy. It is the leading source of renewable energy in both countries and right now Brazil has some of the largest plants in the world! Currently China has the space of biggest plant but Brazil plans to build a new one in the next few years that surpasses it. Though this form of renewable energy seems like the way to go, America has yet to build any new plants since the 1940's! This may be because our current plants are doing their job and we don't need any more but I think it's more lack of funding and motivation from the government. If we could utilize our waterways to create power for us without polluting or putting out communities of people then it seems to be the best option right now in renewable energy. Brazil's new plant has a lot of protesting going on because it does plan to relocate entire communities of indigenous people! Every source of energy has it's pros and cons and I guess each country needs to decide which pros and cons matter the most when deciding what decisions to make. Hopefully there can be a solution that makes most people happy. In the end though, it seems finding a renewable source of energy will be more important than keeping society happy.

Alternative Energy Field Trips Part 1

This week has been filled with field trips for our Alternative Energy course! Everyone seems to be in agreement that field trips trump classroom time any day!

Our first visit was to a solar energy company called CPFL Energy. There, Alberto talked to us with a slideshow he had made about the company, how it started, what they do, and about solar energy. This company has fields of solar energy panels that they use to harness energy. They are currently testing two different types of panels, ones that are stationary and ones that are programmed to angle toward the sun. We got to hear and see the panels move slightly while we were there which was pretty uneventful since they move so little, but still exciting! I was surprised to see how little it seemed to disturb the surrounding area because there were fields with cows, horses, and a lake near by. However, they were taking up a significant amount of space and the lines for the electricity it produces are large and ugly.They are eventually going to be using this solar energy combined with wind energy. The wind turbines have not been built yet however. I've heard the wind turbines are pretty loud and unattractive as well but in my opinion if it works they we shouldn't care too much. Alberto took us through the room that is showing how much energy the turbines are getting and how much energy they are producing. I don't understand electricity too well so it was a little over my head. I find the idea of solar power to be pretty exciting because as of now the sun is a renewable source of energy that will never go away. If we can find technology to harness this energy and use it efficiently it could be one of the cheapest forms of energy we have! This may not be the case for every country. Brazil is a prime location for use of solar energy because of the year round sun they receive. In the US not every part of the country gets the same amount of sun so it's not a practical option all the time. If we can find a way to manufacture these panels for locations such as Arizona and California for cheaper than China (the leading country is solar panel manufacturing right now) then I think the US could benefit economically from this technology. However, I do believe we need to put more research funding into making it more efficient than it is now. It's not a source of energy that we get much bang for our buck so the technology would need to improve before we could move forward with it!

The next place we went to that day was the company Bosch to learn about their Flex Engines. We received a tour of the facilities and then were given a talk on the company overall and then about Flex Engines specifically. Up until this trip I had never heard of Flex Engines so everything I've learned in class and from this company has been all new! Apparently, two thirds of Americans that have Flex Engines in their cars are not even aware that they do! It makes sense that I've never heard of it if most Americans who actually have it haven't either! It's definitely not marketed in America too much at all. These engines are designed to use a mixture of fuel to help run the car, not just gasoline. In Brazil, 80% of new vehicles are sold with Flex Engines! I found that to be staggering compared to America! This is because of the policies and governmental influence to lower emissions from passenger vehicles. These flex engines allow for a percentage of ethanol to be used to run the car because it is cheaper and less emission than gasoline. It is less efficient in energy usage which means your car will go less distance for the same amount of fuel. However, if you're lowering your CO2 emissions then this could be put up with. However ethanol is not a perfect fuel source and a lot of energy gets put into making it. Brazil used sugarcane to make their ethanol while the US uses corn. This fuel source is taking away from land being used for crops, communities to be built, etc. This use of ethanol is then only practical if our immediate goals as a country are to lower our emissions of CO2. The flex engine from Bosch is a good way to start that goal. If the US started to incorporate ethanol and E85 (85% ethanol and 15% gas) into our gas stations then Flex Engines could help to save money and lower the emissions in America too. Since many Americans already have this engine and don't even know if education about them should also be brought to the US. Maybe if people knew about them, knew it could help save money, and understood why it's important to utilize this technology then maybe it would start to help. I hope that we can eventually find an even better fuel, with fewer drawbacks to be used in these engines.

The next day we went to a conference held near the city about alternative energies, mainly solar, around the word. There were companies from all over the world there to help market and educate people about what their company does. Because many of the companies were just solar power they all had very similar products. However, there are many different steps and pieces that go into solar panels that I had not realized. Many companies do the whole process of from start to finish because the market is not big enough for companies to specialize in just one piece of the puzzle. It seems to me if some of these companies would merge and learn to use each others resources the idea of solar energy would be a more more viable option around the world. It also made me realize how many people are doing research and are building these solar panels that some day may become a reality in every persons home. I found the water heating systems using solar energy to be pretty exciting. If every american began to head their water using the sun instead of oil or coal sources, it could save on so many emissions into the air and would be a one time fee of installation. Yay on saving on electricity bills as well! We were tasked to talk to 25 companies, get pictures, brochures, and business cards from them and learn about there technology. This was a little overwhelming because of the amount of companies we had to visit and the similarities between all of the companies. However, it was nice to see the amount of people working on finding renewable energy by using the sun!

Gasland assignment

First thing I have to say is that anyone who has not seen Gasland you should go watch it immediately. It's a documentary about the effects that hydraulic fracturing have on the communities and members who live in the area around. Hydraulic Fracturing is the technique used by companies extracting oil and natural gasses from the reservoirs. This technique uses literally tons of water and hundreds of different types of dangerous chemical to push the fossil fuel out using pressure. These dangerous chemicals leak out into the environment and contaminate the drinking water, the plants, the animals, and most importantly the people who are unfortunate enough to live near by. These peoples lives are being turned upside down and are forced to live in awful conditions with their families. Needless to say, what is happening is completely unacceptable and should be stopped immediately. Well I won't bore all my family and friends with the details because I couldn't say it even close to the way the Josh Fox, the man behind the documentary does. But I can ask some questions that have risen in my mind since watching this movie.

How can these travesties be going on with the general public in the dark about it? Where is the transparency that the American citizens expect from their government? When will these large oil and gas companies be forced to stop what they're doing and own up to the problems they have created? When these companies are put in the spotlight how will that effect our economy? Are these families homes and lifestyles more important than fueling our nation? (Obviously the correct answer to this should be obvious) When society and economy clash with one another who should win? If natural gas isn't a permanent solution for fueling out nation then is it worth all the issues that it comes with? Where is the solution to these problems?

I have these questions and so many more swimming in my head right now. I'm not sure what the correct answers are or what the best solution is but I do know what's happening now is wrong and as a people we need to tell the government what we want.