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!
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