REFLECTION: TO SUM IT ALL UP!

It seems like yesterday, I was packing my bags and headed to the airport for my summer dialogue to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Today, is my last full day in Sao Paulo and I cannot express how the time flew by. Over the span of 4 weeks I had an educational and cultural experience of a lifetime. The dialogue's focus was on learning and researching alternative energy methods in Brazil however what I gained from this experience was a whole lot more. While in Brazil, I took 2 courses, one on alternative energy and the other on Brazilian culture. Both courses allowed me to analyze the United States and Brazil and compare and contrast the two countries from various different outlooks. From visits to power plants, attending soccer games, shopping at local markets and visiting the islands of Brazil, I truly feel that this experience was once in a lifetime.

PASSPORT AND BOARDING PASS!

To start off, I am going to highlight the cultural experiences that I felt were very enriching and enlightening. During our first week here, we attended something like an open air market. At this market, there were various vendors with antiques as well as traditional Brazilian foods. To me, this visit was a great way to tie in with the local people as well as get to see what a typical day is like for vendors in Brazil. At the market, I got to work on my Portuguese while I ordered pastels and coco water. While in Brazil, we also visited numerous museums, including the afro-brazilian museum and the museo de futbol. These two were very different from each other but were both my favorites. The afro-brazilian museum was located inside Ibirapuera park which is a beautiful park in Sao Paulo. 
The museum features over 3000 works which highlight the importance of black Brazilians in the creation of national culture, heritage and identity. The collection at the afro-brazilian museum consisted of various themes including Africa, work, slavery, history and art. My favorite pieces were the ancient jewels that enslaved women would make for their masters. The visit to the museum was a great culture class because we were able to get a visual feel for the connection between the afro-brazilian culture. 

One of the next museum's we visited that allowed me to further understand a large part of the Brazilian culture was the museo de futbol. I always knew that soccer was a huge part of Brazilian culture however when I finally arrived in Brazil I learned that soccer was their life. I would always see people on the streets of all ages wearing various jerseys which showed me how much they supported their local teams. At the museo de futbol, I learned about famous professional Brazilian soccer players and their claim to fame. I have been playing soccer since the age of 2, so I have a strong personal connection to the sport. The museum is much more than a history about sports, it is the history about Brazilian people. The design of the museum was fantastic. Visitors pass through each century of Brazilian soccer and see how the sport has changed over time. One of the most fascinating displaces was of the balls. There were 6 balls that showed how the size, shape and texture has changed over the years. The museum also had a visual interface that allowed us to actually interact with the different displays. The visual interfaces gave us short clips of famous games and spectacular goals. The museo de futbol allowed me to understand Brazil in a different aspect, something that Brazilian people are strongly tied to. 

Outside of the museum! It was built at an old stadium!

Ancient soccer ball!

Virtual Interface! So cool!

The next cultural activity I would like to shed light on is the Mercado Municipal de Sao Paulo also known as the Municipal Market of Sao Paulo. I had written a previous blog post about this Market however I only touched upon the new exotic fruits I discovered. In my reflection post, I would like to also mention other important aspects and tricks I learned at the market, that I felt were a strong part of my learning while in Brazil. The Mercado Municipal is a 12,600 square meter building filled with various vendors for all sorts of products. I was able to try various meats and fruits during our visit which opened my taste buds to a whole new world. The market also gave me an opportunity to work on my Portuguese as well as to try some bargaining. We were advised by Luisa to be careful of vendors who overcharge and to try to bring down the prices to be more reasonable. Overall, the market experience was one of my favorite activities while in Brazil. It tied me even closer to the Brazilian culture and it was a great sampling! 

Mercado Municipal

Inside the market!

Me in front of the exotic fruits!

The dialogue that I completed in Brazil, as I mentioned above, consisted of 2 classes. The culture class allowed me to grasp the Brazilian culture and compare and contrast it with my own. The places we visited, the classes we had and the people we met, allowed me to get a real feel for Brazil. I was able to see some similarities between American, Greek and Brazilian culture as well as many differences. My personal opinion, is that the Brazilian culture is more tied to the Greek culture. This is because they both are more laid back than the American culture. People tend not to be on time, and the society is not as structured as in America. This to me can be both negative and positive. It is nice to not have to rush and stress about little things however sometimes when you need something done on time it can be a pain. Being an international affairs major, this trip definitely tied in to my studies. A major part of international affairs is studying cultures and how they interact with each other as well as focusing on globalization. Being in Brazil for a month, allowed me to experience the South American culture, something that was new to me because my concentration is Europe. The facts I gathered and the information I learned will allow me to have additional material to share in my international affairs classes. 

The next part of my reflection blog will introduce an area that was completely new to me before coming to Brazil. I signed up for this dialogue to study an area that was outside of my field. I chose alternative energy because it was something that I heard often being discussed but I really did not have any idea what it consisted of. I later found out that Sao Paulo and Brazil was one of the world's leaders in alternative energy. Due to the fact that Brazil is an uprising economy, with much growth expected, I felt it was an ideal place to study. The alternative energy class in Brazil introduced me to a whole new world. I learned about various types of alternative energies including, photovoltaic, wind energy, solar energy, hydroelectric, nuclear, geothermal and biomass. While in class, each week we were assigned to different groups where we had to focus on one type of alternative energy. This was great for me, because I was able to do the research about the alternative energy on my own, learn from my peers who knew more in depth information about the energy and then share what I learned with the class. While I was not presenting, I would listen to my classmates presentations about their alternative energy studies. Aside from class time, we visited many sites where we got a hands on feel for what these alternative energies were like. In my blog, I have posted about each site and have gone into detail about the companies and what our visits were like. In my reflection blog I am going to share which trips were most educational and beneficial to my understanding of alternative energy. 

Our first stop was CPFL Renovaveis, which happened to be one of the best visits. CPFL is Brazil's largest renewable energy company and received many investments for their solar energy projects. During our visit to CPFL, I learned that CPFL carries out its projects in 8 different states, strongly contributing to the local and regional economic and social development. CPFL has the largest solar plant of its kind in Brazil, with a capacity of 11 MWp. This is  a great achievement for Brazil, as the company is relatively new, it is reaching astonishing milestones. My blog post entitled CPFL Renovaveis, goes more into depth about CPFL and the company. In this post, I would like to focus on what I truly gained from the visit to the plant. In class, I was assigned to the photovoltaic group, so before going to CPFL, I had a pretty good understanding of certain solar panels. I had researched both the amorphous crystalline silicon and poly crystalline silicon, 2 panels which CPFL has. It felt great to be able to understand what the CPFL employee was describing during his presentation. At CPFL, I also learned about the mounting systems. The tracking system is used with the poly crystalline panel and it moves into the direction of the sun and therefore is very efficient. The other panels are stationary which use the suns slanted light. The CPFL trip allowed me to view all of these different types of panels and place a real image to what I was learning. 

One of the most exciting visits for me was to BOSCH. BOSCH was named the worldwide leader in automative components in 2011. Our visit was centralized around the flex fuel engines BOSCH makes because as I learned, Brazil has about 90% of its engines equipped with flex fuel engines. This visit was very interesting due to the fact that I was able to compare it directly to the United State's automotive department. Brazil as a country, promotes the use of ethanol as an alternative energy produced from sugarcane and bagasse. At BOSCH, I learned that ethanol is considered a profitable technology due to Brazil's location, something that is not as popular in the U.S. due to expensive costs. This visit also tied in greatly to my major, in terms of finding alternative energy methods so that the U.S. is not so dependent on foreign fuels. I was impressed with the various testing rooms that BOSCH had. We entered the 'cold room' where BOSCH simulates temperatures that the cars must pass before they sell them to other countries. The cold room was capable of reaching temperatures of up to -40 Celsius! We were also taken to a simulator room to see how efficient the flex fuel engine is. There was a virtual driving course so that they can study the fuel costs and how it effects the engine. 

flex fuel port fuel injection!

Lastly, I would like to touch upon the Solar Energy Conference we attended. I chose to write about this because it was a great learning experience as well as a networking opportunity. At the conference, we were really put to the test to see what we had learned over the span of a month. The Ener Solar conference invites various alternative energy companies to come and display their products. Our assignment was to talk with various companies about their products and see why they believed their products were better than their competitors. At the conference, I learned that everyone thought their product was the best, however I could not get a direct answer for what makes their product different from everyone else's. The goal of this conference was to assist Brazil with expanding its solar energies. Many of the companies at the conference presented their solar panels, something that by then I knew very well. It was a great experience to get to see these various companies compete and explain what their goals are.

Pre-conference snap chat!

After a month in Brazil, I am now home and reminiscing about the amazing time I had. Brazil and this dialogue opened up my eyes to a whole new world, both culturally and educationally. From learning some basic Portuguese, attending soccer games, visiting museums, going to different islands such as Paraty and Guaraja to getting a tasting of a whole new major was an experience of a lifetime. I can definitely say that this dialogue was a positive experience for me. I met some remarkable people and made some amazing new friends. That is all for now, until my next visit to Brazil!

Milton Flavio Marques LautenSchlager

On Tuesday, we had the honor of meeting the SubSecretary of Renewable Energy for the State of Sao Paulo, Dr. Milton LautenSchlager. Dr LautenSchlager gave a presentation for us regarding renewable energy policies in the state as well as future goals and projects.

The class above with the SubSecretary!

Meeting with the SubSecretary was very exciting, as well as a great opportunity. He was very optimistic and enthusiastic about maintaining as well as increasing Sao Paulo's position regarding the concepts of renewable energies. Dr LautenSchlagger shared with us his goal of reaching 69% renewable energy by 2020.  Dr LautenSchlagger described Sao Paulo as "a locomotive that pulls the train of the country economically." This is a large position to live up to and therefore Sao Paulo has implemented many laws that stimulate production and utilization of renewable energies. The world average for renewable energy is 12.5%, brazils average is 45.5% and Sao Paulo's average is 55.5%. this goes to show the strong drive they have to implement these renewable technologies. Another goal that the commissioner told us was the Sao Paulo plans to reduce carbon emissions by 20%, an ambitious step as the city continues to grow.

There are 3 main pillars 1. Biofuels 2. Wind 3. Solar. We were informed that Sao Paulo is maxed out for hydraulic power and gains can only now come from solar and wind. To track investment, SP offers 31 airports, 5,000 km of railways and 35000km of paved roads for its citizens. There are obviously many differences between Brazil and the U.S.'s renewable energy programs, the largest being amount as I mentioned above. Both countries however offer tax incentives to companies and people who use these alternative forms of technology. SP also is a heavy producer of sugarcane, producing 18% worldwide. 50% is used for food and food products and the other half is used for fuels. The leftovers from the sugarcane are also used for biofuel and the production of ethanol. In terms of wind generation, SP currently has no sites however SP has 66% of the industry for that renewable energy. An interesting comment made by the commissioner was that he uses the U.S. as a warning for Brazil to no serve the path of fracking. Other than fracking, SP imports its natural gas from Bolivia.

Brazil has many goals for the coming years. These include to increase the amount of renewable energies, continue to expand the economy, create tax structures to make investments attractive and to adhere to the federal governments 5 year budget projection program.

SAO JOAO LANDFILL!

On Thursday morning, we visited the Sao Joao Landfill which is located in Sao Paulo. When we arrived at the landfill, I learned that it consisted of many sites that were owned by 2 different companies, EcoUrbis and Biogas. The actual Sao Joao Landfill is run by Biogas. Our first stop was EcoUrbis. There we had a presentation about the different sites EcoUrbis is working on and what phase of construction they are currently on. I learned that EcoUrbis is in fact not actually creating electricity form the methane, but just burning it. When we asked EcoUrbis if they plan to eventually generate electricity, they said it has been discussed but as of now no implementation or plans have been developed for the future.

This is where the methane is burned!

Above is the type of trucks EcoUrbis uses to collect the trash!

A view from up top on garbage mountain!

Our second stop was at Biogas, as I mentioned earlier, the actual Sao Joao Landfill. At EcoUrbis we learned that the Biogas plant in fact does not generate enough money for the initial investment it made to create the plant and maintain the facilities. During the tour at Biogas, I learned that the plant burns the methane here and then generates electricity. This electricity is then put into the grid. From studying various types of alternative energies throughout this dialogue, I was able to conclude that burning methane is in fact a positive form of alternative energy. Biogas reduces the emissions of gases that are released into the environment as well as it provides an alternative source of energy to the community. Overall, they contribute to the environmental preservation of the planet. Although this form of energy is environmentally friendly, it is not economically viable and that is why I think the U.S. and other countries have not adopted it as a main form of alternative energy. Biogas does however sell their carbon credits to other companies. The government also gives them credit to use towards taxes or other payments. The U.S. government also provides tax incentives to companies however that is not enough to push this type of alternative energy to make it as popular as it is here in Brazil. Companies want to be reassured that the economic gain will outweigh the initial investment. At Biogas, I also learned why landfills in Brazil are so popular. Brazil's waste is biodegradable and renewable. The waste that we produce in the U.S. is not. In the U.S. we throw away more garbage like products including plastic, styrofoam and packaging materials from meats and other products. These materials are not biodegradable and therefore landfills are not as popular. Brazil on the other hand throws away more organic materials like fruit peels and eggshells, which can be broken-down. Hopefully, in the future the U.S. can move towards making their waste more biodegradable so we can begin implementing these landfills.

Methane is burned here!

Heat exchangers!

Aerial view of the landfill!

Mercado Municipal de Sao Paulo

Monday was one of my favorite culture courses. We took a trip to the Mercado Municipal. The Mercado Municipal is like an indoor farmers market with products ranging from fruits to vegetables, poultry, seafood and various types of meats. The market was opened in January of 1933 on Tamanduatei River's bank and is said to handle about 450 tons of food per day! The market is a must go place for anyone visiting!

                                                       

Known in Portuguese as Rambutan with no English translation. It has a weird spiky texture and almost looks like a sea urchin. The fruit is believed to be Indonesian and the word rambutan means hairy. It used in making jams and jellies.

Papao or in English Papaya. Rich in nutrients such as vitamin A and C.  Usually eaten raw , without skin or seeds. In some parts of the world the papaya leaves are used as a treatment for malaria.

Caju Fruit. The fruit is in the tree family of Anacardium which refers to the shape of the fruit that looks like an inverted heart. The cashew nut comes from this fruit. It ripens into a red or yellow structure about 5-11 cm long.

Pitaia also known as the dragon fruit. The fruit is vine like epiphytic.  The pitaia comes in 3 different types, all with leathery, slightly leafy skin. 

Sapoti or more commonly known in English as sapodilla. The fruit is a large ellipsoid berry that grows from 4-8 cm in diameter that contains 2-5 seeds.  

Jabuticaba. They look like large purple grapes. The fruit is 3-4 cm in diameter and has 1-4 large seeds. Its skin is thick and purple with a pink flesh. I actually tried this fruit and it was delicious.

                                                       

Nespera or Loquat. The fruits are usually 3-5 cm long with a smooth yellowy orange coverage. The fruits are very sweet when mushy and yellow. 

Dekofori. There is no translation for this fruit. It has an orange outer skin that is smooth like an orange. I tasted it and it is similar to an orange but not as acidic. 

Granadilha or Grenadia is from the Passiflora genus species of plants. It is similar to the passionfruit and known as the sugar fruit.  The fruit is orange to yellow colored with small white marks. 

Caqui Fuyu or Persimmon in English rich in beta carotene which acts as an antioxidant and fights free radical formation. It looks like an orange tomato!

Overall, I had an amazing time at the Mercado Municipal and I learned and tried a bunch of new fruits!

Henry Borden Hydroelectric Plant

On Thursday, we visited the Henry Borden Hydroelectric Plant. This plant was built in 1926 by a Canadian company with the assistance of an American engineer. It has an installed capacity of 889 megawatts!!The plant receives its energy from the Tiete River.  Due to the natural rivers height, it uses minimal energy to retrieve water from very high up. The water is held in a reservoir and then flows into turbines which in turn create energy. During the trip, we were able to view the two different turbines which were huge! In order to enter the area we had to wear helmets, goggles and ear plugs. 

My friends and I taking a photo in front of the Henry Borden Hydroelectric Plant. The view and the place was amazing!

One of the most interesting facts about the turbines was that they rarely need maintenance! Many of their parts are the same as since they were built. These turbines were built for efficiency under any conditions. 

                                     

Hydroelectric power has come a long way over the years. It is now one of the major types of alternative energy in both Brazil and the U.S. Brazil holds some of the worlds largest hydroelectric plants and I believe that the U.S. should also start building new ones.  Hydroelectric power has the least effects on our natural environment, and therefore in my opinion it is one of the best sources of alternative energy. Negative effects of hydroelectric power include flooding, relocating indigenous people and consuming farm land. Overall, the Henry Borden hydroelectric plant produces over 80% of Sao Paulo's electricity and is a valuable source of power. Hopefully both the U.S. and Brazil continue to research methods of making these alternative energies the best they can be. 

EnerSolar Expo

Our third visit was to an alternative energy conference named EnerSolar. At this expo, various companies came to display there products as well as to push for solar technology here in Brazil. Here I learned about various types of solar/pv technologies.The conference had participants from all over the world including, Argentina, Australia, France, Italy, China, Germany, Portugal, Spain and the U.S. Exhibitor companies included AC Project, Axitec, Brandoni Solare, Energy Team Brasil and many more. This year the conference also expanded to include the small wind energy industry.  The goal of the conference was to assist Brazil in expanding its solar energies.




Many of the products at the conference were different types of solar panels. At the booth for Energy Team Brasil, my team and I were informed about there panels. We were informed about mono crystalline and polycrystalline panels.

The picture above is an example of a mono crystalline panel. Mono crystalline cells have higher efficiency than polycrystalline cells due to the structure being made from one large crystal as opposed to many small ones. I also learned that mono crystalline panels can perform up to 10% better than the polycrystalline ones in high ambient temperatures.

The picture above is an example of a polycrystalline panel. Many companies told us that these models have a better temperature performance coefficient. After visiting many booths, I found out that these means that the cells heat up more slowly than the mono crystalline ones. This allows the models to perform better under higher temperatures. These model panels are recommended in middle and southern parts of Europe and in areas with high temperatures.

After learning about many various photovoltaic products, my team and I headed to Vigest Solar, a company that is currently also working on wind generators. They have created a small wind turbine for people to generate electricity at home. There DS series micro-turbines are rated from 300W up to 3000W. This allows you to use wind energy from both on and off grid installations. The wind turbines begin capturing wind at 3 m/s and continue at high wind speeds of 60 m/s. This to me, was a great idea because it lowers your energy bill with the lowest maintenance. I believe Vigest should promote their product in the U.S., as wind energy is becoming very popular and is more environmentally friendly than solar energy. Here is a photo of a small wind turbine!

BOSCH

Following the CPFL power plant, our next stop was BOSCH. Our visit was focused around the flex fuel engines that Bosch produces. Bosch specializes in a variety of products including household appliances, automotive parts, heating and hot water. As of 2011, it was named the worldwide leader in automotive components. From the start, this visit for me was the most interesting. Once we entered the first building at Bosch, we were able to see the different engines and innovations that they have worked on and are currently working on.

The map above shows the different areas of the world where Bosch has its sites. In person you can see the red dots with each location but it is not visible from the map!

Although we weren't allowed to take pictures, I snagged a photo of the planned flex fuel bike that Bosch is currently working on!

Before heading to Bosch, I was not really aware of what exactly a flex fuel engine was. Later on that day, I learned that a flex fuel engine is basically a way that cars can run on other forms of energy not only gas. Flex fuel engines mix ethanol and gasoline to allow the car to run. The downside to this however is that ethanol causes many problems. We learned that although ethanol is cleaner to burn than gasoline, the car does not have as much power than it would with gasoline. I also learned this during our presentations in class! During our tour, the Bosch representatives showed us different engines that they were working on to fix problems caused by flex fuel engines. One of these included the difficulty with burning ethanol in the cold. Because ethanol does not burn well, older flex fuel models were built with two tanks, one for ethanol and one for gasoline. Bosch however fixed this problem by creating a fuel injector that heats ethanol over a period of seconds. The fact that this fuel is made from renewable raw materials means that it has a notable positive impact on the carbon footprint. I also learned that Bosch develops flex fuels engines for cars in the U.S. Over the past few years, more cars in the U.S. have been created that run on gasoline blends of up to 85% ethanol. Bosch creates flex fuel engines for various markets, depending on the amount of ethanol each car can handle. Cars in Brazil can maintain 100% pure ethanol. Bosch's engine control unit automatically adjusts injection, ignition and other parameters to the respective ethanol admixture. When comparing flex fuel engines in the U.S. and Brazil, there are many significant differences. First off, flex engines in the U.S. are not that popular. Most gas stations do not offer ethanol and only about 40% of the vehicles in the U.S. have flex fuel engines. A surprising fact I learned was that most people don't even know that they have flex fuel engines.  Brazil on the other hand has about 90% of its vehicles equipped with flex fuel engines.Brazil as a country promotes the use of ethanol as an alternative energy produced from sugarcane and bagasse. Ethanol in Brazil is considered a profitable technology, also thanks to its location. The United States however is quite different because it is very expensive to produce sugarcane there hence why flex fuel engines are not as popular. The U.S. needs to come up with a different method of creating flex fuel engines, so we are not so dependent on gasoline. Flex fuel engines are overall a great idea however environmentally speaking, the fuels burned to create these engines are also harmful to the environment. Hopefully over the coming years, the problems with this form of energy can be altered. 

Here is a video on how the flex fuel engines work!

HOW IT ALL WORKS!

CPFL Renováveis

The first site we visited on Tuesday was CPFL Renovaveis. CPFL is a relatively new company that has opened up in the Brazilian market. Although is Brazil's largest renewable energy company. In 2012, CPFL received investments for their solar energy project, which now has the largest plant of its kind in Brazil, located in Campinas with a capacity of 1.1 MWp. CPFL carries out its projects in 8 different states, strongly contributing to the local and regional economic and social development. CPFL's mission is to generate energy form renewable resources, in harmony with the environment and society, promoting the development and maturation of the clean energy market. Their focus is on generating electric power from alternative energy sources. CPFL has a variety of different plants, ranging from small scale which I learned is up to 30MW to medium scale which is up to 200 MW. During the CPFL presentation, I learned that they use different technologies including PCHs, wind power plants and bio-mass fired power plants. CPFL has received financial compensation from numerous investors who are pushing for new alternative energy projects in Brazil. Because the company is still in its testing phase, the actual plant was not that large. During our visit we were able to see the various types of solar panels that CPFL is currently testing. 

Due to the fact that CPFL is a new company, I believe that their solar energy technology is not up to par with the potential that Brazil is capable of. CPFL seems to have strong drives and motifs for pushing this new type of alternative energy into the Brazilian market, however they are going to need more resources which means more investors. On the positive side, it was surprising to see how CPFL has many assets in operation, under construction and under development from its different renewable sources. CPFL has pushed and set goals for sustainable growth, including to have an expansion of installed capacity in operation to 1735 by 2016. CPFL seems to be well organized, as they have outlined their strategies for growth during our visit. CPFL plans to expand in sustainable growth, synergies, capital, innovation and corporate governance. The price of alternative energy technologies worldwide is relatively expensive, and therefore the technologies currently in place for the Brazilian market are not purchased for home use. This is a roadblock that CPFL will have to find a solution for over the coming years, in order to make their solar technologies more effective. 

From my visit at CPFL I learned that they have two different types of panels, amorphous crystalline silicon and poly crystalline silicon. Along with the two different types of panels, CPFL also has different mounting systems known as the tracking system which is used with the poly crystalline panel. This panel moves into the direction of the sunlight and therefore is very efficient.On the other hand, the stationary panels use the suns slanted light. Alternative energy technologies differ greatly between the U.S. and Brazil. Due to location and population size, the two countries are hard to compare. The U.S. has many companies currently investing in alternative energy technologies and the Obama Administration in 2009 passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which included more than 70$ billion in direct spending and tax credits for clean energy and associated transportation programs. The US also provides tax incentives, grants and loans to promote the growth of renewables.  Brazil on the other hand has prime location and weather to produce such technologies. Personally, I feel that Americans are more likely to agree to an increase in their taxes to support alternative energy technology. On the other hand, the US relies on foreign resources for alternative energy technologies. This is also seen in Brazil, where we learned that most of their panels are constructed in China. Whether it be in the U.S. or Brazil, the people want the incentives to out way the costs, and this is what alternative energy companies must focus on.