Traveling to Sao
Paulo was quite the experience. As part of our culture class, we visited a lot
of museums. My favorite was the Futebol museum, where there were screens
showing famous plays from history, interactive activities, and relics from past World Cups. I watched a lot of videos featuring Pelé and realized what an amazing player he is!
We also got to see a full-sized field and stadium, which was pretty cool.
We also visited the Museo Afro. The exhibits in this museum deal with the history of African Americans in Brazil
The photography exhibits interest me the most. One photographer, Hans Silvester, traveled down to the Ono River in Africa to photograph inhabitants of the area. Although cameras were prohibited in the museum, I snuck a couple pictures of my favorites.
Another museum we visited was the Latin American museum. There were different sections with historical artifacts from different countries in Latin America. It's interesting how each country is similar, yet drastically different from one another. Each has their specific history and culture, even though they're so close together geographically.
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| On the way to the museum |
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| From Peru |
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| Hand-woven baskets so masterfully crafted they are completely watertight. It takes about two years to make one basket. |
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| Dia de los Muertos display |
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| These ribbons represent the solidarity of Latin American countries |
The Pinacoteca had a lot of amazing pieces of art. The one shown below is my favorite piece I saw. It's titled "não sabíamos" which translates to "We didn't know." It shows how the media publishes stories on corruption, crimes, and general illegality, yet when everything escalates and eventually blows up, people claim "we didn't know."
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I learned a lot about renewable energy in Brazil at the various plants visited. CPFL Energia, a solar power plant in Campinas, runs experiments on different technologies for solar panels such as testing stationary vs. mobile (solar tracking) solar panels. I was surprised to find out that the CPFL facility & office buildings (a ways down the road from the solar panel farm) isn't powered by their solar panels. Seems contradictory to me.
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| Angled to resemble a roof |
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| Anemometer - when wind velocities surpass a certain speed, this meter will tilt the solar panels to the neutral position as to avoid disasters |
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| Control panel for a section of the solar panels |
Some work has been done (not by CPFL) on putting solar panels on the backside of stationary systems. This would collect energy from the sun's rays that don't hit the front of the panel and instead are reflected off of the ground. Looking at the picture below, it seems as though that may be a smart idea - it may significantly increase the amount of energy collected while also preserving land.
The mobile solar panels (seen above) are run on an automated system. A timer switches them on at 5:30AM every day. Every 5 minutes the panels rotate to the ideal angle for catching the optimal amount of rays. Then they're switched off after sunset and return to the neutral starting position. All in all, this facility has some very impressive technologies!
We also visited Bosch, a company that develops technologies for Flex Fuel engines. Flex fuel, a mixture of ethanol and gasoline, can be anywhere between 5% ethanol (E5) and 100% ethanol (E100). Ethanol is less efficient than gasoline, but better for the environment. Growing the sugar cane used to make ethanol lowers the net carbon dioxide emissions for using ethanol as fuel.
Not many people know about flex fuel in the USA. Since ethanol is produced form corn and not sugar cane, the process is much longer and more expensive. However, most gas stations in the US pump gas that has some percentage of ethanol mixed in. While it is usually a maximum of 10% ethanol, cars with flex engines can handle up to E85. Here in Brazil E100 is a viable fuel option, but due to the different climate and lower temperatures the USA can only use a maximum of E85 in cars with flex engines.
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| Team Dino-Scavenge! |
There were some really innovative and interesting technologies there. One of them, a solar thermal water heater, was partially disassembled for us. It uses heat from the sun to heat a copper rod located inside each tube. The copper rod will then either transfer heat to water inside the tube or will transfer heat to water held in the top section.
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| Looks like this when installed on a roof |
Another day was spent at Henry Bordon, a hydroelectric plant built in 1926. At time of inauguration the plant contained eight generators, driven by turbines with a natural water supply of the Tietê River. In 1956, an additional six generators were installed in the Serra do Mar caves. Hydroelectricity is a large producer of renewable energy in both Brazil and the USA.
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| Model of the turbines used |
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| One of the generators |
We also had the opportunity to meet Milton Flávio Marques Lautenschlager, who not only has an extremely impressive name but is the Sub-secretary of Energy for Sao Paulo. He mainly discussed the Paulista Energy Plan (PEP). The main goal of the PEP is to increase renewable energy usage in Sao Paulo from 55% to 69% by 2020. Since the hydroelectric power of Sao Paulo is already "maxed out," the main focus will be on wind power, solar power, and biodiesel/ethanol production.
Wind power in Sao Paulo is currently nonexistent; there are no wind farms in the whole state of Sao Paulo. And compared to Germany, one of the leading countries for solar power, Brazil has more potential for harnessing solar power. As for ethanol use, if the PEP goes according to plant then all cars in Sao Paulo state will be able to use flex fuels (ethanol and gasoline mixture) by 2020. While these goals may seem difficult to achieve, I believe that with the right methods and technologies Sao Paulo state will reach the goals set by the PEP.
Something I found interesting was Lautenschlager's apprehensiveness towards hydraulic fracturing (fracking). He believes that risking contamination of water reserves and sources of water for the public is not a smart idea. He also mentioned that the actions of the USA with regards to fracking serve as a warning for Brazil.
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| We made it onto their website! |
There were a lot of fun, cultural activities I participated in as well. We went to a futebol game; the two teams were Sao Paolo and Santos. Naturally we were rooting for Sao Paolo! Everyone there was so enthusiastic about the game, it was infectious. We were all cheering and attempting to join in on the chants, which proved difficult since everyone was, of course, yelling in Portuguese. Unfortunately, Sao Paolo lost 0-2, but the team played a good game! I love how the Brazilian people are so passionate about their teams and the sport.
One day we visited a popular market. It was huge! There were so many stalls, selling fruits, nuts, fish, meats, and cheeses.
The fruits were so interesting and new to me! If you ask them, you can try the fruit at the stands - so naturally, I tried as many as possible!
This is a caju (cashew) fruit. Beforehand, I didn't know that the cashews that we're used to eating are actually the seed of the fruit (the brown bit on top), and are poisonous if eaten raw. The fruit part is mainly used to make juice, and it's pretty good!
This is a caju (cashew) fruit. Beforehand, I didn't know that the cashews that we're used to eating are actually the seed of the fruit (the brown bit on top), and are poisonous if eaten raw. The fruit part is mainly used to make juice, and it's pretty good!
One part of the trip that I absolutely loved was the capoiera class. Capoeira is a Brazilian form of martial arts that incorporates music and dance. It's a very graceful form of martial arts and I immensely enjoyed learning the moves and watching other people learn. For the last 30 minutes or so of class, we all sat in a circle and played instruments while two people went in the center and "fought." It was a blast, and since you were either making music or fighting in the center you were always involved. I liked it so much, I plan on taking classes here in Boston!
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| I got to try out the berimbau! |
