Day 5
Florianopolis tour

Today, we had a tour of Florianopolis with Daniel and then we had free time. We took a bus all over the city and learned a bit about the city’s history and culture along the way. Our first stop was in the center of town near the hotel, where we briefly observed a farmers market before piling on the bus to our first destination. The next stop was at the highest point in Florianopolis where we allowed a birds-eye view of the city and bridge connecting it to the mainland. My favorite destination was at an old convent that is now used as a spiritual retreat. Below is the gorgeous view from in front of the building. Noticed a lot of surfers at this beach.

We saw two more beaches, and at the last one we ate lunch in an area filled with tourist shops and vendors selling jewelry at stands that they had set up outside of the beach entrance. I purchased a couple necklaces and unique, hand-made trinkets that were sold here as souvenirs. Between our group members, we saw two penguins while on the beaches. Apparently, they sometimes get knocked off of their course of migration that happens this time of year and can be spotted near the shore. Random interesting fact.

After seeing the best beaches of Florianopolis, we traveled what seemed like a long distance to the very wealthy part of the city. We drove past huge elegant houses and stopped briefly at a beach that is used for the extravagant partying that happens in this area. Unfortunately, there was no party happening at the time. Our last stop was in downtown Florianopolis where we milled around the nice art and tourist shops. Daniel left us here to explore and watch the sunset, which we did at an oyster restaurant right on the beach. But not before working up an appetite at a strange outdoor gym situated at the edge of a street leading out of downtown. We were able to catch the bus back to the center of town with the help of a friendly local, stopped at the mall on the way home. This was our last day in Florianopolis.

Day 4
Florianopolis

Today we had our first hours of free time during the day! We decided to take a taxi to Lagoa de Conceicao to shop, visit the beach, go paddle boarding and see the sand dunes. As it turns out, we did not have enough time to visit the beach but we did have a delicious Brazilian-style lunch near at a restaurant right on the water. I wish I could remember the name of all the desserts. Paddle boarding was a lot of fun. Stay tuned for the pics.

In the late afternoon, we attended a lecture by Dr. Baltazar Guerra on renewable energy, specifically energy trends in Brazil and the energy matrix. Dr. Baltazar has a background in economics and conducts research on sustainable cities and the social relationship between food, water, and energy. Brazil uses four times the average amount of renewable energy, mainly hydropower. A serious drought, however, recently decreased power production. There is a need for diversification of renewable energy sources -  wind, solar, biomass – to avoid this type of problem.

As an introduction to the issue of sustainability, Dr. Baltazar showed and briefly explained this image, 15 Global Challenges Facing Humanity. Sustainability is the overlap of social progress, economic development, and environmental protection. He gave a brief overview of energy in Brazil. One of the problems that Brazil has is with transmission of power from wind farms that has resulted in the total capacity for wind power generation not being used. He continued on to discuss problems that ours and future generations will have to solve. Mainly the growing global population, the infeasibility of sustaining our current energy consumption rates and climate change. As countries, such as India, grow economically there will also be an increase in the population’s energy consumption. For this reason, it is extremely important that India and China for example invest in green energy and that countries like the U.S., who has the highest per capita level of CO2 emissions, learn to incorporate more green energy and reduce consumption.

Day 3
Osorio - Rio Grande do Sul



We had our second visit to Ventos do Sul in Osorio. The plant is owned by a company called Enerfin. There are 148 turbines, that produces 2.3 MW of power. At low winds, below 2.5 meters per second, they are producing no energy and are consuming energy from the grid. This was the case during our visit, a particularly still day. On the other hand, the turbines stop when winds reach 60 meters per second, say during a storm. The control room that we saw was showing data for six wind farms, a total of 172 turbines, and 375 MW of power. About 450,000 Brazilian families or 1.5 million people were provided with power last year from these wind turbines. The grid system in Brazil allows for competitive prices for energy unlike the closed market in the U.S., where companies hold a monopolies on energy. There were a couple of contemporary buildings that offered a birds-eye view of the farm. We were able to see across the acres of farmland, which is used to produce rice crops, grazing land for cattle and horses, and fish farms. We noticed a lot of water on the land; our guide explained that they had received 350 liters of rain per square meter in the last few weeks, which is an abnormally large amount of rain. The optimal time for wind power, or “wind harvests”, is the end of spring and in the fall. I really enjoyed the tiny cups of coffee.

Also had my first Brazilian barbeque experience on our way back to Florianopolis. So. much. MEAT!

Day 2
Capivari de Baixo - Santa Catarina

We had our first visit to Tractebel Energia, a GDE SVEZ company. We were unable to visit the coal powered plant because they were having a complete overhaul of the facility. First we had a cheap and filling lunch on-site, then we visited the technology park, received a brief overview of the wind and solar R&D projects and had a tour of the control room. The tech park was created to give back to the community; It features models of turbines, a transformer, heat exchanger, and other pieces of technology related to energy generation. Our tour guide mentioned that local schools use the area for educational field trips.

The solar project has been operating for two years and generates 3 megawatts of photovoltaic cells. They use two thin-film technologies, one of which is crystalline Silicon. This particular thin-film performs better 90 percent of the year, except in the summer season. There is also a wind turbine that produces 3.3 megawatts of power; another is to be added soon. Most of its parts were made in Brazil, and it operates when wind speeds are between 10 and 75 kilometers per hour. The small installations were built in order for the company to gain understanding for how to use, produce power, and run larger solar and wind plants. One of the workers stated that experience is the biggest obstacle to an efficient solar plant; knowing how to handle solar panels so as not to damage the cells or break the glass, etc. Another threat to solar power is that the prices are not competitive, because of the lack of government support. Currently solar power and other sources contribute less than one percent to total power in Brazil; Wind power contributes about 2 percent.

Although we could not visit the coal plant, we were able to visit the control room for the plant. It controls a pulverized coal plant with 7 boilers. The control room was started in 1979 and today is run by 6 people at all times, four in the control room and two securing the area outside, checking the boilers outside, etc. This plant contributes seven percent of the total electrical power consumption in Brazil. Also, we had the pleasure of meeting Vilmar a lovely gentleman who knows everything there is to know about running the control room. We helped him fulfill his dream of describing the details of his job in English. Then back on the bus to Osorio!

Day 1
Florianopolis

We finally made it to Brazil! After three flights and about 18 hours of travel time, Lauren and I made it through customs and met our ISA tour guide at the airport in Florianopolis. Dina was very welcoming and helped us to exchange/withdraw enough Reais to last us for the first weeks of the trip. Once we arrived at the Florianopolis Palace Hotel in downtown, received our room assignments, we decided to explore the area while we waited for the rest of our group to arrive/before our welcome dinner. Three of us ventured off to find a store that sold adapters for our computer and phone chargers. We wandered along busy cobblestone streets in the town center, equipped with Google Maps, until we stumbled across our destination. Before returning to the hotel, we stopped at a very nice bakery that Dina recommended and bought some tiny gourmet pastries. It was our first real interaction with Brazilian culture, not knowing the language or how things worked in food shops. (Many places allow you to choose your own food and then they charge you based on the weight.) Although, a bit chaotic and confusing it was well worth it - the pastries were delicious! Later we met up with the rest of the group, had a small orientation to the program, and walked to our welcome dinner at a local Italian restaurant. The weather was warm and sunny during the day and cool at night - much better than I was expecting. At the orientation, I learned to say “No falo Portugues”  - a sentence I will probably have to use every day for the rest of the trip. Duolingo did not teach me that one.