Henry Borden Hydroelectric Powerplant

Earlier today we visited the Henry Borden power plant in Cubatao. The facility was located deep in the mountains in a forested region, which resulted in some great views and scenery during both the bus ride and tour. The winding road through the mountains, with views of rainforests and waterfalls, looked like a fake postcard you buy at the airport in order to convince your friends you're having more fun than you actually are. All in all, the views alone were worth the trip. Easily cracks my top 5 mountain views of all-time.

My initial expectations of the plant were a lot wetter than reality. I didn't know what to expect, but figured there'd be more splashing water and rushing channels. I'm sure it was there, but it was very well contained in the dam's infrastructure. Wouldn't even know water was involved if I didn't know this was a hydroelectric plant. This was an exciting tour, as I had no idea what this type of powerplant would look like, how the equipment was set up, or how the facility would be laid out. In this respect, the entire tour was new and adventurous. Its amazing that mankind can manipulate nature this way in order to benefit our power needs. Just up and moved a giant waterfall, directed it down pipes exactly where we wanted it, then made electricity that powers the world. Incredible.

Our friend Robert told us that the plant can generate up to 900 MW of power, which I believe is significant for a hydroplant. Compared to the 1.1 MW of the solar plant (granted it was primarily research, but for the sake of comparison) this was an eye opening number. They have the ability to control the water flow to allow for energy generation based on the current power needs, of which currently is around 500 MW. This power is then sold to a distributor nearby, who sells it to multiple states within Brazil. However, being that the entire operation is dependent on a resource (water/rain) that is not always dependable, the system is very susceptible to droughts and/or natural disasters. Obviously a lack of water would shut down the process, but what if a storm overfilled the reservoir? Would this lead to catastrophic failure of the pipes and turbines? Would it spill over and destroy the entire complex? Is there a way to counteract something like this? Or is this just not a possibility in Cubatao Brazil? Who knows, but makes you think.

The 'external' turbine room was pretty interesting to see. The scale of the shell used to catch the water was staggering. Each one must have been 15' in diameter, and the turbine shafts were 3 feet of solid steel (this is assumed, probably some kind of steel-hybrid). There were 8 turbines for the external operation, which in total produced 460 MW of power. Every day during the week they test one of the turbines for general maintenance, to check for cracks and any malfunctions. This is done with a magnetic power thrown into the nozzle, with magnets dragging the powder into any imperfections.

The internal operation was my favorite part of the tour. We walked into some lighted cave deep into a jungled mountain, and keep going down. These turbines rotate in the vertical axis, rather than horizontal like the external ones, which I assume is most beneficial based on the water flow underground.

Overall, I really enjoyed the trip to the Henry Borden plant today. Hydroelectric is an incredibly viable source of power, and completely renewable as long as nature allows. The location was amazing to see, and the views were worth it alone. Hardhats made us all look like legit engineers. All in all, it was a great and unique experience, and I really came away with a better understanding of how hydroelectric power is generated and applied in the working world.

Alt Energy HW #3 - CPFL Power Plant

The CPFL Power Plant tour was a great way to gain some first hand experience with alternative energy in the working world. When we first approached the campus, it had a futuristic and innovative feel, which I thought was an interesting contrast to most boring, concrete, corporate buildings in the US. This theme continued into the information room, which chronologically displayed energy tech through the past few centuries (including the cool interactive floor).

The control center may have been my favorite portion of the tour. It had a very CIA vibe to it, with 20 or so engineers monitoring all kinds of data on huge screens; the true puppeteers behind the citizens' electricity and everyday lives. I immediately understood some graphs, such as weather tracking and grid monitoring. However, their Smart Metering System was new to me. From what I understood, this process was primarily to keep data flowing between their control centers and monitoring stations. If one section of the grid went down, or data was cut off at some section, the system would realign itself, reassigning individual houses and business to a new 'hub' in order to minimize downtime and data-tracking. I thought this was a really creative concept, and it made me wonder if its possible to apply this smart technology elsewhere. Imagine if a tree fell on a powerline, and the grid automatically could reassign power 'paths' in order to account for break, while still providing power to the affected region? I'm not sure how the infrastructure for this would work though...

Our final portion of the trip was to CPFL's solar farm a few miles away. It was significantly smaller than I anticipated, with only one hector of area for the entire complex. My biggest takeaway from the day was that at none of these clean alternatives really provide that much power without grand-scale implementation. This solar farm in particular generated only 1.1 MW of power, but much of its purpose is for solar research. The majority of the plant's solar panels were 1st generation silicon based cells, operating at 9.1% efficiency (which matched the in-class reading's estimation of around 10% for most mass produced solar panels). CPFL also had a few of the newer, more efficient panels, some of which rotated (in an east-west plane) with the sun. Their solar operation was a lot smaller in comparison to their biomass, wind, and hydro operations. It seems solar is an up and coming project for Brazil, but not yet at a point where it can be relied on to provide significant power to the region.

Finally, we got an opportunity to drive one of their electric cars. Fundamentally it felt the same as driving any standard transmission vehicle. However, once I began getting it moving down the road, it noticeably felt 'lacking' when compared to gas powered cars. The top speed was only 100 km/h, which is roughly equal to 60 mph, enough to keep up with traffic on the highway, but not enough to get anywhere when you're running late. In addition, the battery lasts only 60 miles, and takes (6?) hours to charge, using the home charging station of 240 volts. I couldn't see myself using one of these for everyday life, but rather as a car to get around the city, in short distances and commutes.

GE1201 Homework #1

Energy efficiency is one of the hottest topics worldwide. It seems every day we hear about a new electric car on the news, see videos of theoretical power plants on Facebook, and advertisements advising various ways to conserve energy in our everyday lives. Globally, energy is consumed on a massive scale, and although a future crisis seems abstract, it is important to monitor how, where, and who uses all of this power to better predict and maintain sustainable economies and environments.

Table 1 shows world total primary energy supply (TPES) in Million tonne of oil equivilent (Mtoe) over time, while comparing how the major energy sources contribute to this total. A quick look at this graph shows that global energy consumption has risen significantly over the past 40 years, from approximately 5500 Mtoe (1971) to nearly 14,000 Mtoe (2013). Additionally, all major sources of energy (coal, oil, natural gas, biofuels, hydro and nuclear) have increased in total usage over the same period of time. Nuclear and biofuel power appear to have had the greatest increase in usage, but still are not nearly as popular a source as the big three of coal, oil and natural gas. This data shows that over the last 40 years, the world TPES has increased significantly. Although greenhouse gas producers have risen in total, 'green energy' has increased as well. This suggests that we will continue to see more and more sources of clean energy implemented in the future, to help accommodate the trend of a worldwide increase in energy consumption. 

Economic advancements play a huge roll in energy consumption. Intuitively, it would be expected that countries with the largest population, and the most technology, will require the most power. Table 1.5 shows that the United States and Japan accounted for 24% and 5% of the world energy consumption in 2002 respectively. In contrast, they contain 4.6% and 2% of the world population. This can be explained by looking at each counties respective World GDP %, of 32% and 12%. Advanced economies control the majority of the worlds wealth, and this is due to technological advancements that in large part consume more and more energy. Figure 1.7 compares Energy Consumption per Capita vs GNP per Capita (US$) for various countries.As expected, countries with the largest amount of GNP per Capita primarily use the most energy, as the U.K, Germany, France, and Sweden fall right on the trendline. The United States appears to be an out layer, as it consumes 300GJ per capita, while France consumes 150 GJ with a similar GNP. Japan takes this a step farther, consuming around 125 GJ while possessing around $25,000 GNP. This would suggest that Japan and France are far more efficient than the US, or simply live less lavish life styles. 

In contrast, the second highest user of global energy consumption is China, accounting for 11%. However, this is likely in large part driven by its large population of 20% worldwide. Developing countries with large populations, such as China and Brazil, will likely see huge spikes in their future energy needs as more technology is introduced to and consumed by their hundreds of millions of people every day. As shown in Figure 1.7, China is near the bottom in terms of energy consumption vs GNP. As a developing nation with a huge population, the average person will not control much of the countries wealth, and without the same technological opportunities as economies such as the US and Japan, won't use a significant amount of energy on a daily basis. This will likely rise in the future as China's economy develops, but due to their large population, and assuming development will initially take place primarily in urban areas only, China likely won't be able to stray as far north of the trendline as counties such as the USA and Canada. 

Using the online quiz, my personal carbon footprint is 24 tons of C02 per year, just slightly under the US average of 27. My home energy consumption has room for improvement, which makes sense while living in a rundown college apartment in Boston. The place doesn't hold heat well, the windows are terrible at insulating, it doesn't heat evenly or efficiently, and many of the lightbulbs cannot be changed over to energy efficient bulbs. I seem to do a good job with recycling and waste, while being slightly above average with my driving and flying. This is likely due to a 40 minute coop commute and 3 significant flights over the past year. When estimated for my future use, my estimated use came out at 21 tons of C02. The largest gain was in home and energy, where I expect to use energy efficient bulbs and appliances, in addition to any new technology that allows me to make energy saving easier. I hope I'll be getting better gas mileage than my current Nissan Maxima, so that should help as well. In addition, as recycling becomes more mainstream, I hope to do so whenever possible. 

Expectations of Living in Brazil

When I decided to pursue a dialog this summer, the element of adventure was as influential as the subject matter. I've never traveled to South America, and really look forward to the immersion in a completely new culture. I truly don't know what to expect, but I've heard that Latin America is an incredibly friendly place, with lots of opportunity to learn and explore. My other foreign experiences, within Mexico and Greece, haven't given me any reason to think that this will change in Sao Paulo.

Without a doubt, spending a month in a new culture, with a (moderate, maybe significant) language barrier will be difficult. I've taken five years of Spanish in high school, so I expect this will allow me to decipher some meanings and signs. However, although Portuguese is similar to Spanish, it's still a new language of which I have no experience. I'm expecting a tough learning curve over the first week or so, but with practice and class lessons, I'm hoping to pick up the basics fairly quickly. This entire immersion experience will be something completely new to me and a challenge I'm excited to tackle. I plan to do this by interacting with locals, attempting to communicate effectively whenever possible, and ultimately trying new things. In addition to museum visits, group trips, and exploring the city, I'm hoping to gain a strong understanding of Brazilian culture and the city of Sao Paulo.