Sunday, August 24, 2014
8/21-last day
8/21/14
Today we went to fazenda columbari to look at their biofuel energy! They used the scat of the cows into biofuel by taking the poop and extracting the methane gas to power a generator. Although the idea seemed good, the animals were not very happy. You could smell the sadness in their poop, they didn't eat fresh grass but rather cotton seeds that were mostly likely laced with hormones and medication. They never got to go to the fields as the poop needed to be contained in a specific place in order to be used by the generator. The poop is kept in a containment center for 32 hours so the fermentation process can create the biofuel!
Then we went to the itaipu dam. It's owned by both Paraguay and Brazil. They split maintenance and profits exactly down the middle. Using gravity, the water is rushed down several turbines with a fall of 90 meters. This fall generated at most 98,630 GWh in 2013 breaking a world record! It was awesome to see the turbines, they are a lot bigger than I expected.
Then we went to a Buddhist temple, and there was a Buddhist monk there. He only ate one meal a day for 15 years and he relies on the charity of others for his clothes, food and shelter. He hasn't touched money in over 10 years! The temple was a beautiful, peaceful place.
Today we went to fazenda columbari to look at their biofuel energy! They used the scat of the cows into biofuel by taking the poop and extracting the methane gas to power a generator. Although the idea seemed good, the animals were not very happy. You could smell the sadness in their poop, they didn't eat fresh grass but rather cotton seeds that were mostly likely laced with hormones and medication. They never got to go to the fields as the poop needed to be contained in a specific place in order to be used by the generator. The poop is kept in a containment center for 32 hours so the fermentation process can create the biofuel!
Then we went to the itaipu dam. It's owned by both Paraguay and Brazil. They split maintenance and profits exactly down the middle. Using gravity, the water is rushed down several turbines with a fall of 90 meters. This fall generated at most 98,630 GWh in 2013 breaking a world record! It was awesome to see the turbines, they are a lot bigger than I expected.
Then we went to a Buddhist temple, and there was a Buddhist monk there. He only ate one meal a day for 15 years and he relies on the charity of others for his clothes, food and shelter. He hasn't touched money in over 10 years! The temple was a beautiful, peaceful place.
8/20
8/20/14
Today we went to the bird sanctuary and foz de igaçu!!! It was so awesome. Tucans are awesome, they are one of my favorite birds! We got to go into the cages with them and they flew overhead. I have never been so close to these amazing birds, I was so excited. I learned they ate pineapple and sugary gray sludge. After the bird sanctuary, we decided to go on a boat ride on rio de paraná! It was in between the Argentinian and Brazilian border, so we got to see a little bit of Argentina. It was beautiful! We also got to see a quati, it had a cut on it's head. We notified a park worker and they said if they found it they would make sure it was okay and perhaps rehabilitate it if it was severely hurt. Then we saw the falls of igaçu and crossed a bridge known as the devils throat. It was so cool, definitely larger than niagra falls!!
Today we went to the bird sanctuary and foz de igaçu!!! It was so awesome. Tucans are awesome, they are one of my favorite birds! We got to go into the cages with them and they flew overhead. I have never been so close to these amazing birds, I was so excited. I learned they ate pineapple and sugary gray sludge. After the bird sanctuary, we decided to go on a boat ride on rio de paraná! It was in between the Argentinian and Brazilian border, so we got to see a little bit of Argentina. It was beautiful! We also got to see a quati, it had a cut on it's head. We notified a park worker and they said if they found it they would make sure it was okay and perhaps rehabilitate it if it was severely hurt. Then we saw the falls of igaçu and crossed a bridge known as the devils throat. It was so cool, definitely larger than niagra falls!!
8/19
8/19/14
Today we went to an ethanol plant. It had a terrible sickly sweet smell, and was very loud. I could hardly hear Erica explain the ethanol making process, so luckily I was familiar with it. The machines were a lot larger than I thought they'd be. Trucks were constantly rolling up with 3 huge cargo holds of sugar cane behind them! This particular plant made about 50% edible sugar and 50% ethanol. First the sugar cane was washed and then processed with cutters 5 times. Then it was heated up in a syrupy vat. This syrup is either processed to sugar or processed to ethanol. There were technicians everywhere making sure the process went smoothly as the plant was so large! The scientists would test the purity of the sugar and the ethanol, and the sugar would be further processed in India. It didn't get refined here.
There were a lot of emissions coming out of the ethanol plant, and when we asked what specific gases were released, the engineers weren't sure. They said carbon dioxide, but it looked like there were other gases too.
Today we went to an ethanol plant. It had a terrible sickly sweet smell, and was very loud. I could hardly hear Erica explain the ethanol making process, so luckily I was familiar with it. The machines were a lot larger than I thought they'd be. Trucks were constantly rolling up with 3 huge cargo holds of sugar cane behind them! This particular plant made about 50% edible sugar and 50% ethanol. First the sugar cane was washed and then processed with cutters 5 times. Then it was heated up in a syrupy vat. This syrup is either processed to sugar or processed to ethanol. There were technicians everywhere making sure the process went smoothly as the plant was so large! The scientists would test the purity of the sugar and the ethanol, and the sugar would be further processed in India. It didn't get refined here.
There were a lot of emissions coming out of the ethanol plant, and when we asked what specific gases were released, the engineers weren't sure. They said carbon dioxide, but it looked like there were other gases too.
8/18
8/18/14
Today we travelled to the universidade federale de paraná to look that their biofuels. What they did was have species of algae formed in the lab. With this algae, they used photosynthesis and glycolysis to form triglycerides and other forms of natural energy like o2. These triglycerides could be made into fuel. The process itself was fairly new, and they were still experimenting with the direction the sun hit and how the different species of algae reacted in their different environments. It was really cool because the only "waste" product in the biofuel making process is oxygen because all of the other byproducts are recycled back into the process or used as food for fish!
I think biofuels is my favorite process so far, it is the most green and takes up the least amount of room for the amount of energy it produces. The only problem is that there's still a lot of work to be done to convince people it's a viable source due to the time needed to actually begin the algae making process.
Today we travelled to the universidade federale de paraná to look that their biofuels. What they did was have species of algae formed in the lab. With this algae, they used photosynthesis and glycolysis to form triglycerides and other forms of natural energy like o2. These triglycerides could be made into fuel. The process itself was fairly new, and they were still experimenting with the direction the sun hit and how the different species of algae reacted in their different environments. It was really cool because the only "waste" product in the biofuel making process is oxygen because all of the other byproducts are recycled back into the process or used as food for fish!
I think biofuels is my favorite process so far, it is the most green and takes up the least amount of room for the amount of energy it produces. The only problem is that there's still a lot of work to be done to convince people it's a viable source due to the time needed to actually begin the algae making process.
8/17
8/17/14
Today we went to a museum in Curitiba! We didn't have much time in the museum because there was a car accident on the road to Curitiba, so we were a couple hours late to the museum.
There was a Frida kahlo exhibit with pictures the Frida had collected and preserved throughout her life. The pictures were awesome and she wrote little anecdotes on some of them! It was so interesting that Jessica Cory and I didn't realize that we spent a whole hour there!! We only had an hour and a half to explore the museum so we rushed to quickly see the rest of the museum. We looked at indigenous tribal wear and it was gorgeous. Compared to the native Americans, the Brazilian natives had so much more colors to work with. The feathers they used were bright green, pinks and blues! The native Americans only had brown turkey feathers! It was such an interesting contrast I never thought of before.
Today we went to a museum in Curitiba! We didn't have much time in the museum because there was a car accident on the road to Curitiba, so we were a couple hours late to the museum.
There was a Frida kahlo exhibit with pictures the Frida had collected and preserved throughout her life. The pictures were awesome and she wrote little anecdotes on some of them! It was so interesting that Jessica Cory and I didn't realize that we spent a whole hour there!! We only had an hour and a half to explore the museum so we rushed to quickly see the rest of the museum. We looked at indigenous tribal wear and it was gorgeous. Compared to the native Americans, the Brazilian natives had so much more colors to work with. The feathers they used were bright green, pinks and blues! The native Americans only had brown turkey feathers! It was such an interesting contrast I never thought of before.
8/16
8/16/14
Today was white water rafting and spa day! I was really sick when I woke up but decided to power through the white water rafting. It was a terrible decision, I was cold the whole time even with a wet suit and wasn't able to enjoy the rapids as much as I wish I would have. The scenery was beautiful as fog hovered over the mountains. I hoped to see a monkey, but I did not. I did, however, see a ton of mosquitoes. They were so brutal, they drew blood upon biting us! They itch for weeks, and are completely different from North America mosquitoes. Feeling sick and getting bit by mosquitoes was definitely not my idea of fun, and although I'm glad I went rafting, I would never raft again in the winter.
After white water rafting, we went to a spa! It was so nice to warm up after shivering all day! There was a dry and wet sauna. The dry sauna had hot stones that released heat from an oven with eucalyptus while the wet sauna had wet warm air rise from a heater. I liked the dry sauna better! It made my throat feel a lot better.
Today was white water rafting and spa day! I was really sick when I woke up but decided to power through the white water rafting. It was a terrible decision, I was cold the whole time even with a wet suit and wasn't able to enjoy the rapids as much as I wish I would have. The scenery was beautiful as fog hovered over the mountains. I hoped to see a monkey, but I did not. I did, however, see a ton of mosquitoes. They were so brutal, they drew blood upon biting us! They itch for weeks, and are completely different from North America mosquitoes. Feeling sick and getting bit by mosquitoes was definitely not my idea of fun, and although I'm glad I went rafting, I would never raft again in the winter.
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