Brazil

Last edited: 12 June 2017

Brazilian garbage scavengers make solar cookers from scavenged materials using plans that they found here.

Events

NEW: 8-12 May 2019 (Florianopolis): ENSUS 2019 - VII Encontro de Sustentabilidade em Projeto

International conferences

NEW: 22-24 January 2020: CONSOLFOOD2020 - To be held at the Institute of Engineering, Universidade do Algarve, Campus da Penha, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal. The conference will focus on solar thermal food processing. The deadline for receipt of abstracts is 31 May 2019. Abstracts should be sent via email to cruivo@ualg.pt in .doc, .docx, or pdf format. More conference information...

See also: Global Calendar of Events and past events in Brazil

News

June 2017: New solar cooks in Morro da Cruz - Long time thermal solar advocate, Professor Elmo Dutra, conducted a solar cooking workshop in Morro da Cruz on the basics of how to construct and use solar panel cookers. The simple cookers were able to reach 180 °C (356 °F). Happy with the results, the new solar cooks are enthusiastic to show others what they have learned.

Elmo DutraPhoto credit: Elmo Dutra Morro da Cruz particpants proudly display their recently constructed solar panel cookers. <i>Photo credit: <a href=

Morro da Cruz particpants proudly display their recently constructed solar panel cookers. <i>Photo credit: <a href=

Elmo Dutra

May 2017: Contribute your data: Drive solar cooking results - Solar cooking contributes to long-term progress from cleaner, more efficient, sustainable cooking solutions worldwide. It is crucial to convey the positive health, economic, and environmental impacts of solar cooking to government agencies and other stakeholders. To help build this case, SCI is reaching out to all solar cooking partners. SCI invites your input in the form of data on baseline information, number and type of solar cookers, number of years of the project, location, outcomes, etc. With your help, we can work to include solar-thermal cooking in national energy and sustainability plans. You provide
- Number of solar cookers
- Type
- Location
- Time period
- Distributed
- Sold
- Manufactured

Submit your solar cooking data by filling out the simple form on the Solar Cookers International website or email info@solarcookers.org. Please submit to SCI by 1 June 2017.

October 2014: Dr. Paulo Araujo reports: We are working hard in parallel to try to transform the university cafeteria (Federal University of Sergipe) serving approximately 1,000 meals daily to 100% solar. We need support from institutions who wish to help us with this project.

Pleno Sol tour workshop, 6-9-14 — Nicolau Bussolotti Francine of São Paulo, **Brazil**, and founder of Pleno Sol, is on a tour organizing solar cooker construction workshops.

June 2014: Nicolau Bussolotti Francine of São Paulo, Brazil, and founder of Pleno Sol, is on a tour around the Natural Reseva of "Port Cashew". He is organizing workshops for building and using inexpensive solar cookers as he travels.

DSCF1021 — Nicolau with P.S.II.2 (http://plenosol.wordpress.com/fornos-solares/p-s-ii-2/)

November 2012: Baking with a solar box cooker - In 2010, Nicolau Bussolotti Francine of São Paulo, Brazil, developed a box solar cooker for baking. Francine reports that his model can bake up to one kilo of cookies or 36 muffins at one time. In 2011 he began developing a more powerful bread oven. Using the SCInet wiki, Francine was able to make contact with other solar cooker manufacturers who were using Fresnel lenses. He incorporated multiple plain Fresnel lenses into his new design. His company Plenosol Cozinha Solar has recently filled a large order from an NGO working in the Natural Reserve Serra das Almas.

November 2012: An experimental solar cooking school has been established by the Energy and Materials Laboratory (LEM) at the Mechanical Engineering School of the Federal University of Sergipe in Brazil. The Project’s Field research is being coordinated in a socially vulnerable community in Brazil by Dr. Paulo Mário Machado Araújo. The Energy and Material Laboratory was founded in 2001. It’s situated in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Federal University of Sergipe, and is coordinated by the professor Dr. Paulo Mário Machado Araújo. The laboratory works with applied research, focusing on social technologies and trying to improve the quality of life for people living in poor communities. One of LEM´s outstanding projects, the Experimental Solar Kitchen School, was innovational in creating a laboratory in a socially vulnerable community. There it was possible to experience the benefits of solar kitchens to guaranty nutrition, social inclusion, human health and environmental education, as well as the construction of solar ovens, and production of carbon credits. Another project developed at LEM is the SOLAGUA, which studies the disinfection of water using solar energy. A low cost water treatment pilot plant to be used in poor communities was studied, with results measured at 75 liters/day/m2 of water disinfected via solar energy. Other projects with solar energy that are being studied and tested include: dried fruits and vegetables; thermal treatment of concrete for accelerated curing; as well as the production of steam for the development of new solar kitchens or mechanical energy production. One of the most ambitious of LEM’s recent projects is to try to make a solar restaurant at the university, to provide the 1,300 daily student meals. Another challenge is to improve the pilot plant for water disinfection via solar energy. LEM will also promote the development of techniques for the use of low cost materials in solar equipment. Fixed focus solar concentrators are being studied for application in solar kitchens. One objective in particular is to continue teaching how to build and use solar ovens made of cardboard boxes. Governmental institutions have supported some of LEM’s projects, for instance, The Organization of the United Nations for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO), The Foundation of Research Support and Innovation (FAPITEC), as well as the Secretary of Social Inclusion (SEIDES), the latter two in connection with the State of Sergipe.

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History

Main article: History of solar cooking

Archived articles

Cozinha Escola Experimental Solar

Pedro Solberg

Climate and culture

Brazil August insolation — Solar insolation in August

Solar Cookers International has rated Brazil as the #7 country in the world in terms of solar cooking potential (See: The 25 countries with the most solar cooking potential). The estimated number of people in Brazil with fuel scarcity but ample sun in 2020 is 8,400,000.

In Brazil, huge areas are being transformed into deserts, particularly in Rio Grande do Sul and in the Northeast. By percentages, the state most affected by the desertification is Rio Grande do Norte, with 80.5% of its territory virtually transformed into desert, followed by Pernambuco with 75.2%, Paraiba with 70.3%, Ceara with 59.7%, and Sergipe with 31.3%.

Brazil loses about 300 million dollars annually due to the desertification that takes place principally in the states of the Northeast region and in the north of Minas Gerais. The Brazilian Government’s Annual Report, regarding the major flora of the world, shows that the destruction of the Amazon’s flora continues in a constant rhythm with the growth inspection around the risk areas. The Brazilian Amazon lost 16,926 km2 from the forests between 1998 and 1999.

But the actions up until that time put into effect by the Department of the Environment contributed to a strong reduction in the areas of the Amazon forest that were cleared, and already saw a fall of 90% in 2009. The reduction of these extensive green areas is responsible for the reduction of rainfall levels, for the increased concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which ultimately causes the greenhouse effect, even turning soil vulnerable to erosion.

The annual demand of firewood per family would be 3.1 kg x 365 days, which is near 1,131.5Kg or approximately 1.2 tons annually. This reasoning assumes that the mass use of firewood is for food preparation.

According to the UN "one forth part of the Brazilian territory is threatened by the process of accelerated desertification." The introduction and use of solar cookers represents a priceless contribution to reducing desertification, soil erosion, and assuring the survival of the people, animals, and natural resources.

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