HORTOLANDIA, Brazil, Feb 26 (IPS) – Virtually every part appears new or below building within the southern Brazilian metropolis of Hortolandia, from its broad avenues and cable-stayed bridge to its massive buildings and riverside parks.
Even the town corridor itself, the Palace of Migrants, will have fun its first anniversary on Could 29, and its essential parking zone continues to be below building, however already bears the town’s new hallmark: photo voltaic panels on its roofs.
A municipality of 240,000 individuals situated 110 kilometers from São Paulo, Hortolandia seized the chance offered by cost-effective expertise and authorized incentives to generate its personal electrical energy for public sector consumption.
The 21 photovoltaic vegetation constructed since 2023, some within the ultimate phases of completion, will save 80% of the town corridor’s electrical energy prices, in accordance with Fernanda Candido de Oliveira, director of the Lighting Division of the municipal Public Works Board.
The remaining 20% might be lined by the power effectivity program, which started earlier and has already changed all outdated city lighting with LED lamps. On this method, the town will grow to be self-sufficient in electrical energy, limiting bills on this space to distribution community utilization charges and upkeep prices.
Along with the 26,500 public lighting factors, the self-generation system will energy 200 municipal service places, saving roughly 4.5 million reais (US$ 800,000) yearly, which might be reinvested in numerous sectors of native administration.
Fourteen colleges, 4 well being items and a sports activities stadium have their roofs lined with photo voltaic panels. In complete, 5,000 panels are already producing power, and others already put in will quickly start operation.
The town corridor will home three photovoltaic vegetation, one on its roof and two in its parking tons, considered one of which continues to be below building. In complete, it’s going to have 1,800 panels.
The plant for the brand new social occasions heart, which is nearing completion, could have 1,568 photo voltaic panels already seen from the cable-stayed bridge, whose two parallel decks of aerial cables are suspended by three horizontal connecting columns, a construction that symbolizes Hortolandia’s modernization.
Financial system and Atmosphere
The first objective of this system is financial, saving sources for different areas, however it additionally advantages the inhabitants, Oliveira famous. “The power effectivity of LED lamps allowed us to grant a ten% discount in residents’ electrical energy payments,” she defined.
“We had been the ugly duckling of the Campinas metropolitan area,” which incorporates 20 municipalities and a complete of three.5 million inhabitants, however “now we’re a novel case in these improvements,” a reference level, she proudly said.
“Photo voltaic power hit the mark, a unprecedented achievement,” stated Dirson Pereira da Silva, the receptionist on the Santa Clara Ecological Park, which includes a lagoon at its heart.
After 36 years residing in a metropolis that “buried all its streams,” Araraquara, 170 kilometers away, he returned to his hometown and his ardour for the lagoon in 2023.
The seven parks in Hortolandia, most of them designed to guard watercourses, affirm its environmental vocation, which additionally underpins its dedication to photo voltaic power.
The municipality has recognized over 50 springs and strives to preserve or restore them as wanted, in accordance with Eduardo Marchetti, Secretary of City Planning and Strategic Administration. This requires sustaining or increasing riparian forests.
Hortolandia is a “tree metropolis” acknowledged in 2023 by the worldwide Arbor Day Basis, a nonprofit group based mostly in Washington that seeks to reforest the world.
Timber In opposition to Floods
The town used to endure from floods brought on by the overflowing of the Jacuba stream, with frequent losses for riverside residents and companies. This was overcome by constructing 4 reservoirs and caring for the springs and riparian forests, recalled Marchetti, who has lived within the municipality since start.
Timber are additionally a requirement for financing from worldwide banks. For instance, to construct the cable-stayed bridge, the Improvement Financial institution of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) required the planting of 120,000 timber as a situation for its delicate mortgage.
“Sustaining inexperienced parks has its prices. We misplaced 30,000 timber attributable to lack of care, reminiscent of eradicating weeds that take their vitamins,” Marchetti famous.
Hortolândia was based in 1991 after separating from Sumaré, a municipality of 280,000 inhabitants. Its territory is small, masking 62.4 sq. kilometers.
“Within the Seventies, we had been a rural space that acquired many industries, particularly within the Eighties. This led to a inhabitants explosion, accompanied by excessive violence, reaching 102 murders per 100,000 inhabitants,” recalled Josemil Rodrigues, a journalist who advises Mayor José Nazareno Gomes.
Planning for Transformation
The event of the brand new metropolis acquired a major increase beginning in 2005 below Mayor Angelo Perugini, “a visionary” to his supporters.
In 2005, sewage protection was restricted to 2% of wastewater; now it reaches 98%, with 100% remedy. Solely 40% of the streets had been paved; now 99% are, and homicides have dropped to 13 per 100,000 inhabitants, in accordance with information offered by the journalist.
“Lengthy-term planning was key. Hortolandia’s vocation is to be a sensible and sustainable metropolis,” he said. Photo voltaic power is a part of this objective and has made the town a nationwide reference, Rodrigues emphasised.
The photovoltaic panels are a logical consequence of the environmental imaginative and prescient of the town’s leaders. The present mayor, Gomes, was the Atmosphere Secretary below his predecessor, Perugini, who was elected 4 occasions beginning in 2005 and died of COVID-19 in 2021, originally of a brand new municipal time period.
Moreover, environmental schooling is a precedence within the “political-pedagogical undertaking” of all municipal colleges, noticed Donizete Faria, director of the Division of Pedagogy and Persevering with Training on the Training Secretariat.
Photo voltaic power is simply too latest to evaluate its affect on schooling, however power effectivity has been a everlasting subject in colleges for a few years, together with by visits to ecological parks and the Environmental Observatory, a specialised heart situated in Santa Clara Park.
The truth that 14 colleges have photo voltaic vegetation on their roofs will assist “kids take possession of the photovoltaic panels, see them, and have hands-on classes about renewable power and consumption,” Faria hopes.
“We wish to develop, but additionally protect. The town should look after its surroundings, search new methods to consider power, water, and consumption,” he concluded.
The operation and upkeep of the photovoltaic community put in within the metropolis price little. Techniques analyst Alessandro Alves displays every part from his laptop linked to all of the vegetation, and electrical engineer Renan Queiroz intervenes if repairs are wanted.
For the reason that vegetation have a assured lifespan of 25 years and the inverters final 10 years, there might be no urgent issues, reminiscent of gear disposal or recycling, for a few years, Queiroz reassured.
Hortolandia’s city grasp plan has an environmental focus, attributable to flooding and the necessity to handle water sources, Marchetti defined. Water reuse, inexperienced roofs, and photo voltaic power are a part of the tax incentives for property homeowners.
The brand new plan, already accredited, maintains the give attention to the surroundings however provides technological improvements. “We’re a technological metropolis,” with a number of IT and pharmaceutical corporations, concluded the Secretary of City Planning.
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