IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2020 - 31

Throughout Rio de Janeiro, the frequency and intensity of torrential rains that cause flooding and landslides has increased, and this has occurred alongside a
documented rise in the city's average temperature and
a concomitant formation of intense heat islands. These
environmental changes have heightened the debate
about the relationship between historic models of
urbanization, extreme weather events, and global climate change [4], [5]. The latter has in turn raised questions about the generation of alternative forms of
energy in urban areas - an issue that is fundamentally
linked to the maintenance of minimum comfort standards for the urban poor, and even the reduction of
poverty itself [3].
As part of efforts to reduce the planet's average temperature, Brazil signed the Paris Agreement at the 21st
Conference of the Parties (COP21), ratified by the National Congress in September 2016 [6]. As a signatory to the
agreement, and in association with the global goals
established therein, the Brazilian State also committed
itself to local goals, such as "to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions by 37% below 2005 levels in 2025 [...] [and]
by 43% below 2005 levels in 2030" [7]. In the series of
actions planned to reach these goals, Brazil committed
to expand its use of renewable sources beyond hydropower, focusing instead on non-fossil fuel energy generation in sources like wind, biomass, and solar [7].
In December 2016, Rio de Janeiro's City Hall
responded by commissioning a study that culminated in
the publication of the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for the City of Rio de Janeiro [5]. Among several
actions in this document cited to make the city and its
residents more adaptable to climate change, were the
following: the promotion of conscious consumption,
encouraging the rational consumption of natural
resources, especially energy and water [5, p. 49], attracting business and investment for the green economy [5,
p. 51], and ensuring the operation of strategic infrastructure under adverse climatic conditions, favoring alternative sources as an energy resource [5, p. 71].
Solar energy, one of the forms of energy generation
mentioned in these plans and agreements, is one of the
alternative sources of energy with greater potential for
exploitation in Rio de Janeiro, with annual global irradiance values greater than those of Germany, the leading
country worldwide in the installation of photovoltaic systems1 [8]. Such potential has been encouraged with
achievements such as the Rio Capital Energy Program, created in 2011, with investments of R$2.2 billion (US$550
million) [9]. In 2015, a network of actors involving public
and private companies, government agencies, and a
1

If in Rio de Janeiro annual global solar irradiation varies from 1,460 to
2,010 kWh/m 2, in Germany the average level is 1,700 kWh/m 2.

MARCH 2020

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company specializing in georeferencing systems launched
the web application Solar Map of Rio de Janeiro2 as part
of this program.
This paper aims to investigate the sociotechnical
frameworks produced by the Solar Map of Rio de Janeiro
as an artifact of digital technology that creates a reality
based on a new environment of interaction, not only
between humans and computers (HCI), but also between
the many actors of the heterogeneous photovoltaic solar
energy generation network of Rio de Janeiro.
In particular, we emphasize the absence of impoverished and marginalized territories in the Solar Map of Rio
de Janeiro. By interacting with the app itself and following the paths of its construction, we interrogate the role
of government policy as it relates to the technologies
under development. Crucially, we focus on how these policies understand urban citizenship in Rio de Janeiro by
analyzing the areas that were excluded from the map.
As will be seen, the absence of favelas in the Solar
Map can be seen as an effect of the ontological politics
mechanism of sociotechnical systems [10], [11], in this
case an effect that makes favelas manifestly absent
[10] - non-territories of the potential network of photovoltaic generation in Rio de Janeiro. As the concept of
ontological politics itself indicates, we conclude this
article by pointing to other sociotechnical choices that
produce a reality, that is, an ontology, where favelas are
incorporated into the network involving photovoltaic
cells, government policies, even the sun itself. We point,
above all, to a narrative that enacts the sociotechnical
choices related to the development of the Solar Map.
Ultimately, we hope to build a narrative that highlights
the adoption of solar energy as an ally in energy inclusion due to solar energy's potential for reducing electric
energy tariffs, and also as a tool to tackle climate crises.

Solar Map as the Sun's Digital Spokesperson
The sun is a constant player in photovoltaic energy generation technology scenarios, which seems obvious but is
not always perceived. Such is the sun's importance that
authorities, technicians, manufacturers, large investors,
entrepreneurs, and the general population need to understand their behavior and find out when, how, and where
precisely it manifests itself. In Rio de Janeiro, while the
research for this paper was being conducted, the sun
essentially had the Solar Map of Rio de Janeiro as one of
its important spokespersons in the city3 (Figure 1).

Available: http://mapasolar.rio. [Accessed: May 26, 2019].
3
Another spokesperson for the sun, but not restricted to the city and which
was not the object of this research, was the Solarimétrico Atlas of Rio de
Janeiro, another project of Rio Capital Energy Program. The information in
this Atlas was geographically less specific, and there was no detailed data
for the city of Rio de Janeiro. Available: http://www.atlasriosolar.com.br.
[Accessed: Jan. 11, 2018].

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

http://www.mapasolar.rio http://www.atlasriosolar.com.br

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2020

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