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Fuel Alternatives - Brazil - Sugar In The Tank
SAO PAULO,Brazil -Forbes (NY,USA), by David Adams -16 Nov 2005: -- Since the 1973 oil embargo, Brazil has battled to achieve energy independence, replacing gasoline with ethanol, an alcohol distilled from sugarcane... Today, Brazil is the world's largest producer of sugar and ethanol. Brazilian cars are also equipped with engines that can run on ethanol and gasoline, or any blend of the two. Known as "flex-fuel" cars, they have dazzled the market since their launch by Volkswagen in March 2003. Last month, they captured 66.7% of new car sales. All the major Brazilian car manufacturers now make them, including Ford Motor and General Motors... In Brazil ethanol, or "alcohol" as it is called, costs only $2 at the pump, compared to $4 for a gasoline-ethanol blend (Brazil no longer sells regular unblended gasoline). And while ethanol-powered cars consume 25% to 30% more fuel per mile than gasoline cars, the average motorist can save about $820 a year by switching to ethanol... So far, U.S. sugar growers have not branched out into ethanol. Under the highly controlled U.S. sugar program, prices for raw sugar are far more advantageous. But that could change as Washington pushes its global free trade agenda. Sugarcane growers in Florida recently commissioned an ethanol study... with demand and future prices of fossil fuels uncertain, the day of renewable energy may have arrived...
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