That’s not to say that natural gas and next-gen biofuels can’t play a part, but the focus going into improving battery technology right now leads me to believe that this is ultimately where things are headed.

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/Content.asp?ContentID=281882

Firstly 9 of 10 cars are not dual use. MAYBE 1 in 20.

Yes, there are a lot of ethanol only cars here. They have been popular since the 1980′s.

Also, everyone I know that has a “flex” auto, uses just gasoline. The reason: 1) better performance, 2) you don’t need to stop and refill as often.

So even though gasoline is x2 the price it’s equal in mileage.

@Allison: think Gavin was referring to gasoline cost in Brazil around R$2.30/litre equivalent to $US4/gallon

@Brian: thanks for the highlighting this legislation

@almir: nicely written, will pm you

@zalmino: I am not sure the US midwest & SE Brazil have been deforested for ethanol production; perhaps you are referring to palm oil & maybe soy bean, somewhere else? plug in hybrids use electricity from the grid which is typically coal fired and hence produces at least as much CO2 as gasoline (Brazilian ethanol reduces lifecycle CO2 by ~85%) – PHEVs maybe cleaner with CCS or nuclear…

The real environmentally friendly way off oil is through the plug-in hybrid.

calcars.org

We rarely see American urban populations demanding improvements in public transportation. The list of the 10 best sold cars in America is basicaly a list of small trucks, none of these vehicles can be considered a compact car. You have been overspending fuel to move in their overcrowded cities, and that’s not reasonable even in a prosperous society like yours. You Americans could do a lot yourselves to solve the crisis, just by adapting your driving habits.

I will take this opportunity to propose some words about bio-fuels. As rising food prices continue to threaten food security around the world, one obvious solution is being largely ignored: Brazilian ethanol. Brazil started to create this real fuel alternative since the first oil crisis hit the world in the 70s. Now Brazilian drive small or medium sized cars moved by ethanol or gasoline mixed in any proportion and internal consumption of ethanol in the country is already superior to gasoline’s. Brazilian ethanol is produced from sugarcane without any governmental subsidies and the fuel has a very competitive price. Researchers are increasing the productivity of ethanol year after year (more fuel extracted per square kilometer of sugarcane crops). They adapted sugar canes species to each type of land and topography so the productivity now is more than 3 times the records of 30 years ago. And the productivity keeps on rising and is expected to soar very soon when the technology to extract ethanol from cellulosic materials (crop waste) will be available for large scale production. Brazil could expand its sugarcane fields without disturbing sensitive land areas by tapping land such as depleted pastures. Just raising intensity of cattle production from the current 0.8 animals per hectare to 1.2 animals (a target already far exceeded in many parts of the country) would release about 80m hectares of land for crops. There remains plenty of room for expansion: the country has about 7m hectares of land under sugarcane, of which about 3m hectares is used for ethanol, compared to 200m hectares of pasture, about 21m hectares of soya and 14m hectares of maize.

And a more persuasive fact for incentive ethanol production in Brazil is the electric energy that is generated as a by-product of ethanol processing: taking into consideration the energetic balance, the electricity generated in sugar cane processing in Brazil is almost as large as its fuel equivalent. It’s like a two large scale hydroelectric plants generating electricity exactly when it’s more necessary: in the Brazilian dry season! So the Brazilian producers of ethanol are also having soaring revenues by selling electricity to the country’s national electric system! It’s become an strategic source of electricity, so it’s a win-win game for the country and for the farmers.

Off course Brazilian ethanol would never concur with petroleum, but it could ease the current oil crisis by supplying a small part of the world energy demand. It could be an good alternative to the highly non-efficient corn based American ethanol. The problem is that much of Brazil’s ethanol exports continues to face prohibitive tariffs and other barriers to developed markets in the US and Europe. America keep its market closed to alternative fuels at the same time blames the world for not supplying then with more tax-free oil. The developed world appears purposely myopic in relation to the opportunities Brazil presents, maybe it’s because that would upset wealthy US and European farmers – a price apparently not worth paying.

But my main point with this letter is to propose you Americans the following question: if a developing country like Brazil could create an efficient energy alternative, why should not Americans do the same instead of just waiting the world increase oil production?

My best regards,

Almir R. Américo (almiramerico@gmail.com)