SUGAR CANE ETHANOL IN BRAZIL: ‘AN IRREVERSIBLE TREND’

Brazil and the U.S. are the world leaders in ethanol production. Both use food crops to make ethanol. Brazil’s dependence is on sugar cane. The U.S. uses corn.

Both U.S. and Brazilian ethanol industries have been under attack recently for the impact ethanol production has had on food prices and for the role they play in the destruction of precious, unprotected rainforests and savannah in underdeveloped nations from Brazil to Indonesia and Malaysia. (See CORN ETHANOL AND HUNGER)

EU leaders are already seriously reconsidering their commitments to ethanol and other agrofuels. (See EXPERTS TELL EU TO PUT BIOFUELS ON HOLD) Even some U.S. politicians have started raising a ruckus, though the debate is unlikely to get much traction in the Midwest until after the November election.

Brazil, however, continues to take pride in its ethanol industry and deny its negative consequences. A political leader recently told NPR the ethanol industry could not be doing harm to the rainforests because sugar cane is not grown anywhere near the Amazon. This is a complete misrepresentation.

It is clearly established and documented that agrofuel production (be it corn in the U.S., sugar cane in Brazil or palm oil trees in Indonesia and Malaysia) drives the expansion of land clearing in rainforest and savannah regions for other farming and ranching purposes.

Brazil takes pride in the energy independence it has developed with ethanol and boasts of having upped the “renewables” portion of its energy consumption (hydroelectricity, ethanol and plant-based biodiesel) from 44.9% to 46.4%. Brazil is also proud of the energy independence it has created with its deepwater offshore oil and gas exploration.

Mauricio Tolmasquim, President, Brazilian energy planning agency EPE: "It's a historic year…it's an irreversible trend…"

Irreversible?

Petroleum resources will bring wealth into Brazil. Ethanol will free it from fossil fuels. But Brazil is headed for higher food costs, an inflationary economic cycle and serious environmental consequences if it remains in a state of denial about what it is doing and refuses to adapt to new information and circumstances.

With all due respect, nothing is irreversible. Ask the U.S. steel industry. The U.S. coal industry. The U.S. car industry.

Some in Brazil have begun urging the government to move away from AGROfuels to BIOfuels made from nonfood crops. It's a start.

Ethanol is more than energy to Brazil, it's also trade.(click to enlarge)

Cane surpasses power dams in Brazil energy complex
Denise Luna (w/Andrei Khalip and Christian Wiessner), May 8, 2008 (Reuters via Yahoo News)

WHO
Brazilian energy planning agency EPE (Mauricio Tolmasquim, President)

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WHAT
Sugar cane/cane-based ethanol became the second biggest source of energy in Brazil, passing hydroelectric power; oil remains number on.

WHEN
February 2007: Brazil’s use of ethanol was for the first time in 2 decades greater than its use of gasoline.

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WHERE
Brazil and the U.S. are world’s leading producers of ethanol. Both use food crops.

WHY
- Sugar cane/cane-based ethanol was 16% of Brazil’s overall energy use (fuel and electric power) in 2007. Hydro was 14.7%
- Gasoline consumption dropped 4%.
- Brazil’s increased use of ethanol is largely due to an increasing availability of flex-fuel vehicles in its transport system.

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QUOTES
Mauricio Tolmasquim, President, EPE: "It's a historic year in that sense, it's an irreversible trend…"