Until recently, Brazil was better known for soccer and carnival than for leading the world into the future of energy  consumption. But now Brazil is also famous for what might be called its "sweet gold." "Sweet" as in sugarcane, "gold" as in a fuel to replace "black gold" -- oil.
About three decades ago, Brazil decided to use its overabundance of sugarcane to decrease its overdependence on foreign oil. It created an industry of sugarcane-based ethanol, a grain alcohol fuel. That effort kicked into high gear a few years ago, when "flex-fuel" vehicles that can run on up to 100 percent sugarcane ethanol reached a critical mass in Brazil. The alternative to gasoline took off.
Now, the fifth largest country in the world is producing enough home-grown sugarcane-based ethanol to equal 300,000 barrels of oil per day. Ethanol currently supplies half of the fuel needs of Brazilian vehicles, and the government is expected to announce energy self-sufficiency within a year.
Can a similar approach lead to an energy-independent future in the U.S. and elsewhere?
A Welcome Revival
Like a veteran actor who is suddenly "discovered," ethanol made its first appearance back in the 1920s, when it could be used in the Ford Model T and Model A.
Ethanol was eclipsed for many decades by gasoline, which produces more power in an internal combustion engine. But in January, the lesser-known fuel received a PR boost in the United States. "America is addicted to oil," President George W. Bush announced in his State of the Union address, "which is often imported from unstable parts of the world." He went on to declare ethanol one of the steps toward recovery.
A solid case could be made that the U.S. is also addicted to chocolate, "American Idol," and bad jokes distributed over the Internet. Why kick this particular habit? Because of the three Ps -- prices, pollution, and potentates.
Gasoline is over $3 per gallon in some parts of the country. Gasoline emissions are a prime source of greenhouse gases, which threaten the planet with global warning. And the membership list of OPEC -- the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which holds about two-thirds of the planet's oil reserves -- reads like a who's who of autocracies.
Some say the first step toward kicking the habit is to reduce the need. "An increase to 40 miles per gallon over the next 10 years, from the current 24-25 average, can be done with today's technologies," says Don MacKenzie, a vehicle engineer for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (continued...)
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