Brazillian Biodiesel initiative.

[skids]

OK, if I don't make a "brazillion" joke someone else will.

"Biodiesel to save Brazillion dollars. Economists try to figure out how much a brazillion is." How's that?

In Brazil, the B2 mixture will be compulsory starting in 2008. "A total of 800,000 tonnes of clean fuel will be necessary to supply the Brazilian demand when the law goes into operation," stated Nivaldo Trama, the president of the Brazilian Association of Biodiesel Industries (Abiodiesel). The intention is to increase the percentage gradually so as to reach 5% - B5 - in 2013. According to the federal government, the commercial use of B2 will represent an annual economy of around US$ 160 million in the import of diesel.

...

Initially the government released a biodiesel program that provided incentives to those interested in producing the fuel from castor seeds and oil palm in the poorest regions of the country, the North and Northeast. Around 40 varieties of oleaginous plants were researched, but these two were chosen for two reasons: they are well adapted to dry climates and generate jobs. "It is possible to promote inclusion and social mobility," stated André Luis Girdwood, a director at Brasil Ecodiesel. According to the executive, for every three hectares of castor seed cropland, one direct job is guaranteed.

...

The program, however, has generated the interest of other sectors that had already been working on research for the production of biodiesel, like soy farmers. Farmers of the product say that the grain is a good way for the country to reach the quantity of biodiesel necessary to run its vehicle fleet by 2008.

http://www.anba.com.br/ingles/especial.php?id=248

[Village Idiot]

1. It is a continuing source of pain and disillusion to me that

more Caribbean nations do not adopt similar programs...

Seriously - Bananas are a good, cheap source of biofuel, and to be quite honest, if you are a farmer in the Caribbean, it is incredibly difficult to make a dollar off them in any other way!!!

[ecoalex]

2. Ethanol can be used as diesel too

I would think the Carribean basin would be good for sugar cane, and other brix crops that could be easily converted to ethanol, which can be used in diesel engines.

Hybrid poplar trees also in more temperate climes works well for ethanol too, and farmers can use conevntional silage harvesting equipment many have already to harvest this cellulose rich crop.Conversion by enzymes to a fermentable sugar, and voila, ethanol.

There are answers, the oil companies are doing what they can to to stop the conversion to bio sustainable fuels.