WP,pg1: Brazil's Road to Energy Independence

[DeepModem Mom]

Brazil's Road to Energy Independence
Alternative-Fuel Strategy, Rooted in Ethanol From Sugar Cane, Seen as Model
By Monte Reel
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, August 20, 2006; Page A01


Sugar cane-based ethanol is one reason why the government predicts that for the first time in its history, Brazil will export as much oil as it imports. (By Alexandre Meneghini -- Associated Press)


SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Record oil prices have made the world's energy landscape a darkly foreboding place this year, inhospitable to optimism and celebration. Except in Brazil.

It has been something of a banner year here, full of milestones. The government predicts that for the first time in its history, Brazil will achieve energy equilibrium, exporting as much oil as it imports. The production of sugar cane-based ethanol is expected to reach an all-time high. And just three years after the introduction here of flex-fuel vehicles -- cars that run on either ethanol or gasoline -- several major automakers predict that such vehicles will represent 100 percent of their production by the end of the year, eliminating gas-only models.

Pull up to most service stations in this country of 185 million people and you will find fuel pumps offering three choices: ethanol, gasoline or premium gasoline. The labels are slightly misleading: The gasoline varieties are blends that contain at least 20 percent ethanol. The pure ethanol is usually significantly cheaper -- 53 cents per liter (about $2 per gallon), compared with about 99 cents per liter for gasoline ($3.74 per gallon) in Sao Paulo this past week....

***

Since President Bush this year emphasized ethanol as one possible solution to U.S. oil dependence, Brazil has become a destination of choice for curious U.S. lawmakers and venture capitalists searching for a crystal ball in which to glimpse America's future. Ethanol is not solely responsible for Brazil's newfound energy independence -- domestic oil exploration has exploded in recent years -- but it has replaced about 40 percent of the country's gasoline consumption, according to Caio Carvalhal, an analyst with Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Rio de Janeiro....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/19/AR2006081900842.html?sub=AR

[RC]

1. ND plans to plow under 10% of its sugar beets.

http://www.in-forum.com/Business/articles/136743

Sugar crop may be too large
By Jonathan Knutson, The Forum
Published Thursday, August 17, 2006

Moorhead-based American Crystal Sugar – looking at an above-average sugar beet crop – has a plan to plow under fields if the crop is too big to process by the end of May.

Under the contingency plan, the cooperative’s shareholder-growers must set aside 10 percent of their sugar beet acres, said Tom Astrup, Crystal Sugar’s vice president of agriculture.

>snip<

The cooperative normally shoots for a 10 million-ton crop to match the processing capacity at its five plants.

This year, Crystal is looking at an 11-million-ton harvest, or about 22 tons per acre on about 500,000 acres. The average yield is about 19½ tons per acre.

If it appears more than 11 million tons will be harvested, the contingency plan could kick in.

[faithnotgreed]

2. kicking

[RC]

3. I guess nobody cares.

[Nutmegger]

4. I post threads that often don't get recognition

Maybe we have the Internets-equivalent of the plague?

:kick:ing this thread to the top.