Nowadays, due to the financial crisis and to global warming, there are
many people suggesting that it is the right moment to invest in the
development of environmentally friendly technologies. In this context,
investments in low-carbon solutions would be priority. I do not know
how realistic this idea is. New technologies usually take time to be
developed and the current crisis calls for investments that can
quickly generate new jobs and growth. However there are various
already existing eco-friendly technologies that can be adopted in the
short term. A good example of that is the successful Brazilian bio-
fuel model. In Brazil, nearly six million cars can use ethanol, from
sugar cane, as fuel. These cars are known as “flexible” because they
can run on a mixture of gasoline and alcohol, in any proportion (even
100% alcohol). Most of the cars manufactured in Brazil nowadays are
flexible-fuel vehicles.
Besides, according to a national regulation, the Brazilian gasoline
has from 20% to 25% ethanol. Ethanol can be easily found in nearly 33
thousand gas stations in the country and accounts for more than 40% of
the fuel consumption of the brazilian cars.
The use of sugar cane to produce ethanol is also a smart choice. Sugar
cane produces eight times more energy per pound than corn, and even
its waste, the bagasse, can be used for the production of bio-based
materials.
PS: sugar cane is planted vary far away from the amazon rain forest.
There is no deforestation because of it, as some people argue.
Find a lot more information at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Brazil
==========================
Alexandre Couto de Andrade
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