Post by unlawflcombatnt on Aug 6, 2007 20:17:52 GMT -6
Below are excerpts from a CNN article discussing ethanol production from sugar cane.
Sugar cane ethanol's not-so-sweet future
By Jeff Cox, CNNMoney contributing writer
8/6/07
"Imagine a fuel that does not come from the Middle East, is about six times more economical to produce than corn ethanol and has the potential to help the environment because it requires few chemicals to grow.
Then imagine there's virtually no chance such a thing will ever come to the United States, at least in any appreciable numbers.
Meet sugar cane ethanol, a product fueling economic growth in Brazil, a nation that between its oil reserves and the burgeoning ethanol industry has attained energy self-sufficiency.
Brazil has spent billions of dollars over decades of research to develop the technology to mass produce ethanol from the millions of cane acres that spread along the South American landscape.
But due to a number of factors, primary among them the simple logistics of not being able to grow enough of the crop domestically, along with stringent tariffs against Brazilian sugar cane, that success is unlikely to be replicated in the U.S....
Pitfalls and potholes
Brazil didn't have an easy road either in developing its sugar ethanol production.
Along the way, the country has seen its shares of pitfalls, including the mass emission of greenhouse gases through burning of cane fields when harvesting the crop, a practice the government is working to curtail....
Some experts say the Brazilian formula gets even less gas mileage than its corn ethanol counterpart, which itself gets lower mileage generally than gasoline.
The country also will need to invest perhaps $1 billion or more in infrastructure improvements over the next few years to keep up with demand, and the costs don't stop there as Brazil heaps billions in subsidies on its ethanol producers.
But Brazil has managed, probably more than any other nation in the world, to carve out a thriving ethanol industry that exports millions of barrels a year -including about 160 million to the U.S. - and provides about a million jobs for its residents....
The industry in Brazil could serve as a template for the U.S. and others looking to implement strong biofuel practices. But with a strong corn lobby looking to protect its crop as the primary ethanol source, and the sugar industry standing tight guard over tariffs on Brazilian exports, the notion of cane being used on a broad scale in the U.S. seems remote at best.
Philip Hayes of the American Sugar Alliance said his group would stand strong against any governmental efforts to drop sugar tariffs.
"Certainly we would be opposed to that," he said. "There are 120 nations in the world that produce sugar, and there are 120 governments that intervene in sugar production in order to protect domestic producers from Brazilian sugar."....
The U.S. government also is heavily subsidizing its own ethanol industry, to the tune of 51 cents per gallon produced, and is targeting billions in this year's farm and energy bills to develop additional non-corn ethanol sources, including some minor provisions devoted to sugar-based ethanol.
Meanwhile, the American tariff on Brazilian ethanol is 54 cents a gallon...."
The full article can be found at
Sugar cane ethanol's not-so-sweet future
Sugar cane ethanol's not-so-sweet future
By Jeff Cox, CNNMoney contributing writer
8/6/07
"Imagine a fuel that does not come from the Middle East, is about six times more economical to produce than corn ethanol and has the potential to help the environment because it requires few chemicals to grow.
Then imagine there's virtually no chance such a thing will ever come to the United States, at least in any appreciable numbers.
Meet sugar cane ethanol, a product fueling economic growth in Brazil, a nation that between its oil reserves and the burgeoning ethanol industry has attained energy self-sufficiency.
Brazil has spent billions of dollars over decades of research to develop the technology to mass produce ethanol from the millions of cane acres that spread along the South American landscape.
But due to a number of factors, primary among them the simple logistics of not being able to grow enough of the crop domestically, along with stringent tariffs against Brazilian sugar cane, that success is unlikely to be replicated in the U.S....
Pitfalls and potholes
Brazil didn't have an easy road either in developing its sugar ethanol production.
Along the way, the country has seen its shares of pitfalls, including the mass emission of greenhouse gases through burning of cane fields when harvesting the crop, a practice the government is working to curtail....
Some experts say the Brazilian formula gets even less gas mileage than its corn ethanol counterpart, which itself gets lower mileage generally than gasoline.
The country also will need to invest perhaps $1 billion or more in infrastructure improvements over the next few years to keep up with demand, and the costs don't stop there as Brazil heaps billions in subsidies on its ethanol producers.
But Brazil has managed, probably more than any other nation in the world, to carve out a thriving ethanol industry that exports millions of barrels a year -including about 160 million to the U.S. - and provides about a million jobs for its residents....
The industry in Brazil could serve as a template for the U.S. and others looking to implement strong biofuel practices. But with a strong corn lobby looking to protect its crop as the primary ethanol source, and the sugar industry standing tight guard over tariffs on Brazilian exports, the notion of cane being used on a broad scale in the U.S. seems remote at best.
Philip Hayes of the American Sugar Alliance said his group would stand strong against any governmental efforts to drop sugar tariffs.
"Certainly we would be opposed to that," he said. "There are 120 nations in the world that produce sugar, and there are 120 governments that intervene in sugar production in order to protect domestic producers from Brazilian sugar."....
The U.S. government also is heavily subsidizing its own ethanol industry, to the tune of 51 cents per gallon produced, and is targeting billions in this year's farm and energy bills to develop additional non-corn ethanol sources, including some minor provisions devoted to sugar-based ethanol.
Meanwhile, the American tariff on Brazilian ethanol is 54 cents a gallon...."
The full article can be found at
Sugar cane ethanol's not-so-sweet future