Ethanol Production Stalls in Brazil
http://scitechdaily.com/ethanol-production-stalls-in-brazil/
November 28, 2012
Brazil experienced a biofuel boom in March 2007, topping out at second in world output behind the USA. The fermentation of sugars produced motor fuel that lowered carbon dioxide emissions, and Brazil became a model for how it was possible to stop relying on fossil fuels.
Five years later, biofuels have been criticized and critics charge that devoting millions of hectares of agricultural land to fuel crops is driving up food prices and the climate benefits of biofuels are modest. The policies of the Brazilian government have compounded the effects of the global economic downturn.
The domestic consumption of liquid ethanol in 2012 has been 26% lower than for the same period in 2008 and forty-one of Brazil’s roughly 400 sugar cane ethanol plants have closed during that span. The price of pure ethanol is so high that in most states it’s cheaper to fill up with petrol blends that contain 20% ethanol. The shift back to fossil fuels, combined with the rapid growth in the number of cars on Brazil’s roads, has worsened smog and caused emissions in the transport sector to spike.
Brazil’s ethanol experience is an example of what can happen when climate and energy planning clash with economic decision-making. Problems began with the 2008 economic crisis, which stalled new investments in the sector just as it was expanding rapidly. The industry fell back on harvesting cane from older, less productive sites instead of developing new plantations. Average yields plummeted from 115 tonnes per hectare in 2008 to 69 tonnes in 2012. This has forced Brazil to import 1.5 billion liters of maize ethanol from the USA in the last 2 years.
