Brazil Fights Oil Prices With Alcohol

Christian Science Monitor ^ | October 7, 2005 | Andrew Downie

[Clintonfatigued]

Drivers are fighting rising gasoline prices by buying "flex" or "flexible fuel" cars that slurp more alcohol.

Alcohol made from sugar cane is becoming the fuel of choice in Brazil, and other countries - so much so that global sugar prices hit a seven-year high this week.

[drt1]

IMO alcohol is not the way to go. Prefer Oil Sands or Coal Gasification, both of which are, due to the steep rise in Oil, economical and profitable. Even better, all US needs can be met with existing Domestic sources and their availability is not dependent upon the vagaries of weather, Gov't subsidies or asset utilization constraints in the form of the enormous amounts of land, transport and processing assets required for alcohol production.

[Bringbackthedraft]

Hmmmmmmmm? Does OPEC like sugar in their coffee or tea? This may come in handy?

[martin_fierro]

(BTW, the first grappa I ever tried mas manufactured under the auspices of the Uruguayan National Administration of Combustibles, Alcohol and Cement)

[BigBobber]

The carbohydrate energy economy (using plant matter for energy) stopped making sense 150 years ago. Why libs and third worlders keep pushing this is beyond me. Why would they want to cut down rain forests to grow sugar cane to replace oil or coal? We would have to use every arable acre to supplant the fossil fuel supply. Biomass energy is an environmental disaster.

[No Longer Free State]

so much so that global sugar prices hit a seven-year high this week.

Does this mean we can stop subsidizing sugar producers?

[Clintonfatigued]

Hopefully this posting can generate ideas and suggestions from well-informed conservatives on how to deal with the price of gasoline.

[R.W.Ratikal]

That's what I did Saturday night. Instead of going out and burning gas I stayed home and got drunk.

[skinkinthegrass]

Didn't Brazil already have alcohol-burning Autos/Public transport in the L70s-E80s?

[Willie Green]

Hopefully this posting can generate ideas and suggestions from well-informed conservatives on how to deal with the price of gasoline.

Peak Oil will bring about a wide variety of alternative fuel sources INCLUDING ethanol, coal gasification, tar sands, shale oil, etc. etc. (not to mention electric mass-transit systems with energy supplied by nuclear power plants).

What will NOT happen is a worldwide, one-fuel-is-best-for-everybody's-car petroleum substitute like Dubya's bogus "hydrogen" economy.

[mmercier]

Most major advances in this regard will occur or catch on in the third world.

High oil prices hurt the US, but not enough to get us off our butts and change the way we presently do things. We will spend a decade and a trillion dollars creating a new technology rather than create a $50.00 carburetor attachment that can be attached to existing vehicle technologies.

Biomass will never replace fossil fuels but offer viable alternatives for the time being, especially in places where everything grows rapidly.

[RightWhale]

VW Bugs made in Brazil long after VW Bugs were no longer made in Germany ran on alcohol.

[steveo]

This has been going on for years, years I tells ya. When my late father was working in Brazil (early 90's), he'd bring back 2LT bottles of almost pure alcohol. When there, he married a beautiful but feisty woman who made this drink with sugar, that booze and some other stuff that was pretty good.

[skinkinthegrass]

VW Bugs made in Brazil long after VW Bugs were no longer made in Germany ran on alcohol

...Thanks, for the reply. Thats' what I Rem., back in the early years, (when MSM News Magazine Shows, actually had News...not hit pieces :)...I forgot they were only WV Beetles.