[thackney]

Brazil primarily gained energy independence by deciding to produce their petroleum resources instead of leaving them in the ground. Ethanol has helped, but it is small compared to the difference made by encouraging drilling.

[SueRae]

Excellent point. The article is a good read. There is no single answer to energy independence. Ethanol production is okay, as far as it goes. BUT..The US needs to drill in the areas accessible to us. Damn the roadblockers in the way. My Congressional votes will go to candidates who will clear the path to ANWR and offshore drilling, along with other sane and reasonable choices, like remaining in Iraq until the job is done, preserving free markets, etc.

[Vigilanteman]

That chart tells the most important part of the story. We've actually had ethanol for longer than Brazil. I've also heard that sugar cane produces a far more efficient yield in ethanol than does corn.

Further, corn itself is not the most efficient producer of ethanol. Switchgrass and better alternatives are available. Corn is used only because it is politcally popular with Iowa holding the first presidential caucuses in the nation (and brilliantly selecting the two least qualified people in both parties in 2008).

[milwguy]

Their new deepwater 8 BILLION BBL strike is just an example of their sensible energy policy. I did not see envirowackos in Sao Paolo and Rio demonstrating against ‘Big Oil’, in this case Petrobas. We on the other hand, KNOW where we have HUGE oil deposits. but fail to drill them. We have HUGE coal deposits, but we can’t burn it. Instead we put our food into our gas tanks and pay off the Ethanol whores. We wonder why we are inthis predicament?