Comments on: Brazilian Ethanol Industry Schmoozes the EU

By: Facebook User

Facebook User — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:06:00 +0000

John Williams :
May 14th, 2008 at 1:16 pm

Until the sugar crisis hits. Then the cries would be to leave Brazil’s “sugarbasket” to produce sugar.

Wait a sec….don’t we mainly use high fructose corn syrup in everything we eat these days? I don’t think we’d have to be worried.

In large part due to protectionist policies that limit the importation of sugar.

By: David Holzman

David Holzman — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:19:19 +0000

Any carving up of the Brazilian rainforest for biofuels is extremely destructive environmentally, From the point of view of carbon impact, so much carbon is sequestered in an acre of rainforest in both the soil and the biomass that it would take a few hundred years of growing biofuels to repay the carbon debt caused by clearing the land. So buying the stuff from brazil is no environmental panacea. Actually, even clearing new land in the US to grow biofuels creates a carbon debt of 30-100 years.

By: John Williams

John Williams — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:16:10 +0000

Until the sugar crisis hits. Then the cries would be to leave Brazil’s “sugarbasket” to produce sugar.

Wait a sec….don’t we mainly use high fructose corn syrup in everything we eat these days? I don’t think we’d have to be worried.

By: Engineer

Engineer — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:44:24 +0000

Though I believe ethanol to be economically destructive in the US, it would be less-so if we imported it from Brazil and left our breadbasket to produce bread.
Until the sugar crisis hits. Then the cries would be to leave Brazil’s “sugarbasket” to produce sugar.

By: N Number

N Number — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:40:28 +0000

I wish US ethanol proponents would look to Brazil instead of here at home. Brazil is more suited for ethanol development than the US, if such a thing can be said. It has a lower demand for energy per capita than the US, and abundant land on which to grow bio-fuel crops.

Though I believe ethanol to be economically destructive in the US, it would be less-so if we imported it from Brazil and left our breadbasket to produce bread.

By: gamper

gamper — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:13:05 +0000

Good luck to Brazil getting agricultural products or byproducts into the EU. The only place with stronger protectionist policies for agriculture is Western Europe, possibly Japan.

Not only that, but net environmental effect a huge boom in demand for Brazilian sugar cane ethanol may actually be worse than current fossil fuel emmisions given Brazil’s clearcutting, burning and generally unsustainable agricultural practices.