BioFuels: Brazil Power-up with Biofuels

August 12/2008

BRAZIL - Gabrielle Walker argues that Brazil's success with sugar cane points the way to a sustainable biofuels future

Now that oil prices have dipped to a seven-week low (of less than $120 a barrel), motorists might be tempted to breathe a sigh of relief. But this is likely to be little more than a lull, says the Telegraph.
According to the UK news agency, a report published last Friday by the think tank Chatham House predicts that an impending oil supply crunch will drive the price up to $200. In other words, economics is now reinforcing what climate campaigners have been saying for years: petrol is just too expensive, both for the pocket and the planet.
But is there an alternative if we want to keep driving our cars? Last year's transport panacea - biofuel - has become this year's pariah. Fuels that were previously touted as green have been accused of producing almost as many emissions as they save and in the process driving the price of food so high that even First-World economies are starting to feel the inflationary heat.
And yet, not all biofuels are bad. To see how to get them right, you need to look across the Atlantic; not at America, but Brazil. After the 1970s oil price shock, Brazil decided to find a new way to travel. It has been using biofuels ever since, and the results are impressive.

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