CARazed

This is not new news but a short story worth telling since it gets little air time in the America. The 1973 oil crisis acted as a catalyst for the Brazilian government to begin an ethanol program to create an alternative to foreign fossil fuels. Over the years the program grew, went through many growing pains, but overall has been a remarkable success story.

Today most Brazilians drive cars that run on ethanol or gasohol. Dual-fuel (a.k.a. Flex-Fuel) cars are expected to become more abundant in the near future. Brazilian ethanol is created locally from sugarcane. In 2005 Brazil consumed 2,000,000 barrels of oil per day compared to 280,000 barrels of ethanol. So fossil fuels are still a major piece of the Brazilian fuel landscape. Brazil still imports oil for certain byproducts like diesel that can’t be replaced by ethanol. More on Ethanol in Brazil