Brazillian Authorities Raid Sugar Cane Plantation

June 2007

Sugar Cane Cutters or Indebted Slaves?

Brazil is a well known, large user of sugar-cane based ethanol; 80% of all new cars sold in Brazil are "flex-fuel" models that run on gasoline, ethanol or any combination of the two.

Ethanol currently sells for about half the price of gasoline in Brazil; it is inexpensive and accounts for nearly 20% of the country's annual fuel consumption. Increasing international demand and billions of financial dollars is allowing Brazil to expand due to being a major exporter of ethanol.

Start using Alternative Fuels

America has an unhealthy addiction to fossil fuels. We all love to drive; it doesn't matter what time or what the destination (if any) might be. To that end, Americans burn millions of gallons of gasoline every day, and most all of it produce enviromentaly toxic pollution.

We have all seen at least one of those email chain letters that promote not buying gas on a certain day will cause lower gas prices; they don't work. How could they? The refineries and the gasoline retailers all know that we have to buy our gas somewhere, sometime so, not buying it on Tuesday, just means you will have to buy it on Wednesday or Thursday. The only way that could possibly have a chance would be to have several days, weeks even of not buying any gas, anywhere, anytime. But again, we all have to get to work and for the most part, that requires fuel.




Meanwhile, OPEC, Exxon, and the other petroleum related organizations/industries continue to dominate our spending practices. America needs to be weaned from it's dependence on fossil fuel and that means we need to replace it with something else. Alternative and Renewable fuel sources are the key; this includes ethanol, biodiesel, hydrogen fuel cell technology, solar power, propane, and other environmentally friendly resources.



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Ethanol Feed Stocks and the related pricing

Probably the most common thinking when it comes to ethanol production includes using corn to produce the alternative fuel. Increased use in corn-based ethanol production has begun to drive up prices for corn and is creating a hardship on the people of Mexico. The population of Mexico considers that corn tortillas are akin to bread in the US and the rise in demand for corn in the US has begun to make even tortillas more expensive.

Meanwhile, other resources are being utilized to produce ethanol - sugar cane is one.
Sugar cane based ethanol is an up and comer in the area of ethanol production. Brazil has been doing it for quite some time now but, there is a new interest in producing sugar cane ethanol from Peru. The peruvian desert might be the next best place to produce ethanol due to the non tariff status on agricultural products imported to the US. According to Maple Cos., (the driver behind sugar cane ethanol in Peru) Peru's growing conditions, and low labor costs will make ethanol production cost effective. That combined with the duty-free status for importing into the US under terms of the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act is expected to give Maple an edge over other suppliers, even after accounting for the cost of shipping ethanol by tanker.

As you might have read, and likely would expect, the Midwest Region in the US has been enjoying what some are calling a 'Boom' in Biofuels. While most people first think of corn, which is the current top choice for producing ethanol / e85 in North America, it does not play a role when producing Biodiesel. The next contestant for producing Biodiesel is Chicken Fat. Yes, you read correctly, Chicken Fat Biodiesel. Another feature of the Midwest, Southeast Missouri to be more specific, is the Tyson Foods Inc. Poultry Plant, Dexter, Mo. Tyson is the nations largest producer of animal fat leftover from chicken, cattle, and hogs.