Brazil is the world's largest producer of ethanol from sugarcane and has become almost entirely energy independent.
Making ethanol from sugarcane requires far less energy than from corn; the cane begins to ferment the moment the stalk is cut and there is no need to convert starch to sugar.
The distillation and fermentation process is quick and easy and the heat orenergy needed for the process is generated not by fossil fuels but by cane ethanol.
The ethanol yield per acre of sugarcane is more than twice that of corn; sugarcane can be harvested seven times a year compared to soy and corn's single yearly harvest.
And, engines that run on cane ethanol crank out more power than typical gas engines because cane ethanol burns at a higher compression. Sound perfect?
Perhaps for Brazil, but it would not be cost effective or environmentally sustainable to ship cane ethanol to other markets, and if rainforest is being leveled to plant the sugarcane, the net C02 gains vanish, (rainforest is a major digester of C02).
But with an energy balance of 1 to 8, cane ethanol has definitely taken hold of the Brazilian economy.
Greenhouse gas emissions are also lower than corn with nine pounds of CO2 per cane gallon for a 56 percent reduction of CO2 over regular gasoline, (again, if forest has not been cut to plant the sugarcane).
from an article at:
http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080309/BIZ/803090330
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