USA and Brazil working together on ethanol in the Caribbean and Central America
Two teams from Brazil and the USA have been working together to launch several ethanol production projects in El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Saint Kitts and Nevis. Up to eight projects have been started under this new agreement. Funding will be provided with credits from the Inter-American Development Bank. Both the U.S. and Brazil are also thinking of expanding the partnership to more countries.The ethanol announcements don't stop there. The U.S. and Brazil will continue research of the biofuel. A few months ago, a group of Brazilian scientists were in the U.S. to learn about the latest developments here and, in a few months time, America scientists will travel to Brazil to continue this work. Both countries also announced that "it's a great priority for them to promote and cooperate in biofuels."
[Source: EFE via Econoticias]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rob 9:56PM (3/06/2008)
This doesn't really mean much to US consumers so long as the ethanol import duty remains in place...
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Owain Ozymandias Buck 8:11AM (3/07/2008)
I wish we could resolve the foolish standoff with Cuba--their sugar cane industry could really use the boost, and we'd have a new source of relatively smart-made EtOH. Here's hoping the next generation can build a reconciliation.
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Nick Gavrilov 2:27PM (3/11/2008)
This is likely going to create political problems and bad PR for the ethanol industry, especially regarding Haiti. The government there is completely incompetent and corrupt and as a result there is significant starvation in the country.
I think concentrating on biomass production on "wasteland" in the developed world (the Rocky Mountain region and western USA, the interior of Australia, northern Canada, etc.) would be less controversial and less vulnerable to arguments of ethics i.e. using land to grow fuel versus food.
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Terry de Winne 4:44AM (4/04/2008)
There is an amount of irony in the US biofuels policy - a tariff of 54c a gallon is imposed on Brazilian ethanol imports, whilst the US Senate subsidises the exports of biodiesel to Europe to the tune of 1 dollar a gallon. It is costing the US $300 million a year to finance Europe's carbon savings! The shame is that it has also decimated the EU biodiesel industry, currently working at only 10 to 15% capacity.
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