RWSchilz
May 26th, 2007, 04:44 PM
Castro's Enemy: The Ethanol Alliance
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's visit to Camp David last weekend was meant to seal what is being dubbed as "the ethanol alliance'' between the United States and the South American giant. I have no idea whether ethanol will eventually deliver the grandiose promise of a clean environment or the bankruptcy of oil-rich despots. But I do know that there is a huge disconnect between the objectives of the ethanol alliance and current policy.
If the United States wants to boost ethanol consumption and reduce oil-dependency, it needs to make a simple decision -- eliminate its 54-cents-a-gallon tariff. Experts tell us that corn-based ethanol, the kind being produced in the United States, is eight times less efficient than Brazil's sugarcane version of the biofuel. Alessandro Teixeira, Brazil's point man for his country's ethanol strategy, insists that "we are the world leader, and if people really want to benefit from our ethanol industry, they have to embrace it in practice, not in theory.'' Precisely because corn is much less efficient than sugarcane, the U.S. has been able to replace only about 3 percent of its oil consumption despite a huge government biofuel program.
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=040307D
So why aren't buying the Ethanol from Brazil?:scratch We should also drop the subsidy's on corn production which will lower the rising cost of all the food we eat. The production of Ethanol in this country is increasing the cost of our food and the ever increasing gas price is also raising the price of food products because of the rising trucking cost.:panic
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's visit to Camp David last weekend was meant to seal what is being dubbed as "the ethanol alliance'' between the United States and the South American giant. I have no idea whether ethanol will eventually deliver the grandiose promise of a clean environment or the bankruptcy of oil-rich despots. But I do know that there is a huge disconnect between the objectives of the ethanol alliance and current policy.
If the United States wants to boost ethanol consumption and reduce oil-dependency, it needs to make a simple decision -- eliminate its 54-cents-a-gallon tariff. Experts tell us that corn-based ethanol, the kind being produced in the United States, is eight times less efficient than Brazil's sugarcane version of the biofuel. Alessandro Teixeira, Brazil's point man for his country's ethanol strategy, insists that "we are the world leader, and if people really want to benefit from our ethanol industry, they have to embrace it in practice, not in theory.'' Precisely because corn is much less efficient than sugarcane, the U.S. has been able to replace only about 3 percent of its oil consumption despite a huge government biofuel program.
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=040307D
So why aren't buying the Ethanol from Brazil?:scratch We should also drop the subsidy's on corn production which will lower the rising cost of all the food we eat. The production of Ethanol in this country is increasing the cost of our food and the ever increasing gas price is also raising the price of food products because of the rising trucking cost.:panic